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12/16/2009 11:00 PMEver wondered what an Emmy statue looks like up close? At The Kate's new museum, a visitor can get close enough to the Emmy statue that actress Katharine Hepburn won to clearly read the engraved words.
Displayed in the exhibit case alongside the Emmy are other awards Hepburn received in a lifetime of recognitions: the golden Emmy statue for Love Among the Ruins, a crystal People's Choice award, an American Movie Theater Award trophy for On Golden Pond, and a personalized ribbon award given to her when she
received a Kennedy Center
lifetime achievement recognition.
According to Elaine Staplins, chair of the Hepburn Museum committee, the items in this display case are on loan to the museum from a town resident and friend of Hepburn to whom she gave these items. Also on loan to the museum-and on display-are two dresses that Hepburn wore in movies in which she starred.
"After the theater building committee hired East Wharf Architects's Tom MacDonald, collectively we decided that there should be an area [of the building] dedicated to Katharine Hepburn. We wanted to touch both upon her career as an actress but also her life and her connections to Connecticut and to Old Saybrook in particular," said Staplins, who chaired the museum committee while also serving on the theater's building committee, on the board of trustees, and helping with
research in her role as municipal historian.
Also serving on the Hepburn Theater Museum Committee were Brenda Milkovsky, the recently retired curator of the Connecticut River Museum in Essex; Wilma Asch; Bob Wendler; Bob Cziepiel, creator of the film documenting the creation of the Hepburn Theater; and, as an honorary member, Judy Samuelson of New York, a writer for Playbill magazine.
On permanent display as a centerpiece of the first floor museum space is an original oil painting of Katharine Hepburn painted by nationally known portrait artist Everett Raymond Kinsler. Kinsler, upon learning of plans to create a museum space to honor Hepburn, generously offered to donate this oil painting of her to hang in the new museum. Also donated and on display is a signed Kinsler print presenting Hepburn in a casual pose.
At the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., another Kinsler portrait of Hepburn hangs in an exhibit that displays Hepburn's four Oscar award statues.
In one of several framed photo montages, there appear photos of Hepburn with famous movie
directors including George Cukor, John Ford, and Anthony Harvey who visited her in her "other paradise," her nickname for the home in the Borough of Fenwick.
Another visitor to Hepburn's Fenwick home who flew in on his own seaplane was Howard Hughes; another framed montage shows photos of him, with Hepburn and the plane.
"In 1985, on the 350th anniversary of the town's founding, the American Wind Symphony performed from a boat at Saybrook Point. Kate actually came up to the podium with her secretary and helped to conduct the music," said Staplins. "Kate also supported the town's first elderly housing complex on Sheffield Street with a monetary gift to establish a fund the interest of which was to be used for celebrations and social gatherings of the residents who lived there."
Still unfinished is a museum alcove area that will be dedicated to photos and information about Hepburn's connections to the town including photos of the Hepburn cottage before and after the Hurricane of 1938 and plaques recounting her life in town.
Milkovsky, largely responsible for the final design and installation of the exhibits, praised the town's foresight in supporting the theater restoration project that includes the new museum.
"I'm so struck by the quality of this project-the restoration is just right. It was a very wise investment for the town and the entertainment is a great contribution to the quality of life," she said.
The Katharine Hepburn Museum is on the ground floor of the new Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center on Main Street in Old Saybrook and is open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and during performances at the center.