katharine hepburn: the making of the african queen

In the extremely engaging The Making of the African Queen: Or How I Went to Africa With Bogart, Bacall and Huston and Almost Lost My Mind actress Katharine Hepburn recounts her adventures in Africa while making the film classic The African Queen. She set off with director John Huston and Humphrey Bogart and his wife Lauren Bacall in 1951 for what she still calls (more than thirty years after the fact) the adventure of her life.

The intrepid Hepburn, always the iconoclast, stylish as always

Hepburn is endlessly self-deprecating, the first person to admit her quirks and foibles, but she also makes it quite clear that she is also persnickety, demanding, and at times, a real pain to deal with. She is, as Spencer Tracy called her, "A rare bird," and more than a bit old-fashioned about her creature comforts and her focus (even as a 40-something woman at the time) on her Father with a capital "F." She asks him for a letter of credit for her big African trip (didn't the successful actress have her own money?) and is very particular about selecting the perfect gift for him — a hand-carved to order ebony cane.

“Heaven to be the first one up and to eat breakfast all alone.”

She knows what she wants and thinks ahead — carrying her own furniture and other accoutrements. She decides to go off on her own to explore the flora and fauna, refusing to help Lauren Bacall arrange their meals (or take the traditional woman's role?) Hepburn was a vanguard for the time with her style and predilection for menswear, but it really paid off in the jungle, protecting her from bugs and being less binding and layered than women's clothing. Where she ran into trouble was with her holier-than-thou urologist's daughter's insistence on drinking lots of water. She ended up getting sick as a dog. Bogie and Huston stuck to whisky and never got sick.

Reading between the lines, she most definitely seems to have had a crush on Huston. She complains about him constantly, but her brief description of her life with Spencer Tracy suggests that she was used to, and attracted to, difficult men. Although she is against the hunting and killing of animals she is beyond thrilled to join Huston on one of his hunting forays into the jungle. Bogie had no interest. She praises Bogie's bravery and professionalism, but it is clear that he was too no-nonsense, direct, and practical for her to fall for him. But she and Bogie did form a lifelong friendship after making the picture. She briefly describes visiting him frequently with Spencer Tracy when he was dying of esophageal cancer.

“To put it simply: There was no bunk about Bogie. He was a man.”

Bogart and Bacall, having breakfast in their cabin

Some of her statements about blacks and whites are far from poetically correct. But Hepburn is a reflection of the times, and frankly, her class. It is clear from how she approaches the trip and life in general that she comes forms privileged background and was used to having servants and helpers.

Quibbles aside, hers is a fascinating account — it's amazing the film ever got made, with the difficult physical conditions and Huston taking off to shoot elephants whenever he got the chance. Huston's laissez-faire attitude on set and his ability to come up with a classic film makes me want to read White Hunter, Black Heart and his autobiography, An Open Book, next.

Hepburn, Bacall, and Bogart relaxing between takes

The Making of The African Queen is chock-full of behind-the-scenes photos, too. But it is Hepburn's unique voice and perspective that shine through. What an odd assortment of individuals. What a strange experience. And what a great film that came out of it all.

bogart: in search of my father by stephen bogart

If anyone thought that being the child of famous parents was a walk in the park, they need go no further than read Stephen Bogart's memoir, Bogart: In Search of My Father. The book is half memories and anecdotes about his father, and half spiritual quest to quash, once and for all, his personal demons about spending his life in his father's shadow.

Stephen holds his dad's Oscar for Best Actor in The African Queen

Actor Humphrey Bogart was 44 when he met 19 year-old Lauren Bacall while filming To Have and Have Not in 1944. They fell in love while making the iconic film, but Bogie and Baby couldn't be together right away, as Bogart was still married to his third wife, Mayo Methot. He filed for divorce the following year, and Bogie and Bacall were married on May 21, 1945. Four years later their first child was born, a son, Stephen, named after Bogart's character's nickname in To Have and Have Not. A few years later, in 1952, Bacall gave birth to a daughter, Leslie, named after Bogart's friend Leslie Howard, who helped jump-start his film career to more serious roles by insisting he play in the film the role he created on the New York stage, of Duke Mantee, in The Petrified Forest.

Stephen was only eight when his father passed away from esophageal cancer. He does have memories of his father, but he fills in his kaleidoscopic portrait with great anecdotes from family friends like Katharine Hepburn: like his dad's notorious drinking (which helped both The Rat Pack), his early life, his marriages, his long and winding road to success as an actor, his iconic outsider role of Rick Blaine in the film classic Casablanca.

He also quotes his mother and echoes much of the biographical information she provided in her memoir, By Myself. As much as Bogart spent much of his life railing against being only known as "Bogie's son," one senses that the parent he really has issues with is his mother. In a terse but emotional passage he describes how his parents left him, at the age of two, to go on safari to Africa and film The African Queen. As Stephen waved goodbye to them as their plane took off, his nurse holding him actually suffered from a cerebral hemorrhage and died, right there, on the tarmac. And, as Bogart tells his readers, once she was informed, his mother didn't come back. She continued on with the trip. It's clear he has never forgiven her.

The most heart-rending section of the book comes at the end, as he details his father's failing health, bout with cancer, surgery, and eventual death. Tough guy Bogie ended up frail and unable to walk downstairs, but he still met daily with friends like Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, Judy Garland, and Frank Sinatra. He kept his trademark "needling" humor intact, "Put me in the dumbwaiter and I'll ride down to the first floor in style." Neither Bogie nor Bacall ever talked about his impending death, to their friends, each other, or the kids, but the man himself knew, as Hepburn told his son, "Spence patted him on the shoulder and said, 'Goodnight, Bogie.' Bogie turned his eyes to Spence very quietly and with a sweet smile covered Spence's hand with his own and said, 'Goodbye, Spence.' Spence's heart stood still. He understood.'

In Bogart: In Search of My Father, the reader learns about Bogie along with his son. Bogart also includes stories about his youth post-Bogie, his rebellion, troubles with drugs and relationships. He tries to draw parallels to their lives, some of which stick, some don't. He had a major chip on his shoulder soon after his father passed away, "One day a kid said to me, 'Too bad about your father,' and I slugged him." It may have been a tough road for Bogart to accept his roots and learn about his dad's life. maybe even hardest to accept was how so many people loved his father, wanted to share his memory. But now Bogart has not only faced his demons and accepted his father's legacy, but he has embraced it. As the head of the Humphrey Bogart website and the driving force behind the now annual Humphrey Bogart Film Festival, he works hard to preserve and promote his father's legacy. He has come a long way.