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':''This article is about the film. For the musical adaptation, see [[Woman of the Year (musical)]]. For the ''[[Parks and Recreation]]'' episode, see [[Woman of the Year (Parks and Recreation)|"Woman of the Year" (''Parks and Recreation'')]]'' {{Infobox Film |name = Woman of the Year |image = Woman-of-the-year-1942.jpg |caption = movie poster |director = [[George Stevens]] |producer = [[Joseph L. Mankiewicz]] |writer = [[Ring Lardner Jr.]]<br/>[[Michael Kanin]]<br/>[[John Lee Mahin]]<br/>[[Garson Kanin]] (original idea) |starring = [[Spencer Tracy]]<br/>[[Katharine Hepburn]] |music = [[Franz Waxman]] |cinematography = [[Joseph Ruttenberg]] |editing = [[Frank Sullivan (film editing)|Frank Sullivan]] |studio = [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer]] |released = 19 January 1942 |runtime = 114 min. |language = [[English language|English]] |budget = $3,000,000 }} '''''Woman of the Year''''' (1942) is a romantic comedy film.<ref>''[[Variety Film Reviews|Variety]]'' film review; January 14, 1942, page 8.</ref><ref>''[[Harrison's Reports and Film Reviews|Harrison's Reports]]'' film review; January 17, 1942, page 10.</ref> The movie is about an emancipated woman, chosen "Woman of the Year", and her colleague-turned-husband and their efforts to negotiate a path to marital bliss. The film stars [[Spencer Tracy]] and [[Katharine Hepburn]], with [[Fay Bainter]], [[Reginald Owen]], [[Minor Watson]] and [[William Bendix]]. It was directed by [[George Stevens]], produced by [[Joseph L. Mankiewicz]] and written by [[Ring Lardner Jr.]] and [[Michael Kanin]] (his brother [[Garson Kanin]] thought up the original idea and worked with Katharine Hepburn along with brother Michael and Lardner on the early drafts, without credit.) The music score was by [[Franz Waxman]] and the cinematography by [[Joseph Ruttenberg]]. The art direction was by [[Cedric Gibbons]] and [[Randall Duell]] and the costume design by [[Adrian (costume designer)|Adrian]]. ''Woman of the Year'' won an [[Academy Awards|Academy Award]] for [[Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay|Best Writing, Original Screenplay]] and was nominated for [[Academy Award for Best Actress|Best Actress in a Leading Role]]. In 1999, this film was selected for preservation in the United States [[National Film Registry]] by the [[Library of Congress]] as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". --[[Special:Contributions/64.223.150.203|64.223.150.203]] ([[User talk:64.223.150.203|talk]]) 15:53, 30 September 2012 (UTC)==Synopsis== Sam Craig ([[Spencer Tracy]]) and Tess Harding ([[Katharine Hepburn]]) are journalists for the same New York newspaper in the early 1940s. Tess, the daughter of a diplomat ([[Minor Watson]]), is an internationally inclined political affairs columnist, a [[Multilingualism|polyglot]] educated in various prestigious European universities who has traveled the world (based on reporter [[Dorothy Thompson]]). Meanwhile, Sam is an everyman sportswriter who worked his way up. A feud in their columns, over baseball, develops into romance, love, and marriage, despite their different backgrounds and worlds. When Sam invites her on a date to a baseball game, Tess inadvertently breaks the "men only" atmosphere of the press box, and is initially confused and unfamiliar with the rules of the sport, before enjoying herself and befriending other spectators. After Sam and Tess marry, a conflict arises over Tess's priorities and Sam's place in her life. They have several minor disagreements, but a bigger problem occurs when Tess is coerced to take on the care of a Greek refugee child Chris ([[George Kezas]]) without having a chance to consult Sam. When Sam initially believes Tess is pregnant with their child, he is thrilled, but upon meeting Chris, he is at first unconvinced about taking on an unrelated orphan with whom he cannot even communicate. Still, he tries to befriend the boy as much as he can, and introduces him to sports. Tess learns that she has received the award of "Woman of the Year", to be given to her at a fancy ceremony. That evening, Sam wonders who will be looking after the boy, and is unsatisfied with her answer of "I'll ask one of the elevator boys to look