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The Making of The African Queen Or How I went to Africa with Bogart, Bacall and Huston and almost lost my mind
This book will tell you
What it was like for me to meet
John Huston, Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall
In London and in Africa
For the first time.
To work with them nonstop for about three months.
And why —
Come hell or high water
Through thick and through thin
For better and for worse
But not quite until death did we part —
It was great fun.
— K. H.
What it was like for me to meet
John Huston, Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall
In London and in Africa
For the first time.
To work with them nonstop for about three months.
And why —
Come hell or high water
Through thick and through thin
For better and for worse
But not quite until death did we part —
It was great fun.
— K. H.
129 pages, Hardcover
First published August 12, 1987
28 people are currently reading
2649 people want to read
About the author
Katharine Hepburn
16 books192 followersKatharine Houghton Hepburn (1907-2003) was an American actress of film, stage, and television. Known for her headstrong independence and spirited personality, Hepburn's career as a Hollywood leading lady spanned more than 60 years. She cultivated a screen persona that matched this public image, and regularly played strong-willed, sophisticated women. Her work came in a range of genres, from screwball comedy to literary drama, and she received four Academy Awards for Best Actress—a record for any performer.
In the 1940s Hepburn was contracted to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, where her career focused on an alliance with Spencer Tracy. The screen-partnership spanned 25 years, and produced nine movies.
Hepburn challenged herself in the latter half of her life, as she regularly appeared in Shakespeare stage productions and tackled a range of literary roles. She found a niche playing middle-aged spinsters, such as in The African Queen (1951), a persona the public embraced. Three more Oscars came for her work in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967), The Lion in Winter (1968), and On Golden Pond (1981).
In the 1970s she began appearing in television movies, which became the focus of her career in later life. She remained active into old age, making her final screen appearance in 1994 at the age of 87. After a period of inactivity and ill-health, Hepburn died in 2003 at 96 years old.
In 1999, she was named by the American Film Institute as the top female Hollywood legend.
In the 1940s Hepburn was contracted to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, where her career focused on an alliance with Spencer Tracy. The screen-partnership spanned 25 years, and produced nine movies.
Hepburn challenged herself in the latter half of her life, as she regularly appeared in Shakespeare stage productions and tackled a range of literary roles. She found a niche playing middle-aged spinsters, such as in The African Queen (1951), a persona the public embraced. Three more Oscars came for her work in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967), The Lion in Winter (1968), and On Golden Pond (1981).
In the 1970s she began appearing in television movies, which became the focus of her career in later life. She remained active into old age, making her final screen appearance in 1994 at the age of 87. After a period of inactivity and ill-health, Hepburn died in 2003 at 96 years old.
In 1999, she was named by the American Film Institute as the top female Hollywood legend.
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February 5, 2019
The African Queen
starred Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn, debuted for Academy Award eligibility in 1951, and was released wide in 1952. If you don't know what it is, or why you should care about it, nothing I say hereinafter will make one drop of sense to you, and you'd far better use your eyeblinks elsewhere. Remember to shut the screen door not slam it! Papaw's nerves are raggedy at this hour of the day.
Katharine Hepburn was the Meryl Streep of her time. Well regarded, blessed with talent, a bit upper-crusty in her roles. When the story of the making of The African Queen begins, she is treading the boards in Shakespearean stuff and, frankly, pretty bored. She needs a challenge to spark her inner V-16 engine. A call comes to her friend's home, where she's staying...there's a script based on a novel...nothing new...but set in Africa! Yes please, Mr. Producer, send it to me and I shall read forthwith. Read she does; part's great, script's so-so, so....
On page 7, Hepburn writes of her initial meeting with Producer Sam Spiegel, wherein a raft of English actors were discussed for the part of Cockney Charlie Alnutt, and finally Spiegel says, "What about Bogart—he could be Canadian." And there it was, decided. Did getting Hepburn mean Spiegel could now stand a chance to get Bogart? Did it occur to him in a divine revelation on that spot? Was he hell-bent on the casting of both these American actors to play uber-British roles so American audiences would turn out en masse? We know that the Brits put up £250,000 (about $8 million in today's dollars) only after their Film Finance Board overcame demands for Brits to be cast in the British author C.S. Forester's bestselling 1936 novel about Brits in World War I East Africa.
Such are the things producers must concern themselves with and all at the same time, in the same calculation. The film's budget, in today's dollars, was about $30 million and the box office ended up at around $250 million. But while Producer Spiegel chatted up the excited and eager Miss Hepburn in the kitchen that first day, he had bubkes except a script, a director (the already almost-legendary John Huston), and now a star. But this star, this force of nature Miss Katharine Hepburn, wanted to film this Technicolor all-outdoors vehicle for some major Hollywood egos on location. In Africa, that is. On big African rivers with real, malaria-sodden African mosquitoes and real, bilharzia-causing schistosoma snails. "We'll see," equivocates a rapidly thinning producer; "we'll see it in Africa," responds Miss Famous Actress with Fans, and guess where they filmed it.
Africa is hot. It's big. People in the Belgian Congo don't speak English, and even French is touch-and-go. Getting to Africa took days on planes, weeks on boats. Getting Technicolor cameras to Arizona was a huge deal! The mind boggles, the spirit quails, to imagine getting these multi-million-1951-dollar monsters to Africa! Not to mention two movie stars. Assorted crew, camera operators, thousands of props, safe drinking water, food...a director whose gun fetish and desire to murder elephants must be coddled...rich Americans all, and not a little high-handed even among themselves.
It's her saving grace that Hepburn, writing this book in the 1980s, realized that she was a Bigfoot stomping all over everyone. Didn't stop her, probably wouldn't if she'd gone again, but really now is any celebrity likely to behave differently? Not often.
The shoot is huge. The crew isn't all in place when they arrive. The advance construction of different things must needs be torn down and rebuilt, the piece supposed to fit here don't fit there, in short the bog-standard common-as-pigtracks problems of doing a complicated thing in a limited amount of time. Miss Hepburn acts as costume lady, invents a solution to wilting-chapeau syndrome (super creative, impressed me a lot), seamstresses, does hair...
"Those jerks" are Bogie and John Huston, Hepburn's costar and director. Her friends. She has little enough to say about Bogart, a good deal more to say about Bacall who came with him but not all of it kind. She's also not kind about Huston's inability to be on time, his indifference to the reality of others' feelings, emotions, existence, his bloodlust. But beginning on page 81 and ending on page 83, Miss Hepburn the journeyman actress recalls Director Huston's performance notes on Rosie Sayer's unsmiling, serious countenance. How hard it is to watch a serious face for so long...how Mrs. Roosevelt, an unhandsome lady, dealt with a similar issue.
And Miss Hepburn the journeyman actress, writing at a distance of thirty-five years, still lights up at the memory of receiving her entire performance in a short, simple, perfectly observed and conveyed image from a genius of image-making. She went on to make the film on a perfect note, sustained throughout by the single conversation and its illuminating insight. It is the most gorgeous moment in the book.
There aren't a lot of anecdotes in the book, the kind you'll whip out at parties to improve the shining hour, but there are lovely and honest observations, a lot of unnoticed privilege behind her quite self-aware self-regard, and photos. Lots of them...forty-five...from a man called Alfred E. Lemon, and some from a Life magazine photographer called Eliot Elisofon. The permissions must've taken forever to clear. The text design is clear and simple, using Garamond type and generous white space around the scattered halftone reproductions, including both endsheets. The binding is smyth-sewn with real cloth on the boards.
The book is as much an artifact of a vanished world as is the film it describes, as is the now-gone writer of this personal and charming memoir. Time pressed on her, those years so clear in memory but so distant in time, still eagerly sought by the Fans:
It's hard to get old and lose people, and places, and memories that meant something are increasingly one's own unshareable treasures. What matters, in the end? Is it something anyone can see or is it something so buried there's never going to be another soul who sees it whole and entire?
Katharine Hepburn was a star, but more, she was a genius because she had an answer to that question, one that most people (I think) can agree with and buy into. It is her last word on the topic of this book.
Katharine Hepburn was the Meryl Streep of her time. Well regarded, blessed with talent, a bit upper-crusty in her roles. When the story of the making of The African Queen begins, she is treading the boards in Shakespearean stuff and, frankly, pretty bored. She needs a challenge to spark her inner V-16 engine. A call comes to her friend's home, where she's staying...there's a script based on a novel...nothing new...but set in Africa! Yes please, Mr. Producer, send it to me and I shall read forthwith. Read she does; part's great, script's so-so, so....
On page 7, Hepburn writes of her initial meeting with Producer Sam Spiegel, wherein a raft of English actors were discussed for the part of Cockney Charlie Alnutt, and finally Spiegel says, "What about Bogart—he could be Canadian." And there it was, decided. Did getting Hepburn mean Spiegel could now stand a chance to get Bogart? Did it occur to him in a divine revelation on that spot? Was he hell-bent on the casting of both these American actors to play uber-British roles so American audiences would turn out en masse? We know that the Brits put up £250,000 (about $8 million in today's dollars) only after their Film Finance Board overcame demands for Brits to be cast in the British author C.S. Forester's bestselling 1936 novel about Brits in World War I East Africa.
