KATMARCNEsAND GUTHRIE Following her success in London, Katharine met and fell in love with Guthrie McClintick, a young theatre director. “Naturally, | selected the home of my heart as the place where | wanted to be married. My wedding to Guthrie McClintic took place in Cobourg, in the house where | had grown up.”* It was her Aunt Lydia’s summer home at 139 Queen Street. It was a September wedding. They had expected to be married by the Anglican minister, but he refused to perform the ceremony because Guthrie was divorced. A Methodist minister had no such scruples. Another consideration which might have concerned the clergy was the belief of many that both Katharine and Guthrie were gay and that their union was a “lavender marriage”, one of convenience only. The couple returned to:'New York and purchased a large house in Manhattan. The third floor of the home ‘ f fi } Ha sé 1 Nae qi baile Barrétts of Wimpole Street” , ' by Theatre Magazine Company, March 1931 was Katharine’s domain, the fourth floor was Guthrie’s and the floors below were open to both. In the first few years of their marriage both partners pursued relationships with the same sex, Katharine becoming involved in the euphemistically named “sewing circles” within the city. (This term referred to groups of women.who met regularly to discuss the underground of closeted lesbian and bisexual film and stage performers.) Nevertheless, Katharine and Guthrie remained a devoted couple as well as a successful team. They achieved their greatest success in 1931 when Guthrie directed and Katharine portrayed English poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning in “The Barretts of Wimpole Street”. They took the production to Europe during World War II to-entertain the troops. OURG MUSEUM UNDATION