Delicious Dogwoods

"The Philadelphia Story," a wonderful film directed by George Cukor that took place on a grand Main Line estate just outside of Philadelphia, was about Tracy Lord, a passionate and impulsive socialite played by Katherine Hepburn. Tracy held wonderful garden parties at the Lord mansion with Dexter Haven (Cary Grant) and Macaulay Connor (Jimmy Stewart) and passionately embraced her life, both the good and the bad, always with the utmost grace and charm. She was the picture of elegance and the perfect icon to represent the Main Line in 1939 when the film was shot.

Having grown up in the heart of the Main Line, I always loved the movie, and thought it was the most wonderful coincidence that Katherine Hepburn's character and my grandmother, Janet Lord, shared the same family name; to this day I gleefully maintain that Tracy was modeled after my Gran (but only the good parts, of course!)

The film was shot on a set at MGM Studios in Hollywood, far away from the real Main Line, a venerable and distinguished locale known for its ancient trees, pristine rolling lawns, and magnificent landscaping. The Lord mansion, Tracy's cinematic home, was designed after a large estate not far from where I grew up and which my grandmother actually visited from time to time with friends. Although she was far less grand and far more sensible than Tracy Lord, my Gran also lived in a wonderful Main Line home with beautiful rose gardens, shade-dappled lawns and lovely slate terraces. I still remember, as a very little girl, eating tiny sandwiches served on silver trays that were whisked across high-ceilinged rooms by silently floating hands in white gloves. Looking back, it was a wonderful and magical time, and very definitely a time gone by. Thankfully, we have George Cukor and his Tracy Lord forever on film to document a unique and lovely part of Philadelphia history.

As for me, two generations later, the Main Line was as close to the perfect place for a kid to grow up as you could get. I went through the typical teenage angst years when all I wanted was a more worldly environment, yet even when I left at the stroke of eighteen, I returned home often, sometimes for elongated stays; I even had an apartment on the Main Line when I was going to college in town. The area turned out to be a hard place to leave, despite my determination to grow up, and even when I was living in NYC, I still went home frequently to see friends and family.

Living full time in China has made it more difficult to regularly get back here, but I try to visit a couple of times a year. These dogwoods right outside my Dad's condominium complex remind me of why I still enjoy returning. The Main Line, with its beautiful old trees, is an oasis of sorts, a place to escape to, and an essential part of me will always consider it home. It's about as far away from China as you can get; it's a place that valiantly fights against the relentless clock, a place where even the most modern aspects of life are met with an old world sensibility and grace.

At the risk of blurring the line between fiction and reality, I'd like to imagine Katherine Hepburn gazing up into these dogwood branches, drawing a deep breath, swinging her perfectly coifed hair, and in her wonderfully refined accent whispering, "Oh my, what delicious dogwoods!"