Such are the things producers must concern themselves with and all at the same time, in the same calculation. The film's budget, in today's dollars, was about $30 million and the box office ended up at around $250 million. But while Producer Spiegel chatted up the excited and eager Miss Hepburn in the kitchen that first day, he had bubkes except a script, a director (the already almost-legendary John Huston), and now a star. But this star, this force of nature Miss Katharine Hepburn, wanted to film this Technicolor all-outdoors vehicle for some major Hollywood egos on location. In Africa, that is. On big African rivers with real, malaria-sodden African mosquitoes and real, bilharzia-causing schistosoma snails. "We'll see," equivocates a rapidly thinning producer; "we'll see it in Africa," responds Miss Famous Actress with Fans, and guess where they filmed it.
Africa is hot. It's big. People in the Belgian Congo don't speak English, and even French is touch-and-go. Getting to Africa took days on planes, weeks on boats. Getting Technicolor cameras to Arizona was a huge deal! The mind boggles, the spirit quails, to imagine getting these multi-million-1951-dollar monsters to Africa! Not to mention two movie stars. Assorted crew, camera operators, thousands of props, safe drinking water, food...a director whose gun fetish and desire to murder elephants must be coddled...rich Americans all, and not a little high-handed even among themselves.
We packed our duds and I found myself moving all my odd stools—spears—arrows—chairs—down into the accountant's room on the first floor for him to send to New York for me. Things almost impossible to pack. A stink of a job to foist off on anyone. You remember him—the accountant—the rightful inhabitant of my third-floor room. ... How could I be so awful? Apparently easily.
It's her saving grace that Hepburn, writing this book in the 1980s, realized that she was a Bigfoot stomping all over everyone. Didn't stop her, probably wouldn't if she'd gone again, but really now is any celebrity likely to behave differently? Not often.
The shoot is huge. The crew isn't all in place when they arrive. The advance construction of different things must needs be torn down and rebuilt, the piece supposed to fit here don't fit there, in short the bog-standard common-as-pigtracks problems of doing a complicated thing in a limited amount of time. Miss Hepburn acts as costume lady, invents a solution to wilting-chapeau syndrome (super creative, impressed me a lot), seamstresses, does hair...
I never have a permanent, for it makes {hair} feel funny, it makes it smell, and I'm a sort of impractical character. Love the feeling of soft, clean hair. Can't remember that anyone ever made a comment, certainly not either of those jerks. But please yourself and at least someone is pleased.
"Those jerks" are Bogie and John Huston, Hepburn's costar and director. Her friends. She has little enough to say about Bogart, a good deal more to say about Bacall who came with him but not all of it kind. She's also not kind about Huston's inability to be on time, his indifference to the reality of others' feelings, emotions, existence, his bloodlust. But beginning on page 81 and ending on page 83, Miss Hepburn the journeyman actress recalls Director Huston's performance notes on Rosie Sayer's unsmiling, serious countenance. How hard it is to watch a serious face for so long...how Mrs. Roosevelt, an unhandsome lady, dealt with a similar issue.
And Miss Hepburn the journeyman actress, writing at a distance of thirty-five years, still lights up at the memory of receiving her entire performance in a short, simple, perfectly observed and conveyed image from a genius of image-making. She went on to make the film on a perfect note, sustained throughout by the single conversation and its illuminating insight. It is the most gorgeous moment in the book.
There aren't a lot of anecdotes in the book, the kind you'll whip out at parties to improve the shining hour, but there are lovely and honest observations, a lot of unnoticed privilege behind her quite self-aware self-regard, and photos. Lots of them...forty-five...from a man called Alfred E. Lemon, and some from a Life magazine photographer called Eliot Elisofon. The permissions must've taken forever to clear. The text design is clear and simple, using Garamond type and generous white space around the scattered halftone reproductions, including both endsheets. The binding is smyth-sewn with real cloth on the boards.
The book is as much an artifact of a vanished world as is the film it describes, as is the now-gone writer of this personal and charming memoir. Time pressed on her, those years so clear in memory but so distant in time, still eagerly sought by the Fans:
It's strange being a movie actor. The product goes out—it's popular—it's unpopular—or it's somewhere in between. And it's always to me a real part of myself. I mean it represents my own decision to do it: Was I wise? Was I dumb? I've tried never to do anything just for the money. I do it because I love it—the idea and the characters. And, my oh my, it is great when you—when the people like it too and make it theirs—that is the real reward.
So, suddenly, thirty-five years have rushed by. Bogie has gone. Spiegel {the producer} has gone. The Queen herself is still alive--so are John {Huston} and Betty {Bacall} and Peter {Viertel, the German boat captain} and I.
It's hard to get old and lose people, and places, and memories that meant something are increasingly one's own unshareable treasures. What matters, in the end? Is it something anyone can see or is it something so buried there's never going to be another soul who sees it whole and entire?
Katharine Hepburn was a star, but more, she was a genius because she had an answer to that question, one that most people (I think) can agree with and buy into. It is her last word on the topic of this book.
Read
September 17, 2011This is Katherine Hepburn's first book, and she doesn't give a fuck. She writes how she wants to write and does not care about any rules or style but her own. She writes how you expect her to speak, very stoccato, with trails of sentence fragments, often separated by dashes. She will describe a room by listing nouns: "Heat-- hotel-- French-speaking Belgians-- no panes of glass in windows-- porches-- high ceilings-- blinds-- mosquito nets over the beds-- painted cement floors-- dark, spare bathroom-- watch the bugs-- watch the water-- thoughtful people-- took care of us afternoon and evening." For the most part, a coherent picture emerges, but sometimes you loose your place, or can't make the leap from one of her thoughts to another. But she is unapologetic: this is Africa as she experienced it.
It is Hepburn at her most Hepburnish: brash, bold, strangely and specifically neurotic (she can't go to the bathroom when others are nearby), and often quietly vulnerable. I was rather shocked at her selfishness(kicking the studio accountant out of his room because his room was better than hers), but she openly acknowledges that it was a mean move on her part, in retrospect.
She paints a loving portrait of Bogart, Lauren Bacall and John Huston, and their adventures filming the African Queen, faced with shipwreck, disease, and poor conditions.
Her views of the native Africans are jarring, though typical for the times. She is fascinated by their quaint ways, and can't really tell one from the other until she becomes friendly with her "boy" (the native assigned to wait on her). Even then, she holds him at a distance, not quite on the level of the white settlers, but special to her.
It is a fun, behind the scenes memoir, written by one of the most adventurous and authentic women of all time. It is not a great work of art, but it is honest, heartfelt, and unapologetic.
It is Hepburn at her most Hepburnish: brash, bold, strangely and specifically neurotic (she can't go to the bathroom when others are nearby), and often quietly vulnerable. I was rather shocked at her selfishness(kicking the studio accountant out of his room because his room was better than hers), but she openly acknowledges that it was a mean move on her part, in retrospect.
She paints a loving portrait of Bogart, Lauren Bacall and John Huston, and their adventures filming the African Queen, faced with shipwreck, disease, and poor conditions.
Her views of the native Africans are jarring, though typical for the times. She is fascinated by their quaint ways, and can't really tell one from the other until she becomes friendly with her "boy" (the native assigned to wait on her). Even then, she holds him at a distance, not quite on the level of the white settlers, but special to her.
It is a fun, behind the scenes memoir, written by one of the most adventurous and authentic women of all time. It is not a great work of art, but it is honest, heartfelt, and unapologetic.
July 28, 2014
This book left me unexpectedly irritated.
Why? Because this isn't a book about the making of "The African Queen."
It's a book about whatever relationship Katharine Hepburn had with the film's director, John Huston.
I suppose I should back up a bit.
Katharine Hepburn is one of those celebrities I don't think I'll ever be able to figure out. She pings my gaydar like no other: she was an outspoken feminist who spent her life dressing like a boy, she never remarried after her divorce, she never had children, she apparently had a massive lust for ladies, and she had decade-long relationships with women. Even Spencer Tracy thought she was a lesbian when her first met her. So she was the most obviously closeted actress ever, but she also managed to sleep with half of the men in Hollywood...
And what about Spencer Tracy, anyway? We've all had the Hepburn/Tracy pairing shoved in our faces, and Hepburn did drop her career for 5 years to care for him. But just because they were a "brand" with great onscreen chemistry doesn't mean that they weren't bearding for each other.
Whether or not the Tracy thing was real, it doesn't change the fact that Hepburn had a real talent for getting married men to fall in love with her: Tracy, John Ford, and Leland Hayward to name a few. (Given Hepburn's track record, I'm guessing that Lauren Bacall came along for the shooting of "The African Queen" for reasons other than merely accompanying her husband -- smart girl).
