My Top 9 Favorite Christmas Movies: Holiday (1938)

Before 1940's "The Philadelphia Story" screenwriter Donald Ogden Stewart and George Cukor had another film in common that involved an adapted portrayal of a woman of high society. Where "Philadelphia Story" had Helen Hope Montgomery Scott, 1938's "Holiday" (also originally a play written by Philip Barry) took liberties with the life and family of Gertrude Sanford Legendre. The oldest of three children of South Carolina society with a younger brother and sister, Legendre was known for her New Year's Eve parties before becoming a second lieutenant in the American O.S.S. 

But Linda Seton (Katharine Hepburn, who played the role once as the original understudy on stage) was not allowed to hold a simple party for her newly engaged sister (Doris Nolan) and fiancee (Cary Grant) in the suffocating confines of the Seton New York mansion. Julia and Johnny have fallen in love, having met just a few days before on vacation at Lake Placid. Come Christmas Day and Johnny finds out that his future wife is a Seton as well as experiencing a house with an elevator! But the last thing he ever expected was that his future wife would not be fine with his life plans. "I want to save part of my life for myself. There's a catch to it though, it's gotta be part of the young part. You know, retire young, work old, come back and work when I know what I'm working for." This rocks the Setons' world in more ways than one as Linda has fallen in love with Johnny's carefree spirit as well as his similarly minded friends, Professor Nick Potter (Edward Everett Horton reprising the same role he played in the original 1930 film) and Susan Potter, a lecturer who once spoke at Linda's school (Jean Dixon). 

As a remake to the 1930's vehicle starring Ann Harding, Mary Astor, and Robert Ames, Hepburn (much like when she presented "Philadelphia Story" to MGM) convinced Harry Cohn of Columbia to produce a remake. In addition to requesting Cukor, who was a close friend, for her director, she also wanted Cary Grant in the role of Johnny Case, Hepburn had begun her "box office poison" reputation that would be remedied by the future movie, which parallels "Holiday," but unlike "Philadelphia Story," this movie never quite got off the ground although being well received by critics and even now considered "one of the best-acted comedies in cinema annals." (Anne Edwards. Katharine Hepburn: A Remarkable Woman.)