Community Community IEI-Qatar Ian Stone will organises join Jarlath P7seminar on P16 Regan and the “Latest Trends Wayne Deakin for the and Practices latest edition of The in Fire & Safety Laughter Factory on Technologies.” December 5. Friday, December 2, 2016 Rabia I 3, 1438 AH DOHA 21°C—30°C TODAY LEISURE 12 & 13 LIFESTYLE/HOROSCOPE 14 COVER TORY The way she was S Remembering Katharine Hepburn and her life in Connecticut. P2-3 2 GULF TIMES Friday, December 2, 2016 COMMUNITY COVER STORY Star who scooped her own ice cream PRAYER TIME The quintessential “Connecticut Yankee” was cherished Fajr 4.42am Shorooq (sunrise) 6.03am for her talent, honesty, courage and independence. Zuhr (noon) 11.23am Asr (afternoon) 2.23pm Maghreb (sunset) 4.45pm Isha (night) 6.15pm USEFUL NUMBERS Emergency 999 Worldwide Emergency Number 112 Kahramaa – Electricity and Water 991 Local Directory 180 International Calls Enquires 150 Hamad International Airport 40106666 Labor Department 44508111, 44406537 Mowasalat Taxi 44588888 Qatar Airways 44496000 Hamad Medical Corporation 44392222, 44393333 Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation 44845555, 44845464 Primary Health Care Corporation 44593333 By Bill Daley 44593363 Qatar Assistive Technology Centre 44594050 atharine Hepburn may Qatar News Agency 44450205 have achieved stardom in 44450333 Hollywood and triumph on Q-Post – General Postal Broadway, but she never, Corporation 44464444 ever lost her connection Kto her native Connecticut. Indeed, she Humanitarian Services Offi ce lived out much of her last years in her (Single window facility for the repatriation of bodies) house in Fenwick, a tiny borough on Ministry of Interior 40253371, 40253372, Long Island Sound where her family 40253369 had summered since 1912. With time, Ministry of Health 40253370, 40253364 she would be viewed by millions Hamad Medical Corporation 40253368, 40253365 of admirers as the quintessential Qatar Airways 40253374 “Connecticut Yankee,” cherished for her talent, her honesty, her courage and her independence. Remembering Katharine Hepburn: Stories of Wit and Wisdom About America’s Leading Lady by Ann Nyberg, te Unqu a veteran Connecticut television uo ot anchorwoman, highlights Hepburn’s Q e ties to her native state. And, it’s about time the Connecticut side of Hepburn’s Men do not life got some attention. shape destiny, Destiny Most biographies of Katharine Hepburn deal with her career and THE MISSING LINK: Most biographies of Katharine Hepburn deal with her career produces the man her loves, which often played out and her loves, which often played out away from Connecticut. away from Connecticut. All grapple for the hour. with essential questions of who she career, Nyberg writes that the movie’s make me wonder if there might be — Fidel Castro really was and what propelled her co-stars were Cary Grant – true – and less noticeable mistakes that the to greatness. Hepburn has proved Henry Fonda – false, that was Jimmy proofreader missed. an elusive target. Even her own 1991 Stewart. (Hepburn co-starred with Nyberg mostly keeps the focus autobiography, Me, proved to be Fonda in 1981’s On Golden Pond.) A few local in her book. She doesn’t dive ultimately disappointing because she pages later, talking about Hepburn’s particularly deeply but does off er never really, truly opened up. unconventional look, Nyberg has the insights shared in stories from people Nyberg’s book off ers info on actress arriving in Hollywood in the like Gene Heiney, the now-retired Old Community Editor Hepburn’s movies, plays and romances 1920s. In fact, Hepburn arrived in 1932 Saybrook police offi cer who served as – one does have to explain four – July 4 according to Me – to begin a protector; longtime resident Viola Kamran Rehmat Academy Awards and Howard Hughes, production of her fi rst movie, A Bill of Tagliatela, who was 11 when she fi rst e-mail: [email protected] after all. But it is here on this most Divorcement. encountered Hepburn, and who later Telephone: 44466405 familiar of ground that she trips – and Minor errors, true, but major to off ered her book suggestions; and even Fax: 44350474 in the fi rst 10 pages too. In referencing any Hepburn fan (or movie buff ). Hepburn’s great niece, Schuyler Grant, The Philadelphia Story, the 1940 Such obvious errors in connection who found acting lessons with “Aunt movie that resuscitated Hepburn’s with such easily checked facts always Kat” not to her liking. Friday, December 2, 2016 GULF TIMES 3 COVER STORY COMMUNITY Nyberg’s book is made up, as she writes in the preface, of “vignettes” shared by people who knew or worked with Hepburn. These interviews, she notes later, were incorporated into