Whatever happened between Hepburn and Huston during the making of "The African Queen," I'm guessing Hepburn didn't come out the winner in the relationship, and thus she wrote a book that was -- is -- a playful slap at Huston. What's maddening is that Hepburn never cops to it. She alludes to it, drops hints, and dances around it, but she never offers up the goods.
Sure, the book is interesting. The poor cast and crew of "The African Queen" got to deal with lots of fun things on location in Africa, from army ants and alligators to swarming tsetse flies and bouts of dysentery. There are even smirk-worthy moments, such as Hepburn having a bucket by her feet for puking between takes while Bogart and Huston, who had spent a majority of their time in Africa in a drunken stupor, remained in perfect health. Yet there is very little here about the actual production of the film, or what happened on set.
And the most interesting tidbits have absolutely nothing to do with the making of the movie.
When Hepburn has still has disdain for Huston, she takes to observing Lauren Bacall and says, "Let's look at Betty [Bogart] ... She is young and she has lovely tawny skin and she has the most fabulous sandy hair. Beautiful whether it's straight or curled. In fact, you've never seen her until you've seen her in her bright-green wrapper on the way to the outhouse in the early morning with her hair piled up on her head and no lipstick or anything else. Her sleepy-slanty green eyes and her common-sense look and her lost voice and her lanky figure and her apparent fund of pugilistic good nature."
Am I projecting my modern sensibilities on to K.H., or is she checking out Betty Bogart? I suppose it doesn't matter. Lauren Bacall was gorgeous. Anyone would have gawked at her. Whatever. Moving on.
Hepburn proceeds to ramble on, to such an extent that if I looked at one more em dash, I was sure I'd gouge my own eyes out. (I swear the book was dictated). Among the sparsely detailed stories of the pain in the ass that it was to film this picture in Africa, with the equal pain in the ass John Huston at the helm, something happens.
Hepburn loves the cabin that Huston has built for her, and she throws her arms around him ... but she still hates him because he's unprofessional. Then he gives her the "best goddamndest piece of direction" she's ever heard, and she has a new respect for him. Fine. Later, she's out wandering in some African village alone one evening, runs into Huston, and they go off somewhere and share a bottle of wine on a hilltop. She "doesn't remember" what they talked about but "it was magic." When they wander down and join the rest of the cast and crew, Hepburn notes that "Betty was disgusted with me," and "there's a lot to be said for sinning." So, what happened?! Tell us, for Chrissakes! And the next day, the cast and crew remark that Hepburn has fallen under Huston's spell as she takes off on a game hunting safari with him. And no more details. Argh!
Eventually, after a day of filming and puking, Hepburn goes back to her cabin and falls asleep, while Huston and company go get lit up at some local Congolese cantina. A wasted Huston wanders into Hepburn's cabin that night, and this happens:
" 'Just stay alseep, Katie dear. Stay asleep. Asleep--asleep...' And he rubbed my back with his smooth, strong hands. And my head and my neck and my hands and my feet. Such a blessing. Took the trouble from me. It's true--the laying on of hands. So quiet--so sweet--so soothing. He was gentle. I slept. I don't remember what happened when he stopped."
Yeah. Sure you don't. Jesus. If one of my drunk guy friends came into my tropical hut and proceeded to give me a full-body massage... never mind.
Just friends? Suuuuuure.
So I guess this book hasn't done much more for me than make me resent old Hollywood for its cover-ups (Gary Cooper, Rock Hudson, Cary Grant, Greta Garbo) and the time I grew up in (Sally Ride, Jodie Foster, the Defense of Marriage Act, Rosie O'Donnell and Ellen playing straight on TV until the early 2000s) that perpetuated all of the bullshit.
It doesn't matter if Katharine Hepburn was gay or straight, swung both ways with Tracy, checked out Bacall or seduced Huston. Slut or straight laced, it doesn't matter. But I wish that it had just been okay to tell the truth about these things -- about being bisexual, sleeping around, and seducing other women's husbands. It would have made for a better story, and a way better book. And it would have made growing up a lot different for everyone.
As for Katharine Hepburn...I'll never figure her out.
Decent book, so long as you can tolerate Hepburn's staccato style and you're not looking to find out anything about what it was like to make the movie.
I'm hacking off a star for feeling like I was only told half of what could have been a riveting truth.
Why? Because this isn't a book about the making of "The African Queen."
It's a book about whatever relationship Katharine Hepburn had with the film's director, John Huston.
I suppose I should back up a bit.
Katharine Hepburn is one of those celebrities I don't think I'll ever be able to figure out. She pings my gaydar like no other: she was an outspoken feminist who spent her life dressing like a boy, she never remarried after her divorce, she never had children, she apparently had a massive lust for ladies, and she had decade-long relationships with women. Even Spencer Tracy thought she was a lesbian when her first met her. So she was the most obviously closeted actress ever, but she also managed to sleep with half of the men in Hollywood...
And what about Spencer Tracy, anyway? We've all had the Hepburn/Tracy pairing shoved in our faces, and Hepburn did drop her career for 5 years to care for him. But just because they were a "brand" with great onscreen chemistry doesn't mean that they weren't bearding for each other.
Whether or not the Tracy thing was real, it doesn't change the fact that Hepburn had a real talent for getting married men to fall in love with her: Tracy, John Ford, and Leland Hayward to name a few. (Given Hepburn's track record, I'm guessing that Lauren Bacall came along for the shooting of "The African Queen" for reasons other than merely accompanying her husband -- smart girl).
Whatever happened between Hepburn and Huston during the making of "The African Queen," I'm guessing Hepburn didn't come out the winner in the relationship, and thus she wrote a book that was -- is -- a playful slap at Huston. What's maddening is that Hepburn never cops to it. She alludes to it, drops hints, and dances around it, but she never offers up the goods.
Sure, the book is interesting. The poor cast and crew of "The African Queen" got to deal with lots of fun things on location in Africa, from army ants and alligators to swarming tsetse flies and bouts of dysentery. There are even smirk-worthy moments, such as Hepburn having a bucket by her feet for puking between takes while Bogart and Huston, who had spent a majority of their time in Africa in a drunken stupor, remained in perfect health. Yet there is very little here about the actual production of the film, or what happened on set.
And the most interesting tidbits have absolutely nothing to do with the making of the movie.
When Hepburn has still has disdain for Huston, she takes to observing Lauren Bacall and says, "Let's look at Betty [Bogart] ... She is young and she has lovely tawny skin and she has the most fabulous sandy hair. Beautiful whether it's straight or curled. In fact, you've never seen her until you've seen her in her bright-green wrapper on the way to the outhouse in the early morning with her hair piled up on her head and no lipstick or anything else. Her sleepy-slanty green eyes and her common-sense look and her lost voice and her lanky figure and her apparent fund of pugilistic good nature."
Am I projecting my modern sensibilities on to K.H., or is she checking out Betty Bogart? I suppose it doesn't matter. Lauren Bacall was gorgeous. Anyone would have gawked at her. Whatever. Moving on.
Hepburn proceeds to ramble on, to such an extent that if I looked at one more em dash, I was sure I'd gouge my own eyes out. (I swear the book was dictated). Among the sparsely detailed stories of the pain in the ass that it was to film this picture in Africa, with the equal pain in the ass John Huston at the helm, something happens.
Hepburn loves the cabin that Huston has built for her, and she throws her arms around him ... but she still hates him because he's unprofessional. Then he gives her the "best goddamndest piece of direction" she's ever heard, and she has a new respect for him. Fine. Later, she's out wandering in some African village alone one evening, runs into Huston, and they go off somewhere and share a bottle of wine on a hilltop. She "doesn't remember" what they talked about but "it was magic." When they wander down and join the rest of the cast and crew, Hepburn notes that "Betty was disgusted with me," and "there's a lot to be said for sinning." So, what happened?! Tell us, for Chrissakes! And the next day, the cast and crew remark that Hepburn has fallen under Huston's spell as she takes off on a game hunting safari with him. And no more details. Argh!
Eventually, after a day of filming and puking, Hepburn goes back to her cabin and falls asleep, while Huston and company go get lit up at some local Congolese cantina. A wasted Huston wanders into Hepburn's cabin that night, and this happens:
" 'Just stay alseep, Katie dear. Stay asleep. Asleep--asleep...' And he rubbed my back with his smooth, strong hands. And my head and my neck and my hands and my feet. Such a blessing. Took the trouble from me. It's true--the laying on of hands. So quiet--so sweet--so soothing. He was gentle. I slept. I don't remember what happened when he stopped."
Yeah. Sure you don't. Jesus. If one of my drunk guy friends came into my tropical hut and proceeded to give me a full-body massage... never mind.
Just friends? Suuuuuure.
So I guess this book hasn't done much more for me than make me resent old Hollywood for its cover-ups (Gary Cooper, Rock Hudson, Cary Grant, Greta Garbo) and the time I grew up in (Sally Ride, Jodie Foster, the Defense of Marriage Act, Rosie O'Donnell and Ellen playing straight on TV until the early 2000s) that perpetuated all of the bullshit.
