Morning Glory (1933)

That Lady Hepburn:
No Shrinking Flower She
Morning Glory (1933)
Studio: RKO • 74 min B&W • AR 1.33:1 • US: 13 Aug 1933
Re-release: Warner Bros (May 2007)
Series: Katharine Hepburn: 100th Anniversary Collection (6 DVD)
Starring: Katharine Hepburn, Douglas Fairbanks Jr, Adolphe Menjou, C Aubrey Smith, Mary Duncan
Dir: Lowell Sherman

Morning Glory (1933) is a touching, well paced story of a young woman vying for success in the glamourous world of New York’s theatre. Premiered a year before the enforcement of the notorious production code, it is less explicit about sexuality than some other films of its time; yet no details of the use (and abuse) of sexual favours by the powerful is left to the imagination, including an attempt to buy off, and never have to face, a young woman taken advantage of in a drunken state. It was only Hepburn’s third film, but it won her her first of 12 Oscar nominations, and her first win – a dramatic start for the 26 year old newcomer to Hollywood. The themes of youthful optimism and sheer determination are as relevant today as they were in the depths of the 1930s depression.

A young woman in simple clothes and coat – Eva Lovelace (Katharine Hepburn) – enters an office building lobby adorned with four portraits, lions of the New York theatrical stage: Maude Adams, John Drew, Ethel Barrymore and Sarah Bernhardt. Taking an elevator to the offices of a prestigious theatrical agent, she encounters an old man, RH “Bob” Hedges (C Aubrey Smith), who is waiting for an appointment to sign a contract for a small part in an upcoming production. Suspecting he might be important, Eva introduces herself and, in an endearingly nervous delivery boldly reveals her life story and unshakeable theatrical ambitions. In short order, Bob has agreed to mentor the aspiring actress, and he has introduced her to the producer Lewis Easton (Adolphe Menjou) and his protégé, a young playwright, Joseph Sheridan (Douglas Fairbanks Jr). Though the introduction is interrupted by the arrival of box office star Rita Vernon (Mary Duncan), Eva manages to talk herself into a small role in an upcoming show.

Over the following year, Eva’s spirit has dwindled: she did poorly in the role and lost the job, and has since led a “starving artist” meal-to-meal existence. She has lost touch with all of Easton’s crowd, including kindly Bob Hedges. Meanwhile, Rita, who is also lover of convenience to producer Easton, has thrived. About to get into a taxi in a heavy downpour, Bob spots Eva through the window of a coffee shop and becomes reacquainted. He whisks her off to a party – at Easton’s! – to celebrate Rita’s latest triumph. It’s clear to all Eva is on hard times; but Joseph, in particular, remembers how smitten he was by her. Having eaten little, champagne goes to her head and she delivers two soliloquies, turning the heads of everyone, before she passes out.

The next morning, Joseph returns to find Eva has spent the night with Easton who, embarrassed, admits he had his way with her. Crushed, Joseph is asked to give her some money when she awakes so Easton doesn’t have to confront her. Instead, he becomes determined to see she gets another chance at acting and arranges for her to have a small role in the next production, his own big chance to shine, “The Golden Bough”. Some weeks later, on opening night, minutes before the curtain is to rise, Rita demands a new contract with impossible terms or she’ll walk. Though Easton is about to give in, Joseph insists they use Eva, who has secretly been understudying the role with coaching from Joseph. As one star leaves the theatre, a new one is born. Bob delivers a stirring speech about the fickleness of the theatre and the short moment in the sun many young talents enjoy, like a morning glory. What will be Eva’s fate?

There is curiously little for Douglas Fairbanks Jr to do, as the producer’s protégé, other than appear handsome, and concerned, and ultimately never quite get noticed by our heroine, with whom he is perpetually in love. Very handsome and barely 24 when this film was shot, Fairbanks had already been married to Joan Crawford for four years; they divorced during filming. How unlike the swashbuckler image of his father Fairbanks is, the mantle of which was instead inherited by Errol Flynn! Though he went on to a distinguished career in movies and television, the inability of his character, Joseph Sheridan, to seize the moment while holding all the career and life cards in his hand, seems rather poignant.

The relatively small but important role of RH Hedges is delightfully filled by instantly recognizable veteran character actor C Aubrey Smith. Seventy years old at the time of Morning Glory, Smith was in no less than 95 talkies before his death in 1948. His birth in London, in 1863, pre-dates Canadian Confederation and marks the mid-point of the US Civil War! (George Bernard Shaw was a mere seven years older.) Adolphe Menjou, as all powerful producer Lewis Easton, creates a fine portrait of a man knowing his own importance, his power over others, and, when he strays, hints at something of a conscience. Though nominated for an Oscar in 1931’s The Front Page, Menjou appeared in many films competently and capably as a supporting player without ever rising to star status.

Director Lowell Sherman, whose career was cut short by pre-mature death at 49, directed 14 films (although he acted in 50); his only other film of note was also made in 1933, the classic Mae West vehicle, She Done Him Wrong. (There is no relation to Vincent Sherman, a director with the same last name whose work inspired and delighted two generations.) Sherman’s touch is light, allowing the actors to act (sometimes a little too much), and the pacing lags only a little. Another director might have made more of the opportunities for comedic moments to lighten the sombre mood throughout.

Zoe Akins, whose play the film is based upon, was born in Missouri in 1886. Her career began as a magazine writer but before she was thirty, her first play was produced on Broadway, in 1915. She wrote 40 plays in total, and began screenwriting for Hollywood by the mid-1920s with Frank Borzage’s Daddy’s Gone A Hunting. In an odd twist of fate, her play Morning Glory never made it to Broadway. Other stage sensations included Declassée which starred the great Ethel Barrymore for 257 performances in the 1919-20 season; and The Old Maid in 1935 which landed her a Pulitzer Prize and was adapted for film as a vehicle for Bette Davis (see review elsewhere on this site).

Katharine Hepburn, of course, though this was only her third film, is pure Hepburn throughout. From the opening scenes where she accosts the elderly RH Hedges with unrelentingly fast, breathy patter, to the sometimes almost over-the-top gestures at the party of Easton as she performs for the crowd in an increasingly drunken state, it’s fully-formed Hepburn at every turn. There is a remarkable parallel to Hepburn’s own career reflected in the story of Eva Lovelace, a woman who put career ahead of all else and was every bit as good as she aspired to be.

The print is gorgeous for its day with only occasional blemishes marring what appears to be a well-preserved original. The sound is somewhat thin though Max Steiner’s romantic, occasionally urgent, score is well presented. Some of the gowns, particularly of leading lady Rita Vernon, are eye popping. A part of a 100th birthday celebration, several other Hepburn films, not widely circulated before, are included. There is no commentary but there are two shorts from 1933, a Bosko cartoon and an early (and badly deteriorated) Technicolor short on how to cook a duck (as a domestic kitchen time capsule, it’s worth watching once).