TCM Schedule for Friday, April 15, 2016 -- What's On Tonight: Star of the Month - Judy Garland

[Staph]

In the daylight hours, TCM is showing films produced by Bryan Foy, one of the Seven Little Foys vaudeville act, featuring Eddie Foy and his children. In prime time, April's Star of the Month is Judy Garland. Tonight's films are from the early 1940s, with a couple of short subjects from 1929 and 1930 that include Judy as one of the Three Gumm Sisters. Enjoy!



6:45 AM -- I Live For Love (1935)
A socialite tries to break into show business.
Dir: Busby Berkeley
Cast: Everett Marshall, Dolores Del Rio, Guy Kibbee
BW-64 mins,

Jane Froman is in studio records/casting call lists but did not appear in the movie. A modern source lists many actors in the cast, but the following were not seen: Betty Farrington, Bess Flowers', Mary Marsh, Gertrude Astor (all as Interviewers), 'Bill Elliott' (Friend) and Florence Fair (Dowager). It is probable that these were cut from the final release print, since it is listed as an 8-reel film, yet it is also listed for only a 64-minutes running time.


8:00 AM -- The Payoff (1935)
A sports columnist's greedy wife talks him into shilling for a wrestling promoter.
Dir: Robert Florey
Cast: James Dunn, Claire Dodd, Patricia Ellis
BW-65 mins,

Outtakes from this film were edited into Breakdowns of 1936 (1936), a short containing a compilation of outtakes taken from films shot in 1936.


9:15 AM -- Freshman Love (1936)
A college coach uses a beautiful blonde to woo athletes into joining his team.
Dir: William McGann
Cast: Patricia Ellis, Warren Hull, Frank McHugh
BW-67 mins,

Lloyd Bridges' first movie.


10:30 AM -- Moonlight On The Prairie (1936)
An unemployed rodeo star takes on cattle rustlers.
Dir: D. Ross Lederman
Cast: Dick Foran, Smokey horse, Sheila Mannors
BW-63 mins,

Based on the story "Boss of the Bar B Ranch", by William Jacobs.


11:45 AM -- Treachery Rides The Range (1936)
A cowboy takes on buffalo hunters out to stir up the Indians.
Dir: Frank McDonald
Cast: Dick Foran, Paula Stone, Craig Reynolds
BW-56 mins,

Goofs: during the shootout with the Indians, a cowboy is shot and falls down, while another just to his rear shoots his rifle, drops it, and begins shooting with his pistol. This is shown twice at different times during the battle, from two different angles, first up close and then further away.


12:45 PM -- Love is on the Air (1937)
A crusading radio reporter takes on civic corruption.
Dir: Nick Grinde
Cast: Ronald Reagan, June Travis, Eddie Acuff
C-59 mins,

Reagan's movie debut.


2:00 PM -- The Dead End Kids on Dress Parade (1939)
A group of delinquents get shipped to military school.
Dir: William Clemens
Cast: Billy Halop, Bobby Jordan, Huntz Hall
BW-62 mins, CC,

The last of seven movies featuring The Dead End Kids.


3:15 PM -- Canon City (1948)
A convict uses a fake gun to start a full-scale prison escape.
Dir: Crane Wilbur
Cast: Scott Brady, Jeff Corey, Whit Bissell
BW-82 mins,

Actually filmed in Canon City, Colorado.


4:45 PM -- Inside the Walls of Folsom Prison (1951)
A warden and his assistant clash over prison reform, triggering a violent riot.
Dir: Crane Wilbur
Cast: Steve Cochran, David Brian, Philip Carey
BW-87 mins, CC,

Johnny Cash has said that when he saw this movie he was inspired to write "Folsom Prison Blues".


6:15 PM -- The True Story of Lynn Stuart (1957)
A concerned housewife goes undercover for the police to bust a drug ring.
Dir: Lewis Seiler
Cast: Betsy Palmer, Jack Lord, Barry Atwater
BW-78 mins,

The story is based on actual facts. The woman known as Lynn Stuart served as technical adviser for the film, masking herself when visiting the set.


7:39 PM -- La Fiesta De Santa Barbara (1935)
This short film provides a musical and sketch comedy revue staged as a fiesta in Santa Barbara.
Cast: Harpo Marx, Jim Thorpe,
C-19 mins,

Nominated for an Oscar as Best Short Subject, Color

This was Judy Garland's very first appearance on 3-strip Technicolor. She would not appear in color film again until The Wizard of Oz (1939). It was also the last time that the Garland Sisters, otherwise known as the The Three Gumm Sisters, ever appeared as a trio.


TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: STAR OF THE MONTH: JUDY GARLAND



8:00 PM -- For Me And My Gal (1942)
An unscrupulous song-and-dance man uses his partner and his best friend to get ahead.
Dir: Busby Berkeley
Cast: Judy Garland, George Murphy, Gene Kelly
BW-104 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- Roger Edens and George Stoll

Gene Kelly's film debut. It is known that Judy Garland got him the job after seeing him in the Broadway musical "Pal Joey".


9:48 PM -- Bubbles (1930)
In this musical short Vitaphone Kiddies perform a song and dance routine in the land of "make believe." Vitaphone Release 3898.
Dir: Roy Mack
Cast: Marjorie "Babe" Kane,
C-8 mins,

One of a series of 2-Strip Technicolor one-reel shorts featuring an ensemble of children known as The Vitaphone Kiddies. The Three Gumm Sisters ('Mary Jane Gumm, Virginia Gumm and Frances Gumm - aka Judy Garland) were featured performers in the group.


10:00 PM -- Girl Crazy (1943)
A womanizing playboy finds true love when he's sent to a desert college.
Dir: Norman Taurog
Cast: Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland, Gil Stratton
BW-99 mins, CC,

Judy Garland's character's name, Ginger Gray, is a tribute to Ginger Rogers, who played the part on Broadway when the character was named Molly Gray. Ginger Rogers wrote that one night onstage in the play, her costar Allen Kearns accidentally said: "Ginger, I love you" instead of "Molly". The mistake got such a huge laugh from the audience that they decided to continue to do that in subsequent performances, pretending it was a mistake.


11:45 PM -- 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 mins, CC,

Won a Juvenile Oscar Award for Margaret O'Brien for outstanding child actress of 1944

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

According to Mary Astor, "I walked into Judy's portable dressing room one tense morning and she greeted me with her usual cheery, 'Hi, Mom!' I sat down on the couch while she went on primping, and said, 'Judy, what the hell's happened to you? You were a trouper - once.' She stared at me. I went on, 'You have kept the entire company out there waiting for two hours. Waiting for you to favor us with your presence. You know we're stuck - there's nothing we can do without you at the moment.' She giggled and said, 'Yeah, that's what everybody's been telling me.' That bugged me and I said, 'Well, then, either get the hell on the set or I'm going home.' She grabbed me by the hand, and her face had crumpled up, 'I don't sleep, Mom!' And I said, 'Well, go to bed earlier then - like we all have to do. You're not so damn special, baby!' and stalked out in my own unthinking high dudgeon. It was some years later before I really knew what she'd been going through."


1:45 AM -- The Clock (1945)
A G.I. en route to Europe falls in love during a whirlwind two-day leave in New York City.
Dir: Vincente Minnelli
Cast: Judy Garland, Robert Walker, James Gleason
BW-90 mins, CC,

When Judy Garland, Robert Walker and James Gleason enter the coffee shop, immediately notice a man at the counter, far right screen, get up, put his money on the counter and leave. That man is Vincent Minnelli. Uncredited, of course, but he was one of the directors on the film and dating Judy Garland at the time of filming.


3:16 AM -- Starlet Revue (1929)
This short film features song and dance performances by children, including a very young Judy Garland.
Cast: The Meglin Kiddies, The Three Gumm Sisters
BW-10 mins,

John Fricke, in his book "Judy: a Legendary Film Career", lists "The Big Revue" as being released as an 18 minute two-reeler on August 14, 1929 at the Fox Belmont Theatre in Hollywood. The two-reel "The Big Revue" was subsequently edited down to one reel (not an uncommon practice) and re-released on an unspecified date by Associated Films.


3:30 AM -- Ziegfeld Girl (1941)
Three showgirls in the Ziegfeld Follies face romantic trials on their way to the top.
Dir: Robert Z. Leonard
Cast: James Stewart, Judy Garland, Hedy Lamarr
BW-133 mins, CC,

The scene in which Susan Gallagher (Judy Garland) auditions for the Ziegfeld Follies is strikingly similar to Judy's actual audition for MGM in 1935. Like her character, Judy came in with her father (Frank Gumm) as her accompanist and was flopping until Roger Edens, like Slayton (Paul Kelly) in the film, took over the audition, coached her to sing more softly and subtly, and got her the MGM contract.


5:45 AM -- Presenting Lily Mars (1943)
A small-town girl fights for her big chance on Broadway.
Dir: Norman Taurog
Cast: Judy Garland, Van Heflin, Fay Bainter
BW-104 mins, CC,

In the elaborate musical finale, Judy Garland is dancing with an uncredited Charles Walters, who would eventually become one of MGM's top directors and direct Judy herself in both "Easter Parade" and "Summer Stock."