Holiday

Repertory and community theatres are ofttimes training grounds for future film actors and actresses. Connecticut-born and raised Katherine Hepburn learned the stagecraft in her state's small theatres. Ann Harding, an Academy Awards Best Actress nominee, found her "home theater" at the Hedgerow Theater just outside of Philadelphia, and returned there and other small live venues in the Pittsburgh area repeatedly to retain her acting skills.

A number of threads tie Hepburn to Harding in more ways than to perform in front of live audiences. Harding, marking her movie debut in 1929's 'Paris Bound' with actor Fredric March, played Linda Seton in July 1930's "Holiday." She's the freewheeling sister, Linda, to Julie (Mary Astor), who's fiancee, Johnny Case (Robert Ames) is brought to the family's palatial mansion to introduce him to her father, Edward (William Holden-not the more famous younger actor). Linda is attracted to Johnny because he's not the materialistic opportunist that runs deep in her family. Wealthy in his own right by wheeling and dealing in the stock market (this was right before the Market Crash in late 1929), Johnny wants to experience the world before settling down to a permanent job.

If this plot sounds familiar, Hepburn played Linda in the more famous 1938 version of "Holiday," opposite Cary Grant. The movie was based on the 1928 Broadway play by Phillip Barry. The understudy for actress Hope Williams, who played Linda on the stage, was none other than Katherine Hepburn. Playwright Barry became good friends with Hepburn when she was part of the acting troupe. When the actress was labeled 'box office poison' in the late 1930s and was unable to secure good movie roles, Barry came to the rescue and composed "The Philadelphia Story," written specifically for Hepburn.

Harding's Academy Award nomination boasted her career in film. She was very busy until she met and married in 1937 musical composer Werner Janssen, a six-time Academy Award nominee. The actress claims Werner was a controlling husband who discouraged her from the Hollywood scene. Harding picked up her movie appearances in 1942, and later concentrated on television roles up until the mid-1960s with spot parts in 'Dr. Kildare' and 'Ben Casey.' Another Hepburn link to Harding and the movie "Holiday" was Robert Ames, who played Johnny. The Hartford, Connecticut, born and raised silent movie actor from the early 1920s, he seemed to be successful in making the transition to talkies. But he was under tremendous strain in his love relationships. A lawsuit by his nightclub entertainer mistress for $200,000 alleged the actor promised to marry her after his 1930 divorce to socialite Muriel Oakes. A heavy drinker, Ames was under a doctor's medication to help him alleviate his withdrawal from alcohol. While on a Thanksgiving break in New York City with his family, he died at the Hotel Delmonico. The cause of death at 42 years of age was an acute reaction of abstaining from alcohol. He's buried at Cedar Hill Cemetery in Hartford, Connecticut, the same cemetery as Katherine Hepburn is buried with her family.

... given its subject matter. This is not a precode at all. Rather it is the filmed version of a 1928 play that made perfect sense in the roaring 20's. This film could not be made before 1930 because sound films hadn't evolved to the point where dialogue and movement could be shown as they are here. It could not be made after 1930 for several years (It was filmed again in 1938) because depression era audiences would simply be befuddled at a young woman (Ann Harding as Linda) who is so unhappy and bored with her rich lifestyle while many in the audience would just want to know when they are going to eat again.

The story revolves around a rich young woman, Julia Seton (Mary Astor), who is returning home with her fiancé (Robert Ames as Johnny Case), whom she has known for only ten days. The Setons are terribly rich - I mean how many homes have elevators in 1930? - and they are divided into two groups. The stodgy business centric part of the family that runs things headed by patriarch Edward Seton (William Holden - no not THAT William Holden), and the unhappy Setons who seemed trapped on a merry go round from which they cannot get off. These are Julia's two siblings, Ned (Monroe Owsley) who drinks heavily to deal with the fact that he has no say in his own life, and Linda (Ann Harding), free in spirit but not in deed.

Johnny has a strange idea of how to live his life. He has been buying some stocks and as soon as he gets enough money together, he wants to go on "holiday". He wants the retirement part of his life to be when he is young, not just to have fun but to make sure that what he does for the rest of his life is what he really wants to do. Linda thinks this idea is grand, but fiancée Julia just thinks this is a goofy notion from which she can eventually distract him.