It doesn't matter if Katharine Hepburn was gay or straight, swung both ways with Tracy, checked out Bacall or seduced Huston. Slut or straight laced, it doesn't matter. But I wish that it had just been okay to tell the truth about these things -- about being bisexual, sleeping around, and seducing other women's husbands. It would have made for a better story, and a way better book. And it would have made growing up a lot different for everyone.
As for Katharine Hepburn...I'll never figure her out.
Decent book, so long as you can tolerate Hepburn's staccato style and you're not looking to find out anything about what it was like to make the movie.
I'm hacking off a star for feeling like I was only told half of what could have been a riveting truth.
February 17, 2024
Interesting memoirs by Katharine Hepburn. I had watched the movie many many years ago. Recently tripped over the book by C. S. Forester of "Hornblower" fame. I had never read the book. One led to the other. I shall watch the movie again with a different perspective.
A light read. Lots of photographs of the filming and life on the set of the movie.
A quick read. Entertaining.
A light read. Lots of photographs of the filming and life on the set of the movie.
A quick read. Entertaining.
April 30, 2018
As a young child, my mom and I watched the classic movie "The African Queen" together. At first, I wasn't too thrilled (it was in black and white - HORRORS!), but the movie sucked me in and thus began my appreciation for the classic movies, especially anything with the great stars, including Katharine Hepburn.
This book was penned by Katharine because people kept asking her what it was like to work with Bogart, so she decided it would be easier to write it down once rather than repeat herself hundreds of times. It's written much like a person would speak - half sentences, fractured thoughts at times, etc., which I wasn't expecting. It's filled with photographs of the making of the movie. Hepburn was not well known when she did the movie, but she was a strong woman with a strong voice and she insisted if the movie would be called "The African Queen" it needed to be filmed in Africa. The stars faced exactly what you would expect - hordes of insects, sweltering heat, high humidity, freezing nights, sickness....and they also found what they didn't expect - a love for the continent, and sometimes love between the stars.
It's not a lengthy book - I read it in the course of a day. If you're a fan of Hepburn, Bogart, or classic movies, you will enjoy this book too.
This book was penned by Katharine because people kept asking her what it was like to work with Bogart, so she decided it would be easier to write it down once rather than repeat herself hundreds of times. It's written much like a person would speak - half sentences, fractured thoughts at times, etc., which I wasn't expecting. It's filled with photographs of the making of the movie. Hepburn was not well known when she did the movie, but she was a strong woman with a strong voice and she insisted if the movie would be called "The African Queen" it needed to be filmed in Africa. The stars faced exactly what you would expect - hordes of insects, sweltering heat, high humidity, freezing nights, sickness....and they also found what they didn't expect - a love for the continent, and sometimes love between the stars.
It's not a lengthy book - I read it in the course of a day. If you're a fan of Hepburn, Bogart, or classic movies, you will enjoy this book too.
March 17, 2013
How could you go wrong with Bogie, Katherine Hepburn, John Houston, and one of the classic films of all time gathered together in these pages. Hepburn, who writes as charmingly and as eccentrically as she acts, kept a diary of the making of The African Queen and it is delightful. Eccentric, funny, and full of pictures that I have never seen before, it puts you in the middle of the heat, the insects, and the free-flowing liquor of the location shooting. A great trip for the movie buff.
September 6, 2019
This is such an extremely happy book as Katherine Hepburn is in scintillating form as she recounts that she enjoyed herself throughout the entire filming of 'The African Queen' in Africa (and briefly in London). In the title she does say, 'and almost lost my mind' but nowhere in the book does she give any indication of this happening- she so much enjoys every minute of the experience. All I can think is that the monotony of living for three months in primitive conditions in the jungle, in strange surroundings played on her mind - but I stress that at no point in the narrative does she overtly say this.
Katherine covers the preparations for spending time on location in the Belgian Congo and discusses the personnel that she was to be involved with. Those people are a diverse group but Katherine adapts very easily to living and acting with them. She discusses all the quirks of John Huston and the delight of working with Bogie, who was quite an unusual, but very likeable character. Bogie was accompanied by his wife Lauren Bacall, who wasn't in the movie.
The filming of 'The African Queen' was no easy task and Katherine tells of the trials and tribulations of working on the film on, and off, the Ruiki River and how taxing it was travelling to and from the location shots. At one point the boat sinks and it takes an almighty effort from cast, crew and local natives to raise her so that filming can continue. In addition torrential rainstorms leave cloying mud underfoot but Katherine copes with it all with aplomb, hardly ever bemoaning the sometimes awful working conditions.
Producer Sam Spiegel flits in and out of the narrative and Katherine is amused by the different priorities of director John Huston and Spiegel; one wants to carry on regardless of any obstacles as he has a film to direct while the other is ever conscious of the money restrictions and wants to get the whole thing over as quickly, and as inexpensively, as possible. But even so there are no major fall-outs between them or any of the cast and Katherine finds her native houseboy, Tahili Bokumba, particularly helpful in keeping her in prime condition, both mentally and physically so that she can complete the movie with as little discomfort as possible. One thing that Tahili is particularly good at is providing her with breakfast every morning on her hut's verandah, from where she welcomes the day with a cigarette while listening to and watching the sights and sounds of the jungle.
Once location shooting is over, it is back to London to complete the filming in the studio where a huge tank is constructed to be used for static river scenes with a part-constructed African Queen. At one point the tank does spring a leak but fortunately contingency plans are on hand to ensure the film is completed successfully. Incidentally, Katherine does remark that one of the stars, Robert Morley, missed the fun of the jungle for he did all his filming in London and when he was buried in the African jungle a double took his place!
It is a lovely book, story lovingly and vividly descriptively, with many candid photographs, told, and it certainly leaves the reader with a desire to see the movie once more, this time in a new light - no matter how many times one has already seen it.
Katherine covers the preparations for spending time on location in the Belgian Congo and discusses the personnel that she was to be involved with. Those people are a diverse group but Katherine adapts very easily to living and acting with them. She discusses all the quirks of John Huston and the delight of working with Bogie, who was quite an unusual, but very likeable character. Bogie was accompanied by his wife Lauren Bacall, who wasn't in the movie.
The filming of 'The African Queen' was no easy task and Katherine tells of the trials and tribulations of working on the film on, and off, the Ruiki River and how taxing it was travelling to and from the location shots. At one point the boat sinks and it takes an almighty effort from cast, crew and local natives to raise her so that filming can continue. In addition torrential rainstorms leave cloying mud underfoot but Katherine copes with it all with aplomb, hardly ever bemoaning the sometimes awful working conditions.
Producer Sam Spiegel flits in and out of the narrative and Katherine is amused by the different priorities of director John Huston and Spiegel; one wants to carry on regardless of any obstacles as he has a film to direct while the other is ever conscious of the money restrictions and wants to get the whole thing over as quickly, and as inexpensively, as possible. But even so there are no major fall-outs between them or any of the cast and Katherine finds her native houseboy, Tahili Bokumba, particularly helpful in keeping her in prime condition, both mentally and physically so that she can complete the movie with as little discomfort as possible. One thing that Tahili is particularly good at is providing her with breakfast every morning on her hut's verandah, from where she welcomes the day with a cigarette while listening to and watching the sights and sounds of the jungle.
Once location shooting is over, it is back to London to complete the filming in the studio where a huge tank is constructed to be used for static river scenes with a part-constructed African Queen. At one point the tank does spring a leak but fortunately contingency plans are on hand to ensure the film is completed successfully. Incidentally, Katherine does remark that one of the stars, Robert Morley, missed the fun of the jungle for he did all his filming in London and when he was buried in the African jungle a double took his place!
It is a lovely book, story lovingly and vividly descriptively, with many candid photographs, told, and it certainly leaves the reader with a desire to see the movie once more, this time in a new light - no matter how many times one has already seen it.
October 1, 2015
Such an interesting life. Such an interesting person. I love reading her books, it's like you are having a conversation with her and you are her best friend. So warm, so dear.
July 13, 2020
A quick and delightful read, infused with Hepburn's usual quirky charm. If you're a fan, I would definitely recommend it!
December 23, 2016
Bogart: Katie, what's happened to you? You're a decent human being.
Hepburn: Not anymore I'm not. If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun.
The Making of the African Queen OR How I Went to Africa with Bogart, Bacall and Huston and Almost Lost My Mind (1987) by Katharine Hepburn is the actress's recollections of her great African adventure some thirty years after the fact. She tells us straight off that she never kept a diary, but later in life she often wished she had because "when you've lived as long as I have...you can't even remember the plot of many of the movies you've made--or the plays--really not anything about them or who or why." So, the reader might be tempted to take her memoir with a grain of salt. But she also tells us that "there are some happenings you can't forget. There they are. A series of facts--pictures--realities. This happened to me with The African Queen. I remember it in minute detail--I can see every second of its making and of me at the time...." And we know that there are, indeed, memories like that and are ready to take her at her word.
