TCM Schedule for Thursday, September 13 -- TCM Spotlight: Mack Sennett

[Staph]

Today TCM is celebrating the birthday of Claudette Colbert, born Emilie Claudette Chauchoin on September 13, 1903, in Saint-Mandé, Val-de-Marne, France. We have a nice selection of her films, including her Oscar-winning role in the delightful It Happened One Night (1934). Don't miss it! In prime time, this month's theme of the films of Mack Sennett continues. Enjoy!


6:15 AM -- The Secret Heart (1946)
A recent widow tries to help her emotionally disturbed stepdaughter.
Dir: Robert Z. Leonard
Cast: Claudette Colbert, Walter Pidgeon, June Allyson
BW-97 mins, TV-PG, CC,

After filming The Secret Heart together, Claudette Colbert and co-star June Allyson became such great friends in real life Colbert became godmother to Allyson's daughter Pamela.


8:00 AM -- It Happened One Night (1934)
A newspaperman tracks a runaway heiress on a madcap cross-country tour.
Dir: Frank Capra
Cast: Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert, Walter Connolly
BW-105 mins, TV-PG, CC,

Won Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Clark Gable (In 1996, Steven Spielberg anonymously purchased Clark Gable's Oscar to protect it from further commercial exploitation, gave it back to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, commenting that he could think of "no better sanctuary for Gable's only Oscar than the Motion Picture Academy".), Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Claudette Colbert (Claudette Colbert was so convinced that she would lose the Oscar to write-in nominee Bette Davis that she didn't attended the ceremony orignally. She was summoned from a train station to pick up her Academy Award.), Best Director -- Frank Capra, Best Writing, Adaptation -- Robert Riskin, and Best Picture

Friz Freleng's unpublished memoirs mention that this was one of his favorite films, and that it contains at least three things upon which the character "Bugs Bunny" was based: - The character Oscar Shapely's (Roscoe Karns) personality - The manner in which Peter Warne (Clark Gable) was eating carrots and talking quickly at the same time - An imaginary character mentioned once to frighten Oscar Shapely named "Bugs Dooley." Other mentions of "Looney Tunes" characters from the film include Alexander Andrews (Walter Connolly) and King Westley (Jameson Thomas) being the inspirations for Yosemite Sam and Pepé LePew, respectively.


10:00 AM -- Parrish (1961)
When his mother marries into the tobacco business, a young man struggles to find himself.
Dir: Delmer Daves
Cast: Troy Donahue, Claudette Colbert, Karl Malden
C-138 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

Joshua Logan originally wanted Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh to play the parents, and he tested Warren Beatty and Jane Fonda, among others, for the younger characters. This was Colbert's last theatrical film.


12:30 PM -- Cleopatra (1934)
The fabled queen of Egypt leads Julius Caesar and Marc Antony astray.
Dir: Cecil B. DeMille
Cast: Claudette Colbert, Warren William, Henry Wilcoxon
BW-101 mins, TV-PG, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Cinematography -- Victor Milner

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Assistant Director -- Cullen Tate, Best Film Editing -- Anne Bauchens, Best Sound, Recording -- Franklin Hansen (sound director) and (Paramount Studio Sound Department), and Best Picture

When Cecil B. DeMille was in pre-production on this film, he asked to screen the original version, Cleopatra with Theda Bara. No prints could be found on in Los Angeles, so a copy of it was borrowed from the Fox office in New York. After DeMille viewed the film it was sent back to Little Ferry, New Jersey. On July 9, 1937, a fire at the storage facility destroyed almost all of Fox's known archived prints, most likely including Cleopatra. The screening for DeMille's company, on February 15, 1934, may have been the last time anyone saw the legendary film.


2:30 PM -- Without Reservations (1946)
A woman writer falls for a war hero who's a perfect match for the hero of her latest novel.
Dir: Mervyn LeRoy
Cast: Claudette Colbert, John Wayne, Don DeFore
BW-101 mins, TV-PG, CC,

The opening shot shows "Arrowhead" Pictures motion picture studio. This is the actual RKO Pictures Studio Building at 780 Gower Street in Hollywood, retouched with "Arrowhead" replacing the RKO signs on the building. It remains a historic structure on the corner to this day.


4:30 PM -- It's A Wonderful World (1939)
A runaway poetess helps a fugitive prove himself innocent of murder charges.
Dir: W. S. Van Dyke II
Cast: Claudette Colbert, James Stewart, Guy Kibbee
BW-86 mins, TV-G, CC,

Based on a story by Ben Hecht and Herman J. Mankiewicz.


6:00 PM -- The Palm Beach Story (1942)
To finance her husband's career, a married woman courts an eccentric millionaire.
Dir: Preston Sturges
Cast: Claudette Colbert, Joel McCrea, Mary Astor
BW-88 mins, TV-G, CC,

In the long dolly shot of Joel McCrea and Mary Astor strolling on the pier from Rudy Vallee's yacht, the director Preston Sturges makes a rare Hitchcock-style appearance as the chubby, mustachioed leader of the crew toting Claudette Colbert's luggage.


