TCM Schedule for Friday, June 24 -- What's On Tonight - Mad Men and Women

[Staph]

The daytime theme seems to be actresses who were born abroad but made in big in Hollywood, including Claudette Colbert (born in Saint-Mandé, Seine (now Val-de-Marne), France), Greer Garson (born in London, England), Marlene Dietrich (born in Berlin-Schöneberg, Germany), and Greta Garbo (born in Stockholm, Sweden). In primetime, TCM is taking a page from AMC, with the theme of Mad Men ... and Women, featuring films about the advertising business. Enjoy!



6:00 AM -- Today We Live (1933)
An aristocratic English girl's tangled love life creates havoc during World War I.
Dir: Howard Hawks
Cast: Joan Crawford, Gary Cooper, Robert Young.
113 min, TV-G, CC

Variety reported in its review that director Howard Hawks used footage from the movie Hell's Angels (1930) for the big bomber expedition sequence, the main dogfight, and the head-on collision of two airplanes.


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.
105 min, 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Friz Freleng's unpublished memoirs mention that this was one of his favorite films, and that it contains at least three things upon which the character "Bugs Bunny" was based: - The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 -- Camille (1936)
In this classic 19th-century romance, a kept woman runs off with a young admirer in search of love and happiness.
Dir: George Cukor
Cast: Greta Garbo, Robert Taylor, Lionel Barrymore.
109 min, TV-PG, CC

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Greta Garbo

Greta Garbo wore bedroom slippers under all her fancy dresses so she could be comfortable, as well as more naturalistic in her acting.


12:00 PM -- Knight Without Armour (1937)
A British spy tries to get a countess out of the new Soviet Union.
Dir: Jacques Feyder
Cast: Marlene Dietrich, Robert Donat, Irene Van Brugh.
107 min, TV-G

During the bath tub scene, Marlene Dietrich slipped on a bar of soap falling naked and spreadeagled before cast and crew. Ever the professional, she picked herself up, laughed and continued shooting.


2:00 PM -- Somewhere I'll Find You (1942)
Brothers feud over a girl they both fall for while covering World War II.
Dir: Wesley Ruggles
Cast: Clark Gable, Lana Turner, Robert Sterling.
108 min, TV-G, CC

Filming was halted on January 16, 1942 due to the death of Clark Gable's wife, Carole Lombard, and resumed on February 23. After her death, Clark Gable had said, "You'll have to get them to change the title. I couldn't walk on a set with those word before me." It was to be changed to "Red Light".


4:00 PM -- The Valley Of Decision (1945)
An Irish housemaid's romance with the boss's son is complicated by labor disputes in the Pittsburgh mills.
Dir: Tay Garnett
Cast: Greer Garson, Gregory Peck, Donald Crisp.
119 min, TV-PG, CC

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Greer Garson, and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Herbert Stothart

Despite her youthful appearance, Greer Garson was twelve years older than her leading man, Gregory Peck.


6:00 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.
101 min, 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.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: MAD MEN AND WOMEN



8:00 PM -- Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957)
A lowly adman tries to better his lot by courting a glamorous Hollywood star.
Dir: Frank Tashlin
Cast: Tony Randall, Jayne Mansfield, Betsy Drake.
C-93 min, TV-PG, CC

The name of Jayne Mansfield's character, "Rita Marlowe", is a combination of *Rita* Hayworth, Jean H*arlow*, and Marilyn *M*onr*oe*.


10:00 PM -- Good Neighbor Sam (1964)
A man poses as husband to his wife's best friend for one day that could turn into a lifetime.
Dir: David Swift
Cast: Jack Lemmon, Romy Schneider, Dorothy Provine.
C-130 min, TV-PG, CC

The name of the advertising firm for which Sam Bissel works, Burke & Hare, is clearly a reference to William Burke and William Hare, two Irish laborers living in 18th century Edinburgh, Scotland who became notorious as history's most famous "body snatchers" who, until they were discovered by the British authorities, killed at least 15 travelers and then sold their corpses to medical schools for dissection.


12:15 AM -- Pretty Baby (1950)
A pair of advertising executives use a woman's child to snag a client.
Dir: Bretaigne Windust
Cast: Dennis Morgan, Betsy Drake, Zachary Scott.
92 min, TV-G

Betsy Drake was a competent actress, who is today best remembered as Cary Grant's third of five wives.


2:00 AM -- The Beyond (1983)
A young woman inherits an old hotel and learns that the building was built over one of the entrances to Hell.
Dir: Lucio Fulci
Cast: David Warbeck, Catriona McColl, Cinzia Monreale.
C-88 min, TV-MA

During the final scene in the Beyond's abyss, the sand-covered bodies lying on the ground were actually stark naked street derelicts, who were "paid" in alcohol.


3:45 AM -- Crawlspace (1986)
An apartment house manager uses secret passages to prey on female tenants.
Dir: David Schmoeller
Cast: Klaus Kinski, Talia Balsam, Barbara Whinnery.
C-80 min, TV-MA

Filmed in Italy.


5:15 AM -- Booked For Safekeeping (1960)
In this short documentary, police officers are trained in the assistance and management of mentally ill and confused persons.
Dir: George C. Stoney
Narrator: James Daly
32 min, TV-14

Filmed in New Orleans.

[CBHagman]

1. Interesting to hear that Greer Garson...

...was actually born in England, as I'd long heard she was born in Ireland, and apparently the actress herself was the source for that claim. Even the Britannica site lists her birthplace as Ireland, but most other sources, including TCM, say she was born in England.

Her mother was Irish; that's for certain.