in on him." Sam decides to stay home to look after Chris. Tess is upset—she wants him to be beside her on her big night, and is embarrassed at the thought that the public will wonder where he is. Sam says she can tell everyone he had more important plans, and Tess accidentally offends him by asking whether anyone would believe that Sam could find something more important to do. After Tess leaves, Sam tells Chris to dress and pack. While Tess is at her ceremony, Sam returns the child to the home for Greek refugee children and walks out on the marriage. Tess only learns of this upon her return, when she goes to change for photographers only to discover the men and their belongings are all missing. She attempts to go reclaim Chris, but he refuses (because he wants to stay with his friends&mdash;fellow refugees). The next day, Tess receives an invitation, addressed to both of them, to go to the home of her father and the aunt who raised her ([[Fay Bainter]]). However, Sam is covering a championship boxing match that evening and tells her he can not go. Tess arrives alone, only to be told that her aunt and her father are to be married that night, after 15 years of "making the same mistake" and saying nothing of their attraction. Listening to the words of the wedding ceremony encourages Tess to attempt a reconciliation with Sam. She enters Sam's new riverside home the next morning and starts to prepare breakfast. Sam is eventually woken by her noisy incompetence in the kitchen, and comes to watch her. She proclaims her new intention of being nothing more than his wife and thinking only of his domestic needs, but he believes it is an insincere tactic to win him back. Trying to prove herself, Tess once again tries to cook breakfast, only to fail because she knows nothing of cooking. Sam tells her this is the first time he is disappointed in her—for going to extremes. He says to her he does not want Tess Harding or "just little Mrs. Craig", but can't she be Tess Harding Craig? Tess happily agrees, and they reconcile. Gerald, Tess' inconsiderate secretary ([[Dan Tobin]]), arrives with a bottle of champagne and reminds Tess of her commitment to launch a ship at 8:30 am. Sam takes Gerald outside, the bottle smashes, and Sam returns claiming to have launched Gerald. ==Cast== * [[Spencer Tracy]] as Sam Craig * [[Katharine Hepburn]] as Tess Harding * [[Fay Bainter]] as Ellen Whitcomb * [[Reginald Owen]] as Clayton * [[Minor Watson]] as William J. Harding * [[William Bendix]] as "Pinkie" Peters * [[Gladys Blake]] as Flo Peters * [[Dan Tobin]] as Gerald Howe * [[Roscoe Karns]] as Phil Whittaker * [[William Tannen]] as Ellis * [[Ludwig Stössel]] as Dr. Lubbeck * [[Sara Haden]] as Matron * [[Edith Evanson]] as Alma * George Kezas as Chris ==Background and production== [[File:Woman of the Year publicity photograph.jpg|thumb|right|Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy in a promotional shot for the film.]] The outline for the film was developed by [[Garson Kanin]], a close friend of Hepburn. Hepburn then passed the outline on to [[Joseph L. Mankiewicz]] at MGM, and said the price was $250,000 - half for her, half for the script.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hepburn|first=Katharine|title=Me: Stories of My Life|year=1991|publisher=Knopf|location=New York|isbn=ISBN 0-679-40051-6|page=400}}</ref> He liked it and agreed to produce the movie.<ref>Hepburn (1991), p. 243.</ref> Kanin was fighting in the war at the time, so the script was written by his brother, [[Michael Kanin]], and mutual friend [[Ring Lardner, Jr.]] Hepburn contributed significantly to the script - reading it, suggesting cuts and word changes, and generally providing helpful enthusiasm for the project.