You'll notice that from the moment they arrive, Johnny seems to spend all of his time conversing with Linda and that Julia spends most of her time conversing with her "bucks on the brain" Dad. Complications ensue.

Ann Harding does have some dialogue and over the top moments that only someone as regal as she could pull off. Lots of actresses would have looked silly going on and on about how the playroom was the only place in the family mansion in which she was ever happy. Plus, she is making a BIG leap of faith in her final decision in the film. It is easy to see why Katharine Hepburn was cast to play Linda in the 1938 remake - they have very similar acting styles.

Let me also compliment Mary Astor's acting here. As both Johnny's fiancée and her father's daughter you are never quite sure where she is coming from up to the very end.

Edward Everett Hornton and Hedda Hopper have a small but crucial role as a couple who are friends of Linda and have a sense of humor that most of the stodgy Setons do not appreciate, but are needed to show that Linda does at least have some allies in her life. Highly recommended.

If you get the chance to see this version of "Holiday," take it! Ann Harding is fabulous in the part of Linda, a role later played by Katharine Hepburn in the better known 1938 version. But another pleasure of this version is Mary Astor's excellent portrayal of Julia. She takes a rather blah and unrewarding role and really makes something of it. Highly recommended!

The 1938 remake benefits from a more assured production and, of course, Cukor's direction. And the two are surprisingly close: Whole swatches of dialog from 1930 are lifted more or less bodily (the 1930 version, most likely, did the same with the stage dialog). And it's a rather stagy early talkie, trying, but not very hard, to move the action around and make it more cinematic. What the early version does have is Ann Harding. She's so lovely, and her playing has, I don't know, a stillness, a contemplation to it; she seems to think very hard about what to say before she says it. It lends a certain gravitas to what is already a fairly serious comedy dealing with rather large issues--how to live one's life, and how one's choices affect those around one. Mary Astor is also miles beyond Doris Nolan, creating a multifaceted, complicated character out of what could come across as just a selfish sister. Robert Ames hasn't Cary Grant's polished comedy playing or looks, but he's credible, and Edward Everett Horton is delightful in the same part he played in 1938. It's a mellow, thoughtful movie, marred but hardly ruined by the primitive movie-making. And we're very lucky to have Ann Harding's Oscar-nominated Linda Seton preserved.

A one location film (The Seaton's Grand Estate), "Holiday" (1930) and "Holiday" (1938) are based on the 1928 play of the same name by Philip Barry. It is difficult to compare the two, because although they both follow the original play very closely and therefore can be loosely matched line for line for much of the runtime, their storytelling approaches are quite different.

Edward Griffith's 1930 version is a slower paced, more austere telling, with subtle nuances and more subdued performances. One could almost call it a more peaceful ride, as the leading characters love to call their adventures in life. George Cukor's version 8 years later with much higher ticket stars does add much humor and vigor. This is not to say that Griffith's version is not funny or playful, because it is. Cukor's 1938 adaptation is simply more ostentatious and maybe pretentious. This is due mainly to Katherine Hepburn's performance. Like all the characters she plays, her acting always seems too unnaturally forceful and often overdone. Cary Grant fans will not be disappointed, however, and the Potters- with Edward Horton reprising his role from the 1930 version- are better this time around. Likely because, in one of the few differences, the couple is working class rather than wealthy socialites- making the characters far more lovable and their scenes that much more entertaining without the slight prudishness of the haughty rich.

Therefore, forced to recommend one over the other, the updated 1938 version starring the popular Hollywood pairing with Grant & Hepburn is given the slight edge. With its more humorous and faster paced interpretation. Not only a slight one. It is highly recommended that audiences watch both versions to decide for themselves- on account of the fact that sometimes we actually need to turn it down a notch and appreciate more subtle and subdued performances.

Ironic how this entire "Holiday" takes place in one place. A stately mansion, no less. The ultimate staycation, maybe? In all seriousness, whichever version (preferably both) audiences choose, the general message and story are the same, and Philip Barry's narrative, with both insightful and witty dialogue, is an entertaining way to tell it. Well, what is that oh so important and very true message? Be true to ourselves, for compromising can only go so far in personal relationships before it becomes inadvisedly harmful, and money isn't everything in life- you can't take it with you!