Of course, as with many celebrity books, one is also tempted to wonder if Katharine Hepburn really did write this. I don't know if she did sit down and write it all out (or type it all out...), but this is most distinctly her voice. If she didn't write it herself, I suspect she dictated it to someone who produced it exactly as she told it. Full of vim and vinegar and a spirit of adventure that comes through in so many of her characters--particularly that of Miss Rose Sayer in this movie. Hepburn tells us that she always wanted to go to Africa and she certainly didn't want to miss out on any adventures while she was there--up to and including going on an elephant hunt (she didn't shoot any and neither did any in her party) with John Huston who was a very poor shot and certain NOT to be much protection if there was any danger.
If I have one complaint about her memoir, it is that it is less about the making of the movie than it is the use of the movie's production as a backdrop to Hepburn's memories of Africa. Not that those memories and her story aren't worth reading about--they are, but it's not quite the story the reader expects. [Which explains a four-star rating instead of five.]
The book has an overall feel of an afternoon visit with Hepburn. The memories pour out of her like the reminiscences which might come up in a friendly chat . It makes for an enjoyable read and an interesting peek into the life of one of America's great actresses. She not only gives great descriptions of the locales in Africa, but has also given us plenty of pictures from behind the scenes on location.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
Hepburn: Not anymore I'm not. If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun.
The Making of the African Queen OR How I Went to Africa with Bogart, Bacall and Huston and Almost Lost My Mind (1987) by Katharine Hepburn is the actress's recollections of her great African adventure some thirty years after the fact. She tells us straight off that she never kept a diary, but later in life she often wished she had because "when you've lived as long as I have...you can't even remember the plot of many of the movies you've made--or the plays--really not anything about them or who or why." So, the reader might be tempted to take her memoir with a grain of salt. But she also tells us that "there are some happenings you can't forget. There they are. A series of facts--pictures--realities. This happened to me with The African Queen. I remember it in minute detail--I can see every second of its making and of me at the time...." And we know that there are, indeed, memories like that and are ready to take her at her word.
Of course, as with many celebrity books, one is also tempted to wonder if Katharine Hepburn really did write this. I don't know if she did sit down and write it all out (or type it all out...), but this is most distinctly her voice. If she didn't write it herself, I suspect she dictated it to someone who produced it exactly as she told it. Full of vim and vinegar and a spirit of adventure that comes through in so many of her characters--particularly that of Miss Rose Sayer in this movie. Hepburn tells us that she always wanted to go to Africa and she certainly didn't want to miss out on any adventures while she was there--up to and including going on an elephant hunt (she didn't shoot any and neither did any in her party) with John Huston who was a very poor shot and certain NOT to be much protection if there was any danger.
If I have one complaint about her memoir, it is that it is less about the making of the movie than it is the use of the movie's production as a backdrop to Hepburn's memories of Africa. Not that those memories and her story aren't worth reading about--they are, but it's not quite the story the reader expects. [Which explains a four-star rating instead of five.]
The book has an overall feel of an afternoon visit with Hepburn. The memories pour out of her like the reminiscences which might come up in a friendly chat . It makes for an enjoyable read and an interesting peek into the life of one of America's great actresses. She not only gives great descriptions of the locales in Africa, but has also given us plenty of pictures from behind the scenes on location.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
August 4, 2024
This book doesn’t cut it as memoir, filmography, or travelogue. It’s a flimsy bit of self-indulgent reminiscing—35 years after the fact. Which explains the vagueness of the recollections Katharine Hepburn shares here. Memorable passages like: “The days came and went. No real incidents. I went up the hill with the purser, one day that I was free.” A great actress she may have been, but she’s no writer. The best thing about The Making of the African Queen is the photographs. They’re in B&W but even so give a better feel for what the Congo looked like when they were filming. For the real, vivid descriptions of the Ulanga River and the harrowing, harebrained trip down the rapids in a steam-fitted launch, you’d have to read the original book The African Queen. It’s a product of its times, 1930s colonialism on full display, but C.S. Forester knows how to write and to tell a story. Strangely, Hepburn concentrates on the lodgings & the logistics, but very little on the role/character (Rosie the missionary), the director (difficult/brilliant), or her costar Bogie (sweet/generous) despite some early misgivings about the script (it got fixed).🎬
It doesn’t stand up to comparison with, say, Lauren Bacall’s ‘By Myself’, her poignant autobiography. She was on that trip to Africa with Hepburn, who refers to her as Betty (her real name) or collectively as the Bogies. Maybe I’ll reread that book to see what she made of Kate on the set of The African Queen.☔️🎥☀️🌍🚤🦛🐊🪰🛖🍍🌴🌱🍃🌞
It doesn’t stand up to comparison with, say, Lauren Bacall’s ‘By Myself’, her poignant autobiography. She was on that trip to Africa with Hepburn, who refers to her as Betty (her real name) or collectively as the Bogies. Maybe I’ll reread that book to see what she made of Kate on the set of The African Queen.☔️🎥☀️🌍🚤🦛🐊🪰🛖🍍🌴🌱🍃🌞
July 12, 2024
I can't imagine anyone picking up this book if they are not a fan of Katharine Hepburn. And if that's you -- and me -- you'll read it in Hepburn's voice and tone. Lots of staccato, infinite amounts of tone and impatience. You hear Hepburn's complaining voice, her ironic voice, her sarcastic voice or her Tracy Lord debutante voice. Attach whatever movie fits or is your favourite.
It's not brilliant but it is a hoot: largely a stream of consciousness memoir of preparing for and working on The African Queen largely summed up by the subtitle for the book: How I went to Africa with Bogart, Bacall and Huston and almost lost my mind. There are complaints about wardrobe, the expectations of a movie star, the lack of a script, director John Huston's style of working which did not mesh with the tight-wound Hepburn's expectations...
Movie fans may want more detail on the actual making of The African Queen, the story of a religious spinster who needs safe passage after her missionary brother is killed in World War One Africa and a steamboat captain agrees to transport her. The 1951 classic is largely the pair fighting and eventually falling in love. The performance earned Humphrey Bogart his only Oscar.
But I loved the observations, such as the day Hepburn went with Huston on a hunting expedition:
"The game wardens collected the guns. Wise men, experienced. What people don't have, they can't use. That's right--they summed us up correctly. ...
"The edges of the water were (I say again) carpeted with crocodiles. And a crocodile is an animal simply without charm."
Short and well worth an afternoon read on a hot summer day.
It's not brilliant but it is a hoot: largely a stream of consciousness memoir of preparing for and working on The African Queen largely summed up by the subtitle for the book: How I went to Africa with Bogart, Bacall and Huston and almost lost my mind. There are complaints about wardrobe, the expectations of a movie star, the lack of a script, director John Huston's style of working which did not mesh with the tight-wound Hepburn's expectations...
Movie fans may want more detail on the actual making of The African Queen, the story of a religious spinster who needs safe passage after her missionary brother is killed in World War One Africa and a steamboat captain agrees to transport her. The 1951 classic is largely the pair fighting and eventually falling in love. The performance earned Humphrey Bogart his only Oscar.
But I loved the observations, such as the day Hepburn went with Huston on a hunting expedition:
"The game wardens collected the guns. Wise men, experienced. What people don't have, they can't use. That's right--they summed us up correctly. ...
"The edges of the water were (I say again) carpeted with crocodiles. And a crocodile is an animal simply without charm."
Short and well worth an afternoon read on a hot summer day.
May 30, 2018
I dare you to read this and not hear Kate’s voice. Delightful from beginning to end.
August 29, 2010
Ever since I learned that Kate Hepburn wrote about her experiences in Africa filming The African Queen, I’ve wanted to read it. It’s one of my favorite films and I love Forester’s novel.
Well, Kate’s book is certainly an experience. Her distinct voice is readily apparent in her writing. I think if you’ve ever seen her interview Katharine Hepburn: All About Me, you’d know what I mean—the way she tells a story… short brief sentences that are to the point, and the way she meanders from one thought to the next; a way that’s not always linear. Nevertheless, she’s entertaining, and I couldn’t help giggling at some of her commentary in regards to Lauren Bacall and Bogart. Her descriptions of John Huston are also great fun. At first she can’t stand the man, but he seems to gradually wear her down to the point where they become best buddies. Also, her photographs are quite good. She’s got some great candid shots of the Bogarts and Huston, as well as various shots from around the set.
Below are a couple of sections I thought worth noting:
“ ‘I want adventure—I want to hunt elephants with John. Not to kill, just to see.”
Oh my God, Katie. Talk to Bogie….”
Bogie came.
“Katie, what’s happened to you? You’re a decent human being.”
“Not anymore I’m not. If you obey all the rules you miss all the fun. John has fun.”
“John,” says Bogie. “That son of a bitch has gotten to you.”
“He’s seeing Africa.”
