--- title: The Philadelphia Story at 75: A Historic Queue for Tickets description: 'The Philadelphia Story' was released on Dec. 26, 1940—and quickly drew the longest box-office line in the history of NYC's top cinema canonical: https://time.com/4147594/the-philadelphia-story-1940/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-12-25T17:00:40.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T13:20:47.180Z article:section: History og:title: The Philadelphia Story at 75: A Historic Queue for Tickets og:description: It was the longest line in Radio City Music Hall history og:url: https://time.com/4147594/the-philadelphia-story-1940/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltea6422e8b8c2b30c/698875362dce01af199e6eff/philadelphia1.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: The Philadelphia Story og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Philadelphia Story at 75: A Historic Queue for Tickets twitter:description: It was the longest line in Radio City Music Hall history twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltea6422e8b8c2b30c/698875362dce01af199e6eff/philadelphia1.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Why the Line to See _The Philadelphia Story_ Was Epic  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Dec 25, 2015 5:00 PM UTC  A poster for George Cukor's 1940 romantic comedy 'The Philadelphia Story', starring (left to right) Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant and James Stewart. A poster for George Cukor's 1940 romantic comedy 'The Philadelphia Story', starring (left to right) Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant and James Stewart.Silver Screen Collection / Getty Images  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Dec 25, 2015 5:00 PM UTC Today, Katharine Hepburn is solidly established in the pantheon of Hollywood stars. But there was a time when that seemed far from likely. In the late 1930s, a few of Hepburn’s films had flopped so badly that one New York City theater owner declared her “box-office poison.” He [took it back](http://time.com/vault/issue/1941-01-20/page/83/), however, when _The Philadelphia Story_ opened 75 years ago, on Dec. 26, 1940_,_ quickly drawing what TIME then called “the longest line in the eight-year history of the Radio City Music Hall.” People “queued up during a spell of foul weather to pay top prices,” and within four days “had set a new record for the period with 110,168 paid admissions in the nation’s No. 1 movie house.” It was a long road to that point. Hepburn had spent a few years prioritizing her stage career over Hollywood jobs, eventually finding herself starring, in early 1939, in the Broadway production of a new play: _The Philadelphia Story_, by Philip Barry. The play was, TIME’s critic [reported](http://time.com/vault/issue/1939-04-10/page/70/), “a kind of pious froth about an attractive Main-Line Philadelphia society girl with a high and historic sense of her own importance” but “an entertaining evening, thanks to gay, lively dialogue and Actress Hepburn’s amazing aptness for her role.” Hepburn agreed that the role was meant for her. Even before the curtains went up on opening night, she had [purchased](http://time.com/vault/issue/1939-05-22/page/64/) the film rights to the story, with the help of the reclusive tycoon Howard Hughes. Hepburn demanded that _The Philadelphia Story_ get star treatment too, so the studio found Cary Grant and James Stewart to star alongside her. The result was good—”terribly funny, terribly upper class,” TIME’s film critic declared. “Woven into \[the\] saga of the supertaxed is a thorough discussion of snobbery, from which \[the writers\] spring to the conclusion that it is possible to have money and social position and still be nice. …In short, _The Philadelphia Story_ lifts the daily drudge into a charming never-never land, with complete footnotes excusing its existence. And besides, it’s a good, entertaining show.” **_Read the full review, here in the TIME Vault:_** [The Philadelphia Story](http://time.com/vault/issue/1941-01-20/page/83/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4147594/the-philadelphia-story-1940/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4147594/the-philadelphia-story-1940/"},"headline":"Why the Line to See The Philadelphia Story Was Epic","datePublished":"2015-12-25T17:00:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T13:20:47.180Z","description":"The film was released 75 years ago, on Dec. 26, 1940","url":"https://time.com/4147594/the-philadelphia-story-1940/","keywords":["movies","review"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltea6422e8b8c2b30c/698875362dce01af199e6eff/philadelphia1.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltea6422e8b8c2b30c/698875362dce01af199e6eff/philadelphia1.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The Philadelphia Story","caption":"The Philadelphia Story","creditText":"Silver Screen Collection / Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4147594/the-philadelphia-story-1940/","name":"Why the Line to See The Philadelphia Story Was Epic"}}]}] ```