Illeana Douglas to Launch JUNGLE RED! at The Kate in Old Saybrook

On Tuesday, September 15, at 7:00 PM (hosted by The Katherine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center in Old Saybrook), celebrated actress/author/film historian Illeana Douglas and her pal, NPR's popular Connecticut host Colin McEnroe, will summon their inner bitchiness to celebrate female empowerment circa 1939 and to answer the question: In the battle of the sexes, do women still have the upper hand?

This exclusive event with Illeana Douglas will present the audience with a dazzling behind-the-scenes look at one of Hollywood's sharpest, most stylish, and most deliciously wicked classics: MGM's The Women.

The year 1939 produced such classics as Gone With The Wind and The Wizard of Oz. No less critically acclaimed was The Women. With its sophisticated direction by George Cukor, lavish fashions by Adrian, and all-star female cast led by Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, Rosalind Russell, not a single male appeared, proving women didn't need men to rule the box office. In Jungle Red!, Douglas restores this “largely forgotten masterpiece” to its rightful place in Hollywood history. With her signature wit, passion, and deep love of classic film, she reveals the combustible drama behind the camera with rival screenwriters, clashing stars, George Cukor's comeback bid, and gossip-column fireworks as fierce as anything in the finished film, which resulted in the most groundbreaking film ever made about women . . . by a man!

Filled with never-before-seen photographs, memos, and script notes, Jungle Red! is a sparkling celebration of Hollywood glamour, female rivalry, creative ambition, and the enduring legacy of The Women—a film whose influence can still be seen in everything from Sex and the City to The Real Housewives.

It's time to fall in love with The Women all over again.

Ticket price at this 7:00 PM book launch event hosted by The Kate includes a signed copy of Illeana Douglas's new book, Jungle Red! The Making of MGM's The Women, published by Lyons Press, a local book publisher in Essex, CT.

Earlier in the day next week on Tuesday, September 15 at 1:00 PM, there will also be a screening of the 1939 classic The Women with an in-person introduction by Illeana Douglas. Tickets to this screening are a separate purchase from the 7:00 PM book launch event.

To order tickets for this event, contact the box office at The Katherine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center either by phone (860) 510-0453 or by visiting the center at
300 Main Street, Old Saybrook, CT 06475.

About the Author

Illeana Douglas has starred in films like Cape Fear, To Die For, Grace of My Heart, and Ghost World, as well as in TV shows like Goliath, Shrill, Entourage, and Six Feet Under. Douglas is the granddaughter of two-time Academy Award-winning actor Melvyn Douglas. A classic film lover, she hosted Trailblazing Women for Turner Classic Movies and participated in many film documentaries, including CNN: The Movies and Kino Lorber's Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers, which she also executive produced and hosted. Her first book, I Blame Dennis Hopper: And Other Stories from a Life Lived In and Out of the Movies was named Best Pop Culture book of the year in 2015 by Entertainment Weekly. Her most recent book, Connecticut in the Movies, was a regional bestseller in 2023.