a film titled A Star Among Us, which plays continuously at the Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center (aka “The Kate”) in Old Saybrook Locals never made a fuss about as she writes in the preface, of Connecticut historian, author story, especially when the stories story. And she gave me a singular Hepburn. They did not gawk or “vignettes” shared by people who and former mayor of West are laid out side by side. piece of advice. point or hoot as she went about knew or worked with Hepburn. Hartford, Conn., who was Still, I appreciate this book. “Don’t live in fear,” Hepburn her business in Fenwick, where These interviews, she notes Hepburn’s brother-in-law. All My first journalism job was in declared stoutly. she could often be spotted on the later, were incorporated into good – but I wish the material Old Saybrook, and most of the It took me years to fully grasp tennis courts; or in town, in Old a film titled A Star Among Us, had been more seamlessly woven residents I knew treasured their what that meant. As Nyberg’s Saybrook, where she shopped at which plays continuously at the together. Hepburn memories and stories. I book points out frequently, Walt’s Food Market and scooped Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts While locals such as Heiney certainly did too. Hepburn once Hepburn was a perceptive teacher her own ice cream at James Center (aka “The Kate”) in Old and Tagliatela don’t have the told me I was lazy and should whose words fell on many an Pharmacy. They protected her Saybrook. Nyberg, a founding lasting name recognition of, say, be shot. She was right, I should appreciative (if, in my case, not privacy right up to her death, at member of The Kate, also weaves Spencer Tracy or Hughes, I don’t have been. But Hepburn let me, totally comprehending) ear. age 96, in 2003. into the book stories shared by think it necessary to repeatedly a young, still-green reporter at Connecticut was lucky to have Nyberg’s book is made up, Ellsworth Grant, the perceptive re-identify them with each new one of the local weeklies, get my her. – Chicago Tribune/TNS Kendrick doesn’t take her stardom too seriously “I never took it that seriously,” Kendrick said And while Kendrick has graced the covers of By Nicole Brodeur of writing the book. “But during the whole plenty of magazines, it wasn’t pretty getting process I was surrounded by women who I there. One photographer told her to relax her found inspiring – and intimidating. That was shoulders 21 times. (“I always thought my nna Kendrick is a movie star who the only reason I decided to follow through.” shoulders were fi ne,” she wrote.) Another just doesn’t want to play the part. Kendrick writes like she just sat down beside photographer for a men’s magazine asked, She is the Oscar-nominated you, dumped her purse, ordered a drink and “Can we lose the bra?” When he spotted her co-star of Up in the Air, a member launched into a great story starring her, sure glancing at the monitor, he said, “Don’t worry, of the Pitch Perfect and Twilight – but she is often a newbie, a wisecracking we’ll slim out your legs.” (“I always thought my Afranchises. She’s a tiny woman with a big bumbler. legs were fi ne,” she wrote.) singing voice, an innocent face with a salty She may be in a luxury hotel or on a movie On walking the red carpet past a line of mouth. set, but Kendrick can always be counted on photographers: “You must maintain your And she’s not taking any of this celebrity doing something – for lack of a better word – smile through it, though. You cannot give any stuff too seriously. human. indication that a hundred people are shouting The other day, Kendrick was on the phone She showed up on the set of Twilight after at you like drowning victims begging for a from Chicago, a stop on a promotional tour for the rest of the cast – including Kristen Stewart lifeboat.” her new book of essays, Scrappy Little Nobody. and Robert Pattinson – had been enduring the In other words, it ain’t all that it seems. It has been its own kind of relief for her – and cold and rain for several weeks. Kendrick tracks her life and career up to any of her fans disappointed by the recent “I was the idiot greenhorn,” she writes, this point: She was raised in Maine and was election. “showing up, like ‘Hey, bros! Who’s amped nominated for a Tony Award at 12 for her role in “I am seeing this great nation at a great up to get in there and rip it up?’” Kellan Lutz the Broadway production of High Society. She time,” Kendrick said. “I am glad for everybody, would have strangled her, had he the energy, was nominated for an Academy Award in 2009 and I am a glad for me, that sometimes the she wrote.