<ref>{{cite book|last=Kanin|first=Garson|title=Tracy and Hepburn: An Intimate Memoir|year=1971|publisher=Viking|location=New York|isbn=0-670-72293-6|page=81}}</ref> As a part of the deal, Hepburn was allowed to select her co-star and director (Tracy and Stevens). ''Woman of the Year'' was the first of nine films Hepburn and Tracy made together. They met for the first time on the shoot. In the 1993 [[Documentary film|documentary]] ''Katharine Hepburn: All About Me'', Hepburn herself says she was wearing high heels at the first meeting with Tracy and producer Joseph L. Mankiewicz, and said "I'm afraid I'm a bit tall for you, Mr. Tracy". Mankiewicz then responded, "Don't worry, Kate, he'll cut you down to size." It was during the filming of ''Woman of the Year'' that Hepburn and Tracy became romantically involved - a relationship that lasted until Tracy's death in 1967. The film was originally shot with a different ending, but it proved unpopular at test screenings. The decision was made to change it, and the final fifteen minutes of the film were re-written and shot. The original ending of the film saw Sam go missing (after he had left the child at the orphanage) while he was meant to be writing an article about an upcoming boxing match. Tess decides to take over for him, and visits the gym to learn about the fight. Sam is found in a language school trying to learn French and Spanish, to "be important", and is shocked when he sees the article. He goes to the fight where he meets Tess. She insists that she did it to be a good wife, and says she will change and do all the things she is supposed to do. He says that he doesn't want either extreme, he just wants her to be "Tess Harding Craig" (like in the released ending.)<ref>{{cite journal|title=Interview with Ring Lardner, Jr|journal=On Writing|date=August 1997|volume=7|url=http://www.brisbin.net/Tracy-Hepburn/Articles/T-H/Retrospective/thumbnails/origWOTYending.pdf|accessdate=September 5, 2011|publisher=The Writers Guild of America, East, Inc}}</ref> Ring Lardner Jr describes in Archive of America Television oral history interviews (2000) that changes made to the ending of the film were against the wishes of Katherine Hepburn, whilst both screenwriters were on vacation in New York. These changes were made by Louis B Mayer, producer Joseph L. Mankiewicz and director George Stevens. "She had to get her comeuppance for being too strong in a man's world so they wrote a scene where she tried to fix breakfast... and gets everything wrong", said Lardner. The screenwriters were given some room to rewrite the new ending on return from New York, and in the same interview Lardner recalls "some of the worst lines we rewrote, but we couldn't fix it, we couldn't change it fundamentally"<ref>Archive of American Television - EMMY TVLEGENDS Ring Lardner interview 2000</ref> ==Awards and honors== '''At the [[15th Academy Awards]]''' * Nomination for [[Academy Award for Best Actress|Best Actress]] (Katharine Hepburn) * Win for [[Academy Award for Best Writing (Original Screenplay)|Best Original Screenplay]] (Michael Kanin and Ring Lardner, Jr.) '''[[American Film Institute]] recognition''' * 2000: [[AFI's 100 Years... 100 Laughs]] #90 * 2002: [[AFI's 100 Years... 100 Passions]] #74 In 1981, the movie was adapted into a successful [[Woman of the Year (musical)|Broadway musical of the same name]], starring [[Lauren Bacall]] (who won a [[Tony Award]] for her work). == Gallery == <gallery perrow="6"> File:Woman of the year 1.jpg| File:Woman of the year 2.jpg| File:Woman of the year 3.jpg| File:Woman of the year 4.jpg| File:Woman of the year 5.jpg| File:Woman of the year 6.jpg| File:Woman of the year 7.jpg| File:Woman of the year 8.jpg| File:Woman of the year 9.jpg| File:Woman of the year 10.jpg File:Woman of the year 11.jpg| </gallery> ==References== <references/> ==External links== {{wikiquote}} * {{imdb title|id=0035567|title=Woman of the Year}} * {{amg movie|id=1:55086}} * {{tcmdb title|id=14145}} <!-- Katharine Hepburn --> {{Tracy Hepburn films}} {{George Stevens Films}} {{AFI 100 Laughs}} [[Category:1940s romantic comedy films]] [[Category:1942 films]] [[Category:American films]] [[Category:Black-and-white films]] [[Category:English-language films]] [[Category:Films about journalists]] [[Category:Films directed by George Stevens]] [[Category:Films set in New York City]] [[Category:Films whose writer won the Best Original Screenplay Academy Award]] [[Category:Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films]] [[Category:United States National Film Registry films]] [[ca:Woman of the Year]] [[de:Die Frau, von der man spricht]] [[fr:La Femme de l'année]] [[it:La donna del giorno (film 1942)]] [[nl:Woman of the Year]] [[ja:女性No.1]] [[pl:Kobieta roku]] [[pt:Woman of the Year]] [[ru:Женщина года]]'