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Ruth Gordon
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Written by Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin, Adam's Rib is a peerless comedy predicated on the double standard. Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn play Adam and Amanda Bonner, a husband-and-wife attorney team, both drawn to a case of attempted murder. The defendant (Judy Holliday) had tearfully attempted to shoot her husband (Tom Ewell) and his mistress (Jean Hagen). Adam argues that the case is open and shut, but Amanda points out that, if the defendant were a man, he'd be set free on the basis of "the unwritten law." Thus it is that Adam works on behalf of the prosecution, while Amanda defends the accused woman. The trial turns into a media circus, while the Bonners' home life suffers.
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Ruth Gordon was an obvious choice to portray Emily's sister Essie. Of course, this being a Litella bit, the "tissues" of the day would be quite funny, including the borderline-offensive "air fags" line, and "flea erections"...and of course the Litella preoccupation with toast.
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The daughter of a former ship captain, Ruth Gordon knew what she wanted to do with her life after witnessing a performance by stage actress Hazel Dawn. Over the initial objections of her father, Gordon decided upon a stage career, studying at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. After the usual deprivations and barnstorming (and a few extra roles in such films as Camille [1916]), she got her first positive newspaper notice for her Broadway debut in a 1915 production of Peter Pan. "Ruth Gordon was ever so gay as Nibs," wrote influential critic Alexander Woollcott, who became a valued and powerful friend to Gordon, and did what he could to encourage her and promote her career. With such stage hits as Seventeen, Serena Blandish, and Ethan Frome, Gordon was one of Broadway's biggest stars of the 1920s and '30s; privately... her life was blotted by the premature death of her first husband, actor Gregory Kelly. She remarried in 1942 to the brilliant playwright Garson Kanin, some 16 years her junior -- a union that lasted more than four decades.
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Ruth Gordon, born circa 1752, probably at Franklin Co, PA, married circa 1773, Arthur Eckels, son of Charles Eckles. Arthur was born 1742 in Northern Ireland, and died in September, 1831 at Beaver Co, PA. After the death of Ruth at Beaver Co, Arthur married 2nd circa 1785, Abigail _______, the widow of Mr. Matthews. He married 3rd, _______ at about 1802. Arthur served under Benedict Arnold and took part in the invasion of Quebec during the Revolutionary War. He was a member of the 1st PA Regiment of the Continental Line from August, 1776 to August 1779. After moving to Washington Co, PA, he served the remainder of the war in the Washington County frontier Rangers.
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When Ruth Gordon chained herself to the Pacific Stock Exchange on August 26, 1980, she was worried. Not that she'd be arrested or labeled an upstart. A woman in a traditionally male profession, she'd heard that kind of name-calling before. But she was concerned that a banner her fellow protesters had hung on the building's façade was blocking both of the building's exits. An ERA advocate, yes, but first she was an engineer and engineers are forever concerned for the safety of individuals inside buildings.
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Ruth Gordon