“You’re making a picture.”
“Yes, I’m making a picture, but I’m seeing life at the same time.”
“She’s gone,” he said to Sam [Spiegel:]. “Under the spell.”
“Listen Katie—have you ever shot a gun?”
“Yes, Bogie—I’m a pretty good shot.”
“Well, your friend John is not William Tell—in fact, when you get to that goddamned boat, you’d better throw a few cans over the side and see how good or how bad he is—and if the elephant charges… take my advice and run.” He went off…. Bogie was right. He—John—had beautiful guns and a passion for le sport. Not a great eye. But I was with him all the way. Adventure.”
“ ‘What’s the matter Bogie—you scared of a leech? Try one,” I said.
“You try it first, kid.”
Well, ugh. I just couldn’t.
So the rest of that day was spent trying to find—invent—a material that would stick to Bogie’s skinny frame. There he sat—and everyone would come in and see if his or her concoction would stick. He was funny sitting there…. So—how shall I put it— so pure. Like a little kid. Dear Bogie. I’ll never forget that close-up of him after he kisses Rosie, then goes around in back of the tank and considers what has happened. His expression—the wonder of it all—life.”
Well, Kate’s book is certainly an experience. Her distinct voice is readily apparent in her writing. I think if you’ve ever seen her interview Katharine Hepburn: All About Me, you’d know what I mean—the way she tells a story… short brief sentences that are to the point, and the way she meanders from one thought to the next; a way that’s not always linear. Nevertheless, she’s entertaining, and I couldn’t help giggling at some of her commentary in regards to Lauren Bacall and Bogart. Her descriptions of John Huston are also great fun. At first she can’t stand the man, but he seems to gradually wear her down to the point where they become best buddies. Also, her photographs are quite good. She’s got some great candid shots of the Bogarts and Huston, as well as various shots from around the set.
Below are a couple of sections I thought worth noting:
“ ‘I want adventure—I want to hunt elephants with John. Not to kill, just to see.”
Oh my God, Katie. Talk to Bogie….”
Bogie came.
“Katie, what’s happened to you? You’re a decent human being.”
“Not anymore I’m not. If you obey all the rules you miss all the fun. John has fun.”
“John,” says Bogie. “That son of a bitch has gotten to you.”
“He’s seeing Africa.”
“You’re making a picture.”
“Yes, I’m making a picture, but I’m seeing life at the same time.”
“She’s gone,” he said to Sam [Spiegel:]. “Under the spell.”
“Listen Katie—have you ever shot a gun?”
“Yes, Bogie—I’m a pretty good shot.”
“Well, your friend John is not William Tell—in fact, when you get to that goddamned boat, you’d better throw a few cans over the side and see how good or how bad he is—and if the elephant charges… take my advice and run.” He went off…. Bogie was right. He—John—had beautiful guns and a passion for le sport. Not a great eye. But I was with him all the way. Adventure.”
“ ‘What’s the matter Bogie—you scared of a leech? Try one,” I said.
“You try it first, kid.”
Well, ugh. I just couldn’t.
So the rest of that day was spent trying to find—invent—a material that would stick to Bogie’s skinny frame. There he sat—and everyone would come in and see if his or her concoction would stick. He was funny sitting there…. So—how shall I put it— so pure. Like a little kid. Dear Bogie. I’ll never forget that close-up of him after he kisses Rosie, then goes around in back of the tank and considers what has happened. His expression—the wonder of it all—life.”
June 25, 2009
I'm into film, particularly the earlier years of the big studios,the influential eras such as French New Wave and American Independent of the 60/70's, the film making process and so on. As a result I find it hard not to pick up books that cover these genres and enjoy them. However I made a typical mistake in that I trusted an actor with the responsibility of writing the story. They may well be good story tellers on stage, but alas few are good on paper.
In this case Hepburn does a barely passable job, due mainly to lack of depth and creative prose, that I ultimately walked away with only a better understanding of her idiosyncrasies rather than what actually happened to the cast, crew, set, locals, etc.
Amusing at times, particularly her own admission of being a demanding Hollywood starlet, her views on producer, Sam Spielberg and director John Huston, and co-star Bogart. Plenty of photos and pleasantly laid out.
I've given it a 3 because after all it is a topic of interest for me and therefore insightful, and also to be fair to Hepburn she confesses up front to not being a writer and only wrote the book on the insistence of other people.
In this case Hepburn does a barely passable job, due mainly to lack of depth and creative prose, that I ultimately walked away with only a better understanding of her idiosyncrasies rather than what actually happened to the cast, crew, set, locals, etc.
Amusing at times, particularly her own admission of being a demanding Hollywood starlet, her views on producer, Sam Spielberg and director John Huston, and co-star Bogart. Plenty of photos and pleasantly laid out.
I've given it a 3 because after all it is a topic of interest for me and therefore insightful, and also to be fair to Hepburn she confesses up front to not being a writer and only wrote the book on the insistence of other people.
September 18, 2017
I have always been a fan of the movie "The African Queen" In 1987 Katharine Hepburn wrote a memoir of the making of The African Queen. This is a fun and interesting book to read. She describes what it is like filming this movie in 1950 with Humphrey Bogart and director John Huston. The heat, getting ill, living in a small hut. deep in the jungle. The Boat sank a couple times and they had to halt filming to bring it back up.I found this book great to read and learn more about what went on filming this movie. Like a doctor warning her to NOT go in the river since it is very poisonous. what is was like to work with Humphrey Bogart{ she became friends with him and wife Lauren Bacall} A great read for those who like the movie The African Queen.
July 13, 2015
If you really want to get to know Katharine Hepburn, but were not satisfied with her autobiography, "Me", then I highly recommend this story. Here, she tells a specific story in which she was a participant (as opposed to here-and-there thoughts within "Me") and for me she reveals much more of herself. And imagine, without the special effects in movies today, the entire crew actually traveled to Africa! They had a pretty rough time with eating and sleeping and illness and finding "bathrooms" and pretty much just living through this ordeal.
May 4, 2014
It's like going to visit your favorite aunt - who just happens to sound exactly like Katharine Hepburn - and you sit on the back patio with a glass of fresh lemonade and she tells you about a marvelous adventure she had back in the old days.
March 30, 2025
So, I picked up this book at one of the "Free Little Libraries" near my house, but it was waterlogged and in poor shape, so I just texted a picture of it to my sister Leah, basically saying, "I would have taken this, but...." Next thing I know, Leah has checked it out from the Monrovia library (she's visting the States right now), read it, and brought it over for me to read! I'm in the middle of Naomi Klein's Doppelganger but Leah argued it would take only a couple hours to get through the whole mini-memoir. So, I did my best to read it all before Sunday brunch tomorrow.
All this to say, the book was enjoyable! Katharine Hepburn seems to have truly written it herself because her recounting of the shooting of The African Queen is quite oddly told. She uses a lot of ellipses and em dashes, and seems to almost prefer fragments, e.g. "Very hot" or "Looked completely ridiculous." The story is light and superficial. Hepburn provides a surprising amount of detail about her bowel movements. Some sections were rather tedious, but this book is short and includes 45 photos, so the tedious parts go by quickly. Overall, a fun read, especially if you'd like to learn about Classic Hollywood.
All this to say, the book was enjoyable! Katharine Hepburn seems to have truly written it herself because her recounting of the shooting of The African Queen is quite oddly told. She uses a lot of ellipses and em dashes, and seems to almost prefer fragments, e.g. "Very hot" or "Looked completely ridiculous." The story is light and superficial. Hepburn provides a surprising amount of detail about her bowel movements. Some sections were rather tedious, but this book is short and includes 45 photos, so the tedious parts go by quickly. Overall, a fun read, especially if you'd like to learn about Classic Hollywood.
January 13, 2022
The woman has no filter 🤣😂🤣 I thought I was bad. She’s in here taking swings at Sam Spiegals weight, John Hustons drinking, Bogarts hair piece. Hysterical! For over 30 yrs after the event I think she captures it all beautifully. I have real issues with a lot of Celebrities autobiographies when they zip through the filming of something; Anjelica Huston is one of them, but this being the sole subject was wonderful and the behind the scenes photos are incredibly interesting. She doesn’t flinch or shy away from how demanding or irritating she can come off. Very self aware and disarmingly charming….just…with the armour.
“There’s a lot to be said for sinning”
- Katharine Houghton Hepburn
“There’s a lot to be said for sinning”
- Katharine Houghton Hepburn
July 15, 2019
This book was a really neat insight into what is must have been like to be an actress during the time the African Queen was made. Although, the writing style is a bit hard to read because of the short clipped sentences and often meandering subject matter... true to Kathrine's speaking style, I would say all in all worth the read!
July 27, 2023
"Live dangerously. There's a lot to be said for sinning."
I really like how this felt like a family member telling you stories from their past. This felt very realistic, and I really liked the photos that were scattered throughout (well most of the photos).