7:30 PM -- TCM Presents Elvis Mitchell Under the Influence: John Leguizamo (2008)
Celebrities reveal the classic movies that influenced their lives in interviews with acclaimed film critic/interviewer Elvis Mitchell.
C-28 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

Leguizamo was accepted into Lee Strasberg's Actors' Studio and studied with the master for one day before Strasberg died. "I have that affect on people," Leguizamo quipped.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: TCM SPOTLIGHT: MACK SENNETT



8:00 PM -- Gussle's Day of Rest (1915)
The disgraceful Reggie Gussle spends a day at the park with his hated wife while trying to steal a lovely girl from her boyfriend.
Dir: Charles Avery
Cast: Slim Summerville, Phyllis Allen, Syd Chaplin
BW-10 mins, TV-G,


8:00 PM -- Do-Re-Mi-Boom! (1915)
Cast: Charley Chase, Nick Cogley, Chester Conklin
BW-10 mins, TV-G,


8:00 PM -- A Bird's a Bird (1915)
Dir: Edwin Frazee
Cast: Chester Conklin, Minta Durfee, Hank Mann
BW-10 mins, TV-G,


8:00 PM -- Court House Crooks (1915)
Cast: Charles Arling, Minta Durfee, Harold Lloyd
BW-10 mins, TV-G,


9:30 PM -- A Submarine Pirate (1915)
Dir: Charles Avery
Cast: Sydney Chaplin, Glen Cavender, Wesley Ruggles
BW-10 mins, TV-G,


9:30 PM -- Dirty Work in a Laundry (1915)
Dir: Charley Chase
Cast: Harry Bernard, Minta Durfee, Ford Sterling
BW-10 mins, TV-G,


9:30 PM -- Lover's Lost Control (1915)
Dir: Mack Sennett
Cast: Phyllis Allen, Syd Chaplin,
BW-10 mins, TV-G,


11:00 PM -- He Did and He Didn't (1916)
In this silent short, when a doctor eats too much, he dreams that his wife is unfaithful.
Dir: Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle
Cast: Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, Mabel Normand, Joe Bordeaux
BW-21 mins, TV-G,


11:00 PM -- Wife and Auto Trouble (1916)
Dir: Del Henderson
Cast: Joseph Belmont, William Collier Sr., Blanche Payson
BW-10 mins, TV-G,


11:00 PM -- Fatty and Mabel Adrift (1916)
Dir: Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle
Cast: Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, Jimmy Bryant, Mabel Normand
BW-10 mins, TV-G,


11:00 PM -- Dizzy Heights and Daring Hearts (1915)
Dir: Walter Wright
Cast: Chester Conklin,
BW-10 mins, TV-G,


12:30 AM -- The Surf Girl (1916)
Dir: Harry Edwards
Cast: Glen Cavender, Raymond Griffith, Fritz Schade
BW-10 mins, TV-G,


12:30 AM -- Madcap Ambrose (1916)
BW-10 mins, TV-G,


12:30 AM -- His Bitter Pill (1916)
BW-10 mins, TV-G,


12:30 AM -- The Waiters' Ball (1916)
In this silent short, two waiters fight over a tuxedo and a girl.
Dir: Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle
Cast: Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, Joe Bordeaux, Alice Lake
BW-16 mins, TV-G,


2:00 AM -- Thirst (1917)
Cast: Cliff Bowes, Mack Swain, Ethel Teare
BW-10 mins, TV-G,


2:00 AM -- A Clever Dummy (1917)
Dir: Ferris Hartman
Cast: Wallace Beery, Chester Conklin, Ben Turpin
BW-10 mins, TV-G,


2:00 AM -- Teddy at the Throttle (1917)
BW-10 mins, TV-G,


2:00 AM -- Her Torpedoed Love (1917)
BW-10 mins, TV-G,


3:30 AM -- The Flying Deuces (1939)
Two bumblers join the Foreign Legion to forget a beautiful woman.
Dir: A. Edward Sutherland
Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Jean Parker
BW-65 mins, TV-G,

Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy are thrown into a cell to await execution at sunrise. Stan discovers that he can strum his bed springs and play it like a harp. The music he plays is "The World is Waiting for the Sunrise". The music is actually played by Harpo Marx, who apparently also coached Stan on imitating his fingerings.


4:45 AM -- Zenobia (1939)
When he cures a circus elephant, a country doctor gets an unwanted friend.
Dir: Gordon Douglas
Cast: Oliver Hardy, Harry Langdon, Billie Burke
BW-73 mins, TV-G, CC,

This film was originally developed as a Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy vehicle, but was re-scripted after Stan Laurel, whose contract with Hal Roach had run out, declined to re-sign with the producer. Hardy's contract was still in force, and the team believed that if they waited until it expired, they could re-sign as a team and be in a stronger bargaining position. Ultimately that is what happened.