“The first time we ever met, me in awe, I said to her, ‘The other night I saw one of your [early] movies in which your face was more beautiful than anyone’s I’ve ever seen other than Garbo’s.’ ‘Alice Adams,’ she said, and she was right.”

Robert Gottlieb, Avid Reader: A Life

Brought together by their mutual friend Irene Mayer Selznick, Knopf's Robert Gottlieb edited Katharine Hepburn's memoir, The Making of the African Queen. An excerpt from Avid Reader in which Gottlieb recalls his experiences with not only Hepburn but also Irene Selznick and Lauren Bacall is available at Vanity Fair. 

A copy of The Making of the African Queen signed by Katharine Hepburn is available via the Nick Harvill Libraries kiosk at the Sunset Tower Hotel in West Hollywood.

"With success and money, life is supposed to get better and more exciting. In our case, it just got bigger and more complex."

​Irene Mayer Selznick, A Private View

Photo Credit: A Private View

Is there life after death? Does anyone really know? Well, in the case of Coco Chanel, the answer seems to be in the affirmative. So strong was the legend she created that physical demise was but a blip on the radar. In her reincarnated form, however, she is more god than mortal—the avatar of a multi-billion dollar fashion empire.

In 1969—when the couturier was still among the living—a curious co-mingling of legends occurred. Producer Frederick Brisson finally brought his long-gestating show Coco, The Musical to Broadway. He intended it as a vehicle for his wife Rosalind Russell, but she dropped out due to poor health. Instead, Brisson cast Katharine Hepburn to play Chanel at the suggestion of their mutual friend Irene Mayer Selznick.

It was an odd choice. Not only did Hepburn lack experience with song or dance, her own myth rivaled Chanel’s and not in a complementary manner. Coco was the embodiment of chic feminine elegance. Hepburn, in her men’s trousers, exuded Yankee idiosyncrasy and fortitude. A Chanel twin set suited her about as well as it would have Spencer Tracy. The story goes that the selection took Chanel by surprise as well. She assumed that the Hepburn cast to portray her was the more gamine Audrey. 

One must admire Hepburn for gamely taking on the challenge. She not only had to contend with the reservations of Chanel and Beaton but with her own. She refused to accept the part until ten days of training with an MGM vocal coach convinced her she could do it. Critics eventually thought otherwise, but Hepburn turned out to be the show’s financial anchor. The Broadway version played to full houses and closed soon after Hepburn left the cast, confirming that she, not the legend of Chanel, was the appeal. Hepburn then joined the road company, which not only sold out but also survived the fashion designer herself who died in Paris during the show’s run.

There is no need to rely on critical reviews of Hepburn’s performance. A grainy version the show-stopping number she performed at the Tony Awards is available via YouTube.