Also pretty excited that I found the collectors box set that included this book at a thrift store in the middle of nowhere :D
I really like how this felt like a family member telling you stories from their past. This felt very realistic, and I really liked the photos that were scattered throughout (well most of the photos).
Also pretty excited that I found the collectors box set that included this book at a thrift store in the middle of nowhere :D
June 9, 2024
A delightful and informative -- and informal -- look at the making of the famous film by one of its stars. Hepburn writes in a chatty and clear manner, although I defy any reader to NOT hear her voice. Fun, with lots of pictures.
March 25, 2024
Very interesting and very funny. A look into the mind of Katherine Hepburn as well as the times in which The African Queen was made. Fascinating.
August 5, 2019
Insightful look into film making in Africa in the early 1950's, complete with photographs and Katharine Hepburn's humor and wit.
August 12, 2023
One of my favorite small venues for an intimate, unique concert experience is The Kate—short for The Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center—in Old Saybrook, Connecticut, a 285-seat theater with outstanding acoustics that hosts multi-genre entertainment in a historic building dating back to 1911 that once served as both theater and Town Hall. In 2013, my wife and I had the great pleasure of seeing Jefferson Airplane alum Marty Balin rock out at The Kate. More recently, we swayed in our seats to the cool Delta blues of Tab Benoit. On each occasion, prior to the show, we explored the photographs and memorabilia on display in the Katharine Hepburn Museum on the lower level, dedicated to the life and achievements of an iconic individual who was certainly one of greatest actors of her generation.
Hepburn was a little girl when she first stayed at her affluent family’s summer home in the tony Fenwick section of Old Saybrook, just a year after the opening of the then newly constructed Town Hall that today bears her name. She later dubbed the area “paradise,” returning frequently over the course of her long life and eventually retiring to her mansion in Fenwick overlooking the water, where she spent her final years until her death at 96 in 2003. The newly restored performing arts center named in her honor opened six years later, with the blessings of the Hepburn family and her estate.
One of the eye-catching attractions in the museum includes an exhibit behind glass showcasing Hepburn’s performance with co-star Humphrey Bogart in the celebrated 1951 film, The African Queen, that features a copy of the 1987 memoir credited to her whimsically entitled The Making of the African Queen: Or How I went to Africa With Bogart, Bacall and Huston and almost lost my mind. I turned to my wife and asked her to add this book to my Christmas list.
Now, full disclosure: I am a huge Bogie fan (my wife less so!). I recently read and reviewed the thick biography Bogart, by A.M. Sperber & Eric Lax, and in the process screened twenty of his films in roughly chronological order. My wife sat in on some of these, including The African Queen, certainly her favorite of the bunch. If I had to pick five of the finest Bogie films of all time, that would certainly make the list. Often denied the recognition that was his due, he won his sole Oscar for his role here. A magnificent performer, in this case Bogart benefited not only from his repeat collaboration with the immensely talented director John Huston, but also by starring opposite the inimitable Kate Hepburn.
For those who are unfamiliar with the film (what planet are you from?), The African Queen, based on the C. S. Forester novel of the same name, is the story of the unlikely alliance and later romantic relationship between the staid, puritanical British missionary and “spinster” (a term suitable to the times) Rose Sayers (Hepburn) and the gin-soaked Canadian Charlie Allnut (Bogart), skipper of the riverboat African Queen, set in German East Africa (present-day Tanzania) at the outbreak of World War I. After aggression by German forces leaves Rose stranded, she is taken onboard by Allnut. In a classic journey motif that brilliantly courts elements of drama, adventure, comedy, and romance, the film follows this mismatched duo as they conspire to arm the African Queen with explosives and pilot it on a mission to torpedo a German gunboat. Those who watch the movie for the first time will be especially struck by the superlative performances of both Bogie and Hepburn, two middle-aged stars who not only complement one another beautifully but turn out an unexpected on-screen chemistry that has the audience emotionally involved, rooting for their romance and their cause. It is a tribute to their mutual talents that the two successfully communicated palpable on-screen passion to audiences of the time who must have been struck by the stark disparity between the movie posters depicting Bogie as a muscular he-man and Hepburn as a kind of Rita Hayworth twin—something neither the scrawny Bogart nor the aging Hepburn live up to in the Technicolor print. But even more so because those same 1951 audiences were well acquainted with the real-life 51-year-old Bogart’s marriage to the beautiful 27-year-old starlet Lauren (real name Betty) Bacall, born of an on-set romance when she was just 19.
Katharine Hepburn had a long career in Hollywood marked by dramatic ebbs and flows. While she was nominated for an Academy Award twelve times and set a record for winning the Best Actress Oscar four times, more than once her star power waned, and at one point she was even widely considered “box office poison.” Her offscreen persona was both unconventional and eccentric. She defied contemporary expectations of how a woman and a movie star should behave: shunning celebrity, sparring with the press, expressing unpopular political opinions, wearing trousers at a time that was unacceptable for ladies, fiercely guarding her privacy, and stubbornly clinging to an independent lifestyle. She was pilloried as boyish, and accused of lesbianism at a time when that was a vicious expletive, but she evolved into a twentieth century cultural icon. Divorced at a young age, she once dated Howard Hughes, but spent nearly three decades in a relationship with the married, alcoholic Spencer Tracy, with whom she costarred in nine films. Rumors of liaisons with other women still linger. Perhaps no other female figure cut a groove in Hollywood as deep as Kate Hepburn did.
Hepburn’s book, The Making of the African Queen, showed up under the tree last Christmas morning—the original hardcover first edition, for that matter—and I basically inhaled it over the next couple of days. It’s an easy read. Hepburn gets the byline but it’s clear pretty early on that the “narrative” is actually comprised of excerpts from interviews she sat for, strung together to give the appearance of a book-length chronicle. But no matter. Those familiar with Kate’s distinctive voice and the cadence of her signature Transatlantic accent will start to hear her pronouncing each syllable of the text in your head as you go along. That quality is comforting. But it is nevertheless plagued by features that should make you crazy: it’s anecdotal, it’s uneven, it’s conversational, it’s meandering, and maddingly it reveals only what Hepburn is willing to share. In short, if this were any other book about any other subject related by any other person, you would grow not only annoyed but fully exasperated. But somehow, unexpectedly, it turns out to be nothing less than a delight!
If The African Queen is a cinema adventure, aspects of the film production were a real-life one. Unusual for its time, bulky Technicolor cameras were transported to on-location shoots in Uganda and Congo, nations today that then were still under colonial rule. The heat was oppressive, and danger seemed to lurk everywhere, but fears of lions and crocodiles were trumped by smaller but fiercer army ants and mosquitoes, a host of water-borne pathogens, as well as an existential horror of leeches. Tough guy Bogie was miserable from start to finish, but Hepburn reveled in the moment, savoring the exotic flora and fauna, and bursting with excitement. Still, almost everyone—including Kate—fell terribly ill at least some of the time with dysentery and a variety of other jungle maladies. At one point Hepburn was vomiting between takes into a bucket placed off-screen. The running joke was that the only two who never got sick were Bogie and director Huston, because they eschewed the local water and only drank Scotch!
Huston went to Africa hoping to “out-Hemingway” Hemingway in big game hunting, but his safari chasing herds of elephants turned into a lone antelope instead. He seemed to do better with Kate. The book does not openly admit to an affair, but the intimacy between them leaps off the page. Hepburn proves affable through every paragraph, although sometimes less than heroic. Readers will wince when upon first arrival in Africa she instantly flies into a fit of rage that has her evict a staff member from an assigned hotel room that to her mind rightly should belong to a VIP of her caliber! And while she is especially kind, almost to a fault, to every African recruited to serve her in various capacities, there is a patronizing tone in her recollections that can’t help but make us a bit uncomfortable today. Still, you cannot detect even a hint of racism. You get the feeling that she genuinely liked people of all stations of life, but could be unrepentantly condescending towards those who did not, like her, walk among the stars. Yet, warts and all—and these are certainly apparent—Kate comes off today, long after her passing, as likeable as she did to those who knew her in her times. And what times those must have been!
This book is pure entertainment, with the added bonus of forty-five wonderful behind-the-scenes photographs that readers may linger upon far longer than the pages of text. For those who loved the film as I do, the candid moments that are captured of Bogie, Hepburn, and Huston are precious relics of classic Hollywood that stir the heart and the soul. If you are a fan, carve out the time and read The Making of the African Queen. But more importantly, screen The African Queen again. Then you will truly know what I mean.
A link to The Kate: The Kate
A link to the The African Queen on IMDB: IMDB: The African Queen
My review of the Bogart bio: Review of: Bogart, by A.M. Sperber & Eric Lax
NOTE: My top five Bogie films: Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon, Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The African Queen, The Caine Mutiny—but there are so many, it’s difficult to choose…
Review of: The Making of the African Queen: Or How I went to Africa With Bogart, Bacall and Huston and almost lost my mind, by Katharine Hepburn – Regarp Book Blog https://regarp.com/2023/08/12/review-...
