TCM Schedule for Thursday, November 30, 2017 -- What's On Tonight: St. Andrew's Day

[Staph]

In the daylight hours, TCM is celebrating Virginia Mayo, born as Virginia Clara Jones, on November 30, 1920, in St. Louis. Early on, using her real name of Virginia Jones, she played a straight woman in vaudeville for four years to a performing horse act. The "horse" was comprised of two men known as the Mayo Brothers; hence her stage name. Then in prime time, we have a pure dead brilliant selection of films that celebrate the home of St. Andrew's Cross flag -- Scotland. And one of those films, unfortunately on quite late, is one of my all time favorites, Local Hero (1983). Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- SEVEN DAYS ASHORE (1944)
A sailor enlists his buddies to help with an excess of girlfriends.
Dir: John H. Auer
Cast: Wally Brown, Alan Carney, Marcy McGuire
BW-74 mins, CC,

Based on a story by Jacques Deval.


7:30 AM -- THE GIRL FROM JONES BEACH (1949)
An artist discovers a real-life version of the perfect woman he's been drawing for years.
Dir: Peter Godfrey
Cast: Ronald Reagan, Virginia Mayo, Eddie Bracken
BW-78 mins, CC,

Lauren Bacall turned down the role as Ruth Wilson because it called for her to appear in a bathing suit. She said: "I'm not a bathing beauty... I'll be embarrassed."


9:00 AM -- THE WEST POINT STORY (1950)
A Broadway producer tries to put on a show at the legendary military academy.
Dir: Roy Del Ruth
Cast: James Cagney, Virginia Mayo, Doris Day
BW-107 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- Ray Heindorf

Filmed at Warner Bros. Studios in California, not at the Military Academy.


11:00 AM -- SOUTH SEA WOMAN (1953)
A Marine sergeant battles Nazi agents to help a showgirl escape war torn China.
Dir: Arthur Lubin
Cast: Burt Lancaster, Virginia Mayo, Chuck Connors
BW-98 mins, CC,

Odd for any Hollywood movie, the colonel who is the head of the court martial wears a USMC Distinguished Marksman rifle badge. This is somewhat interesting in that the distinguished badges are rare and rather difficult to earn. In fact there have been little more than a couple thousand actual rifle distinguished badges awarded to Marines since the first ones around 1903.


12:45 PM -- SHE'S WORKING HER WAY THROUGH COLLEGE (1952)
A professor helps a burlesque queen get a college education.
Dir: Bruce Humberstone
Cast: Virginia Mayo, Ronald Reagan, Gene Nelson
C-101 mins, CC,

Virginia Mayo's favorite of her own movies.


2:30 PM -- SHE'S BACK ON BROADWAY (1953)
A fading Hollywood star returns to the stage to work with the man who discovered her.
Dir: Gordon Douglas
Cast: Virginia Mayo, Gene Nelson, Frank Lovejoy
C-95 mins, CC,

Although her vocals were always dubbed, Mayo enjoyed doing musical pictures because she got to dance.


4:15 PM -- PAINTING THE CLOUDS WITH SUNSHINE (1951)
Three chorus girls hit Las Vegas in search of rich husbands.
Dir: David Butler
Cast: Dennis Morgan, Virginia Mayo, Gene Nelson
C-87 mins, CC,

Doris Day turned down the role that eventually went to Virginia Mayo; she thought the part was too similar to her other musicals.


5:49 PM -- TOURING NORTHERN ENGLAND (1950)
This short film focuses on the history, culture, and people of Northern England.
C-9 mins,


6:00 PM -- ALWAYS LEAVE THEM LAUGHING (1949)
A vaudeville clown neglects his family while fighting for stardom.
Dir: Roy Del Ruth
Cast: Milton Berle, Virginia Mayo, Ruth Roman
BW-116 mins, CC,

In the audition scene with Virginia Mayo, Berle imitates an upper-crust type, wearing a monocle and a robe or smoking jacket with an Art Deco-esque print. This unusual-looking garment was used in a movie at least once previously. It was worn by Monty Woolley in The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942).



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: ST. ANDREW'S DAY



8:00 PM -- WEE GEORDIE (1955)
A young Scotsman is sent to compete in the Melbourne Olympics.
Dir: Frank Launder
Cast: Alastair Sim, Bill Travers, Norah Gorsen
C-100 mins,

The first two establishing shots of Geordie's arrival in Australia show Sydney Harbour and the bridge;, before showing a shot of Melbourne. The Olympic Games were held in Melbourne and it is likely that the ships bringing athletes would have gone directly to Melbourne.


10:00 PM -- THE 'MAGGIE' (1954)
An American businessman in Scotland is conned into shipping a valuable load of cargo to a Scottish island via a coal powered boat.
Dir: Alexander Mackendrick
Cast: Paul Douglas, Alex Mackenzie, Abe Barker
BW-92 mins,

The film uses real place names up until the Crinan Canal. Once The Maggie passes through the canal, all the place names become fictional.


11:41 PM -- CRUISE OF THE ZACA (1952)
In this short film, Erroll Flynn takes a group of scientists on an expedition aboard his schooner, The Zaca. Vitaphone Release 2175A.
Dir: Errol Flynn
C-18 mins,


12:00 AM -- THE MASTER OF BALLANTRAE (1953)
A Scottish lord rebels against the British by taking up piracy.
Dir: William Keighley
Cast: Errol Flynn, Roger Livesey, Anthony Steel
C-89 mins, CC,

Errol Flynn's last film for Warner Bros before he was released from his contract in 1952. He had been with the studio for 18 years.


1:45 AM -- BRIGADOON (1954)
Two American hunters in Scotland discover a mystical village that only materializes once every century.
Dir: Vincente Minnelli
Cast: Gene Kelly, Van Johnson, Cyd Charisse
C-108 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- Cedric Gibbons, E. Preston Ames, Edwin B. Willis and F. Keogh Gleason, Best Costume Design, Color -- Irene Sharaff, and Best Sound, Recording -- Wesley C. Miller (M-G-M)

To get the effect of Brigadoon emerging from the mist, Vincente Minnelli filmed the sets with the fog being pumped in, then reversed the shot to show the mist moving away.


3:45 AM -- LOCAL HERO (1983)
An American executive gets involved with the inhabitants of a Scottish village he's scouting for a new refinery.
Dir: Bill Forsyth
Cast: Peter Riegert, Burt Lancaster, Denis Lawson
C-111 mins, Letterbox Format

Alex Norton remembers that Watt's line as Mac and Oldsen watch Marina swimming, "She's got a magnificent pair of lungs", had to be reshot endlessly as Peter Riegert and Peter Capaldi kept sniggering.


5:51 AM -- ICE CLIMBERS (1956)
This short film takes a look at the Austrian sport of "ice climbing."
BW-8 mins,