TCM Schedule for Thursday, November 24 -- TCM Spotlight: All Aboard!

[Staph]

Happy Thanksgiving! I'm thankful (among many other things) for all of these wonderful old movies and the great folks here that I can share them with. During the day, we have a collection of films starring some of the truly talented child stars. In primetime, TCM is finishing up this month's All Aboard! theme with some of the best, including a couple of Marx Brothers films. Enjoy!



6:15 AM -- Private Screenings: Child Stars (2006)
Robert Osborne sits down with former child stars Margaret O'Brien, Jane Withers, Dickie Moore and Darryl Hickman for an interview on their lives and careers.
C-82 min, TV-G , CC

Margaret O'Brien at age six: When I cry, do you want the tears to run all the way or shall I stop halfway down?


7:45 AM -- Little Women (1949)
The four daughters of a New England family fight for happiness during and after the Civil War.
Dir: Mervyn LeRoy
Cast: June Allyson, Peter Lawford, Margaret O'Brien.
C-122 min, TV-G , CC

Won an Oscar for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- Cedric Gibbons, Paul Groesse, Edwin B. Willis and Jack D. Moore

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Cinematography, Color -- Robert H. Planck and Charles Edgar Schoenbaum

In the scene where Beth (Margaret O'Brien) tells Jo (June Allyson) that she doesn't mind dying, June Allyson's tears were real. She was so moved by Margaret O'Brien's performance that she was sent home early, still crying, and had to pull over several times on her journey home as her tears rendered her unable to drive.


10:00 AM -- Meet Me In St. Louis (1944)
Young love and childish fears highlight a year in the life of a turn-of-the-century family.
Dir: Vincente Minnelli
Cast: Judy Garland, Margaret O'Brien, Mary Astor.
C-113 min, TV-G , CC

Nominated for Oscars for Best Cinematography, Color -- George J. Folsey, Best Music, Original Song -- Ralph Blane and Hugh Martin for the song "The Trolley Song", Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- George Stoll, and Best Writing, Screenplay -- Irving Brecher and Fred F. Finklehoffe

Director Vincente Minnelli worked hard to make the movie as accurate to the times as possible. Not only did its novelist, Sally Benson, give explicit directions as to the decor of her home down to the last detail, but the movie's costume designer took inspiration for many of the movies costumes right out of the Sears & Roebuck, Montgomery Ward, and Marshall Fields catalogs from the time period.


12:00 PM -- The Secret Garden (1949)
An orphaned girl changes the lives of those she encounters at a remote estate.
Dir: Fred M. Wilcox
Cast: Margaret O'Brien, Herbert Marshall, Dean Stockwell.
C-92 min, TV-G , CC

In this film, Manchester-born George Zucco, the slimy mad doctor or smooth-talking villain of so many horror and mystery films - Prof. Moriarty in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes; Charlie Chan in Charlie Chan in Honolulu; The Hunchback of Notre Dame; The Mummy's Hand; The Mummy's Tomb; The Mad Ghoul; Voodoo Man; etc. - has one of his few sympathetic roles as the kindly Dr. Fortescue.


1:45 PM -- The Music Man (1962)
A con artist hawks musical instruments and band uniforms to small-town America.
Dir: Morton DaCosta
Cast: Robert Preston, Shirley Jones, Buddy Hackett.
C-151 min, TV-G

Won an Oscar for Best Music, Scoring of Music, Adaptation or Treatment -- Ray Heindorf

Nominated for Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- Paul Groesse and George James Hopkins, Best Costume Design, Color -- Dorothy Jeakins, Best Film Editing -- William H. Ziegler, Best Sound -- George Groves (Warner Bros. SSD), and Best Picture

Shirley Jones learned she was pregnant with her son Patrick once the filming of had begun. She met with director Morton DaCosta over lunch to inform him of the situation. Her concern was that she would begin "showing" during its filming. He assured her that they could work through it with costumes and also by filming her from the waist up, if necessary. He did have one request, that she tell no one about it. Robert Preston did figure it out before filming had concluded, when Shirley's character, Marion, and his character, Professor Hill, kissed for the first time in the romantic footbridge scene. He leaned in for the kiss and jumped back, asking her, "What was that?" to which she replied, "That is Patrick Cassidy! Say, 'Hello!' " Years later, her son Patrick had the opportunity to meet Preston. He walked up and introduced himself saying, "Hello. I'm Patrick Cassidy." Preston replied, "Yes, I know. We've already met."


4:30 PM -- Little Miss Marker (1934)
A big-time gambler picks up a young girl as security on an IOU.
Dir: Alexander Hall
Cast: Adolphe Menjou, Dorothy Dell, Charles Bickford.
79 min, TV-G

Adolphe Menjou was having difficulty with a particular line in the script. After the prompting of others on the set, Shirley Temple turned to director Alexander Hall and asked, "Is it too late to replace Mr. Menjou on this picture?"