Hepburn was a little girl when she first stayed at her affluent family’s summer home in the tony Fenwick section of Old Saybrook, just a year after the opening of the then newly constructed Town Hall that today bears her name. She later dubbed the area “paradise,” returning frequently over the course of her long life and eventually retiring to her mansion in Fenwick overlooking the water, where she spent her final years until her death at 96 in 2003. The newly restored performing arts center named in her honor opened six years later, with the blessings of the Hepburn family and her estate.
One of the eye-catching attractions in the museum includes an exhibit behind glass showcasing Hepburn’s performance with co-star Humphrey Bogart in the celebrated 1951 film, The African Queen, that features a copy of the 1987 memoir credited to her whimsically entitled The Making of the African Queen: Or How I went to Africa With Bogart, Bacall and Huston and almost lost my mind. I turned to my wife and asked her to add this book to my Christmas list.
Now, full disclosure: I am a huge Bogie fan (my wife less so!). I recently read and reviewed the thick biography Bogart, by A.M. Sperber & Eric Lax, and in the process screened twenty of his films in roughly chronological order. My wife sat in on some of these, including The African Queen, certainly her favorite of the bunch. If I had to pick five of the finest Bogie films of all time, that would certainly make the list. Often denied the recognition that was his due, he won his sole Oscar for his role here. A magnificent performer, in this case Bogart benefited not only from his repeat collaboration with the immensely talented director John Huston, but also by starring opposite the inimitable Kate Hepburn.
For those who are unfamiliar with the film (what planet are you from?), The African Queen, based on the C. S. Forester novel of the same name, is the story of the unlikely alliance and later romantic relationship between the staid, puritanical British missionary and “spinster” (a term suitable to the times) Rose Sayers (Hepburn) and the gin-soaked Canadian Charlie Allnut (Bogart), skipper of the riverboat African Queen, set in German East Africa (present-day Tanzania) at the outbreak of World War I. After aggression by German forces leaves Rose stranded, she is taken onboard by Allnut. In a classic journey motif that brilliantly courts elements of drama, adventure, comedy, and romance, the film follows this mismatched duo as they conspire to arm the African Queen with explosives and pilot it on a mission to torpedo a German gunboat. Those who watch the movie for the first time will be especially struck by the superlative performances of both Bogie and Hepburn, two middle-aged stars who not only complement one another beautifully but turn out an unexpected on-screen chemistry that has the audience emotionally involved, rooting for their romance and their cause. It is a tribute to their mutual talents that the two successfully communicated palpable on-screen passion to audiences of the time who must have been struck by the stark disparity between the movie posters depicting Bogie as a muscular he-man and Hepburn as a kind of Rita Hayworth twin—something neither the scrawny Bogart nor the aging Hepburn live up to in the Technicolor print. But even more so because those same 1951 audiences were well acquainted with the real-life 51-year-old Bogart’s marriage to the beautiful 27-year-old starlet Lauren (real name Betty) Bacall, born of an on-set romance when she was just 19.
Katharine Hepburn had a long career in Hollywood marked by dramatic ebbs and flows. While she was nominated for an Academy Award twelve times and set a record for winning the Best Actress Oscar four times, more than once her star power waned, and at one point she was even widely considered “box office poison.” Her offscreen persona was both unconventional and eccentric. She defied contemporary expectations of how a woman and a movie star should behave: shunning celebrity, sparring with the press, expressing unpopular political opinions, wearing trousers at a time that was unacceptable for ladies, fiercely guarding her privacy, and stubbornly clinging to an independent lifestyle. She was pilloried as boyish, and accused of lesbianism at a time when that was a vicious expletive, but she evolved into a twentieth century cultural icon. Divorced at a young age, she once dated Howard Hughes, but spent nearly three decades in a relationship with the married, alcoholic Spencer Tracy, with whom she costarred in nine films. Rumors of liaisons with other women still linger. Perhaps no other female figure cut a groove in Hollywood as deep as Kate Hepburn did.
Hepburn’s book, The Making of the African Queen, showed up under the tree last Christmas morning—the original hardcover first edition, for that matter—and I basically inhaled it over the next couple of days. It’s an easy read. Hepburn gets the byline but it’s clear pretty early on that the “narrative” is actually comprised of excerpts from interviews she sat for, strung together to give the appearance of a book-length chronicle. But no matter. Those familiar with Kate’s distinctive voice and the cadence of her signature Transatlantic accent will start to hear her pronouncing each syllable of the text in your head as you go along. That quality is comforting. But it is nevertheless plagued by features that should make you crazy: it’s anecdotal, it’s uneven, it’s conversational, it’s meandering, and maddingly it reveals only what Hepburn is willing to share. In short, if this were any other book about any other subject related by any other person, you would grow not only annoyed but fully exasperated. But somehow, unexpectedly, it turns out to be nothing less than a delight!
If The African Queen is a cinema adventure, aspects of the film production were a real-life one. Unusual for its time, bulky Technicolor cameras were transported to on-location shoots in Uganda and Congo, nations today that then were still under colonial rule. The heat was oppressive, and danger seemed to lurk everywhere, but fears of lions and crocodiles were trumped by smaller but fiercer army ants and mosquitoes, a host of water-borne pathogens, as well as an existential horror of leeches. Tough guy Bogie was miserable from start to finish, but Hepburn reveled in the moment, savoring the exotic flora and fauna, and bursting with excitement. Still, almost everyone—including Kate—fell terribly ill at least some of the time with dysentery and a variety of other jungle maladies. At one point Hepburn was vomiting between takes into a bucket placed off-screen. The running joke was that the only two who never got sick were Bogie and director Huston, because they eschewed the local water and only drank Scotch!
Huston went to Africa hoping to “out-Hemingway” Hemingway in big game hunting, but his safari chasing herds of elephants turned into a lone antelope instead. He seemed to do better with Kate. The book does not openly admit to an affair, but the intimacy between them leaps off the page. Hepburn proves affable through every paragraph, although sometimes less than heroic. Readers will wince when upon first arrival in Africa she instantly flies into a fit of rage that has her evict a staff member from an assigned hotel room that to her mind rightly should belong to a VIP of her caliber! And while she is especially kind, almost to a fault, to every African recruited to serve her in various capacities, there is a patronizing tone in her recollections that can’t help but make us a bit uncomfortable today. Still, you cannot detect even a hint of racism. You get the feeling that she genuinely liked people of all stations of life, but could be unrepentantly condescending towards those who did not, like her, walk among the stars. Yet, warts and all—and these are certainly apparent—Kate comes off today, long after her passing, as likeable as she did to those who knew her in her times. And what times those must have been!
This book is pure entertainment, with the added bonus of forty-five wonderful behind-the-scenes photographs that readers may linger upon far longer than the pages of text. For those who loved the film as I do, the candid moments that are captured of Bogie, Hepburn, and Huston are precious relics of classic Hollywood that stir the heart and the soul. If you are a fan, carve out the time and read The Making of the African Queen. But more importantly, screen The African Queen again. Then you will truly know what I mean.
A link to The Kate: The Kate
A link to the The African Queen on IMDB: IMDB: The African Queen
My review of the Bogart bio: Review of: Bogart, by A.M. Sperber & Eric Lax
NOTE: My top five Bogie films: Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon, Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The African Queen, The Caine Mutiny—but there are so many, it’s difficult to choose…
Review of: The Making of the African Queen: Or How I went to Africa With Bogart, Bacall and Huston and almost lost my mind, by Katharine Hepburn – Regarp Book Blog https://regarp.com/2023/08/12/review-...
August 6, 2025
katharine hepburn having a girl crush on lauren bacall is so real
February 24, 2020
What a fantastic fucking weirdo.
December 22, 2018
I came across this book on my shelf as I was working on a blog about Hollywood and movies and old film stars. It's an absolute joy and I'm sitting down to read it once more. Katharine Hepburn was a class act even when she was cracking herself up.
**
Great line: "I may look odd walking across Claridge's lobby but I'm the height of chic in the jungle."
"I swim all winter in the Long Island Sound: ten degrees above zero and with a north wind blowing is my record. One of my more irritating qualities. Why do I do it? I think to be irritating. Don't you? Why else?"
Easy to see why she's always been my hero. If you love the film, read the book. If you love Hepburn, Bogie, Bacall or Houston, read the book! It's grand fun.
**
Great line: "I may look odd walking across Claridge's lobby but I'm the height of chic in the jungle."
"I swim all winter in the Long Island Sound: ten degrees above zero and with a north wind blowing is my record. One of my more irritating qualities. Why do I do it? I think to be irritating. Don't you? Why else?"
Easy to see why she's always been my hero. If you love the film, read the book. If you love Hepburn, Bogie, Bacall or Houston, read the book! It's grand fun.
June 12, 2024
I read this in large print because that's all my library had and let me tell you, that plus the crazy stream of consciousness and wild grammar and tangents? It kind of felt like a fever dream of a book.
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