{"value"=>"<p>This series comprises both productions (including a few for motion pictures and television) on which Hepburn worked, and several projects which never came to fruition. Included are correspondence, scripts, promptbooks, contracts, financial papers, Hepburn’s notes on various aspects of production, production materials, research materials, music, programs, and clippings covering some forty productions and projects.</p> <p>With few exceptions, virtually Hepburn’s entire career in the theater is encompassed, from one of her first performances as Pandora in <span class=\"title\">The Woman in the Moone</span> at Bryn Mawr in 1928, to her 1994 appearance introducing the all-star cast of <span class=\"title\">Yeats: A Celebration!</span> at an Irish Repertory Theatre benefit. Productions following Hepburn’s 1932 success as Antiope in <span class=\"title\">The Warrior’s Husband</span>by Julian Thompson, are (predictably) the most thoroughly-documented.</p> <p>Throughout the Production Files, there is a large number of congratulatory telegrams, letters, and floral cards from theater and film stars, as well as other notables including Lauren Bacall, Stephen Vincent Benet, Jack Benny, Irving Berlin, Humphrey Bogart, Elizabeth [Taylor] and Richard Burton, George Cukor, Nancy Davis [Reagan], Margot Fonteyn, Meriel Forbes-Robertson, John Ford, Judy Garland, Betsy [Drake] and Cary Grant, Charlton Heston, Joan Crawford, Lillian Gish, Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin, Helen Hayes, George Jessel, Van Johnson, Corliss Lamont, Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier, Ethel Merman, Dina Merrill, Peter O’Toole, Cole Porter, Michael Redgrave, Ralph Richardson, and Cliff Robertson. There are also letters from Hepburn’s numerous fans. Hepburn’s replies are usually handwritten on the letter or telegram.</p> <p><span class=\"title\">The Millionairess</span> London correspondence files contain several telegrams and floral cards from Spencer Tracy under the alias “Pot.” Also of note in <span class=\"title\">The Millionairess</span>correspondence is a letter from Lawrence Langner relating a conversation between George Bernard Shaw and Armina Marshall on Katharine Hepburn (June 27, 1950). There is also a handwritten note, probably from Howard Hughes, in the <span class=\"title\">As You Like It</span> (1950) fan mail. The <span class=\"title\">Jane Eyre</span>tour correspondence (and other production correspondence) contains several other telegrams and floral cards from “The Boss,” “Dan,” and “Stephen,” possibly also from Hughes.</p> <p>The American Shakespeare Festival correspondence illuminates how fundamental Hepburn’s performances there in 1957 and 1960 were to the theater’s development. Of special interest is a letter (Sept. 2, 1959) from the American Shakespeare Festival’s Acting Company protesting John Houseman’s resignation; the actors included Edward Asner, Barbara Barrie, Sada Thompson, Pirie MacDonald, Morris Carnovsky, Nancy Marchand, Dino Narizzano, and Inga Swenson. Also of note is a costume design by Rouben Ter-Arutunian for <span class=\"title\">Antony and Cleopatra</span> (1960).</p> <p>Hepburn’s handwritten notes and notebooks offer a unique insight into her working process as an actress, as well as her opinions. Her “History of the <span class=\"title\">As You Like It</span> Tour” (1950-1951) documents specifics, such as stage dimensions and financial figures, for each tour stop, but also chronicles Hepburn’s sometimes humorous exploits and impressions. (For example, Hepburn’s description of her arrest for speeding in Kansas.) There is also a number of research materials, especially on Coco Chanel. Papers for later productions, including <span class=\"title\">Coco</span>(1969), <span class=\"title\">A Matter of Gravity</span> (1976), and <span class=\"title\">The West Side Waltz</span>(1981) include correspondence to from the authors and numerous versions of scripts, providing a window into a production’s evolution.</p> <p>Numerous telegrams, cards, and letters from Hepburn’s fellow cast members and her crews give testament to the great regard they had for her. Some twenty years after <span class=\"title\">Coco</span>, members of the chorus requested a reunion (held at Hepburn’s home) and thanked her for treating them as equals. (These two letters are filed with General Correspondence.)</p> <p>The papers contain a number of items for projects with which Hepburn was associated, but in which she probably never performed, including <span class=\"title\">Divorce Me, Dear</span> by Katherine Roberts (1931), <span class=\"title\">The Loved and Envied</span>by Enid Bagnold (ca. 1970s), <span class=\"title\">A Man and His Wife</span> (a.k.a. <span class=\"title\">Winston and Wife</span>) by Guy Bolton (1972-1974), the musical <span class=\"title\">Miss Moffat</span> (1973) and the motion picture <span class=\"title\">The Tudor Wench</span> by Elswyth Thane Beebe (1934).</p> <p>There are also a few papers relating to Hepburn’s radio work on the <span class=\"title\">Theatre Guild on the Air</span>, as well as to her television appearance on <span class=\"title\">Night of 100 Stars III</span> (1990). It is unclear if background material (1961 and undated) for <span class=\"title\">The Corn Is Green</span> is related to Hepburn’s 1979 television film directed by George Cukor.</p>"}