6:00 PM -- Miracle On 34th Street (1947)
A department store Santa claims to be the real thing.
Dir: George Seaton
Cast: Maureen O'Hara, John Payne, Edmund Gwenn.
96 min, TV-G , CC

Won Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Edmund Gwenn, Best Writing, Original Story -- Valentine Davies, and Best Writing, Screenplay -- George Seaton

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture

Unbeknownst to most parade watchers, Edmund Gwenn played Santa Claus in the actual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade held November 28, 1946. He fulfilled the duties of most parade Santas, including addressing the crowd from the marquee of Macy's after the parade was over. He was introduced to the crowd by actor Philip Tonge (he played Mr. Shellhammer in the movie) and he later unveiled the mechanical Christmas display windows to the accompaniment of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker Suite." This gesture symbolized the opening of the Christmas shopping season at the store.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: TCM SPOTLIGHT: ALL ABOARD



8:00 PM -- Anything Goes (1956)
The members of a song-and-dance duo promise the lead in their next show to two different women.
Dir: Robert Lewis
Cast: Bing Crosby, Donald O'Connor, Jeanmaire.
C-106 min, TV-G , CC

At one point Donald O'Connor commiserates with Bing Crosby, "You've got yourself a case of moonburn, huh?" "Moonburn" is the title of a Hoagy Carmichael song added to the 1936 film version of Anything Goes also starring Bing Crosby.


10:00 PM -- The Lady Eve (1941)
A lady cardsharp tries to con an eccentric scientist only to fall for him.
Dir: Preston Sturges
Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Henry Fonda, Charles Coburn.
94 min, TV-PG , CC

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Story -- Monckton Hoffe

At the beginning Henry Fonda makes references to the help of a "Professor Marsdit". Raymond L. Ditmars of the AMNH at the time was the best-known reptile expert in the country, the kind of popularizer that Carl Sagan later became.


11:45 PM -- A Night at the Opera (1935)
Three zanies turn an operatic performance into chaos in their efforts to promote their protege's romance with the leading lady.
Dir: Sam Wood
Cast: Groucho Marx, Chico Marx, Harpo Marx.
91 min, TV-G , CC

The famous "stateroom scene" was originally conceived as a way of getting a cheap laugh by having Groucho Marx, crowded out of his room, changing his pants in the corridor. After this was not liked by test audiences, the current scene was improvised on the spot. A total of 15 people were in the scene:

* Driftwood (1)
* the stowaways Fiorello, Tomasso and Riccardo who were in the trunk (2-4)
* two chambermaids (5-6)
* an engineer who comes to turn off the heat (7)
* a manicurist (8)
* the engineer's burly assistant (9)
* a young woman looking for her Aunt Minnie and asking to use the phone (10)
* a cleaning woman (11)
* and four staff stewards bearing trays of food (12-15).
* They all tumble out when Mrs. Claypool (Margaret Dumont) opens the door.


1:30 AM -- Monkey Business (1931)
Four stowaways get mixed up with gangsters while running riot on an ocean liner.
Dir: Norman McLeod
Cast: Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx, Chico Marx.
78 min, TV-G , CC

In the movie, Groucho Marx tells Thelma Todd, "You're a woman who's been getting nothing but dirty breaks. Well, we can clean and tighten your brakes, but you'll have to stay in the garage all night." Four years after making this movie, Thelma Todd died under mysterious circumstances. She was found dead in her car inside her backyard garage with the engine running. It is not known if her death from carbon monoxide poisoning was accidental, a murder, or suicide.


3:00 AM -- Shall We Dance (1937)
A ballet dancer and a showgirl fake a marriage for publicity purposes, then fall in love.
Dir: Mark Sandrich
Cast: Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Edward Everett Horton.
109 min, TV-G , CC

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song -- George Gershwin (music) and Ira Gershwin (lyrics) for the song "They Can't Take That Away from Me"

The scene where Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dance on roller skates took about 150 takes, according to one of the VHS versions of the film.


5:00 AM -- Flying With Music (1942)
A man on the run from alimony payments gets a job as a South American tour guide.
Dir: George Archainbaud
Cast: Marjorie Woodworth, George Givot, William Marshall.
46 min, TV-G

Nominated for Oscar for Best Music, Original Song -- Edward Ward (music), Chet Forrest (lyrics) and Bob Wright (lyrics) for the song "Pennies for Peppino", and Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- Edward Ward

A minor musical, with a lot of actors no one remembers, with the possible exception of Jane Kean. She was the second actress to play Trixie Norton, wife of Ed Norton (played by Art Carney), in The Honeymooners.

[CBHagman]

1. Don't miss "The Lady Eve" or "A Night at the Opera."

True classics, both of them.