Spencer Tracy

[JackFavell]

That's a wonderful, lovely thing, that John Tracy grew up to be a truly inspiring person in his own right. That so much turmoil could bring so much love, well, it gives me hope in this world.

[Sue Sue Applegate]

Me, too.

[charliechaplinfan]

Thank you for the article, we here so often about the legendary Tracy and Hepburn that we forget he was a father and husband. How inspiring his son was and how devoted John's parents were, I was very touched by it.

Would you recommend the Curtis book?

[Sue Sue Applegate]

I am in the middle of it, Allison, and it is well-researched, and has lots of different quotes of different sources. It's a very linear approach, and alternates from personal to professional experiences. Curtis is definitely a fan of Tracy's, and has unearthed a couple of quotes and experiences that I hadn't heard of.

Loved the explanation about audience reaction to the earthquake in San Francisco. There are a great deal of facts about the financial/managerial aspects of the film business (grosses,etc.) and he has a well-supported comparison/contrast section about Fox vs. MGM. So there are practical and personal explanations for the way everything plays out.

[charliechaplinfan]

I looked at it but I think the amount of pages put me off, having said that if it's paced well I'll get around to reading it.

[moira finnie]

Thanks for that article about Spencer Tracy's son John, Christy. He was a remarkable guy in his own right. I corresponded with John Tracy's son, Joseph Spencer Tracy for a time. He is an artist, but, sadly, family difficulties over financial affairs between Susan Tracy and her nephew have complicated the relations between the family members, leading to a lawsuit concluded in 2007 that resulted in a jury awarding one single dollar to both parties after considerable wrangling over the remains of the Spencer Tracy estate. [I don't recall this matter being mentioned in this biography or any other book, though the basics of the legal issues are accessible online]

I think that Curtis drew a picture of the father and son as warily loving, even though Tracy found it difficult to cope with his eldest child's handicap and both parents appear to have felt some guilt over the boy's physical handicaps, especially since they lived in an era when so little was understood about deaf children that they were often institutionalized with the mentally ill for life.

One of the most touching stories in the Curtis biography was one recalled by Pat O'Brien, who had been friends with the actor since their Milwaukee area childhood. When both were working actors trying to make their mark in the theater in the '20s, O'Brien and Tracy were walking down the street in Manhattan one evening discussing their efforts to find work. Suddenly, O'Brien realized that tears were streaming down his friend's face. Insisting on asking his pal what the trouble was, Tracy, whose well-known penchant for melancholia even then was never far from the surface, poured out the "shameful" truth of his son's deafness and related how this had strained the family life that he and Louise Treadwell Tracy had carved out of their precarious professional lives. What was interesting was how O'Brien tried hard to comfort his friend over his "confession," but that nothing ever really assuaged his inherent guilt over what Tracy always seemed to regard as a kind of retribution with his son paying for "the sins of the father."

I thought that James Curtis did a good job of limning the kind of Roman Catholic guilt that then existed (and still does to a much less extent) in the mind of the faithful, which Tracy was throughout his life. There was a manicheistic streak in many Irish Catholics of that generation and the next that saw spiritual and moral responsibility for everything, thoughts as well as actions, as inescapable and all-encompassing even though the Church (a very contradictory institution) stated that all sins could be forgiven in the sacrament of Confession. Since religion seems to have sustained him as well as goaded him into a deeper sorrow over things he did not really control, I only hope that Tracy found some peace through his work and the amount of money that he devoted to helping his son and deaf children throughout the world via the still thriving John Tracy Clinic that Mrs. Tracy founded and Spencer's money supported.

[charliechaplinfan]

That's so sad about Spencer's family. Did Spencer and Louise only have the one child?

Roman Catholic guilt, I know about that, my grandparents would have been of Spence's generation and my Grandmother certainly carried it and it led her to be hospitalised on more than one occasion, so when I read about Spence's guilt I can understand why the guilt but he should never have felt guilty. I hope his work gave him peace.

Looks like I'll have to get that book out of the library

[moira finnie]

That's so sad about Spencer's family. Did Spencer and Louise only have the one child?

No, they also had Susan Tracy (b. 1932), who is still living and was instrumental in helping James Curtis write the biography of her father. Susie was also close to Katharine Hepburn after the deaths of both her parents.


Spencer, Susan and John Tracy relaxing at the polo field in the 1930s.

[charliechaplinfan]

Doesn't John look like Spence? I can't believe it.

[MissGoddess]

I was thinking the same thing, the boy looks so much like the man.

[Sue Sue Applegate]

Fascinating behind the scenes information, Moira. You always amaze!

I also felt that the Roman Catholic guilt had a much stronger grip on Tracy's persona than most of his contemporaries realized, and the touching story about Pat O'Brien is one that certainly creates empathy for the both of them, O'Brien for his empathy and friendship with Tracy, and Tracy for his devotion to his faith and family, and willingness to sporadically reach out for consolation and comfort.