TCM Schedule for Thursday, December 28, 2017 -- What's On Tonight: The Great American Songbook

[Staph]

In the daylight hours, TCM is celebrating Henry Fonda. It's not his birthday, but it's always a good day to celebrate Henry Fonda, with a selection of his films from the 1960s. Then in prime time, TCM finishes their month of Thursday nights of great films that feature great songs. Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- ADVISE & CONSENT (1962)
A controversial presidential nomination threatens the careers of several prominent politicians.
Dir: Otto Preminger
Cast: Henry Fonda, Charles Laughton, Don Murray
BW-138 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

The film is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Allen Drury, who was a congressional correspondent for The New York Times during the 1950s, while he was writing the book. Nearly every character is based on a real person (Lafe Smith is based on John F. Kennedy; Orrin Knox is based on Robert A. Taft, Fred Van Ackerman is based on Joseph McCarthy and the president is modeled on Franklin D. Roosevelt). The Leffingwell nomination is based on the House Un-American Activities Committee investigation of Alger Hiss. Even the blackmailing of Brig Anderson, and how it's resolved, is based on a real incident, the case of Wyoming Sen. Lester C. Hunt, who was blackmailed by members of the Republican Party. Hunt was told by Sen. Styles Bridges that if he ran for re-election that November, the details of his son's arrest (for soliciting prostitution from a male undercover officer) would end up "in every mailbox in Wyoming". Hunt eventually agreed to step down, but 11 days later committed suicide in the Capitol. Read about Lester Hunt in Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lester_C._Hunt - it will make your blood run cold. And confirm that Republicans have been slime for more than 60 years.


8:30 AM -- SPENCER'S MOUNTAIN (1963)
A Wyoming farmer fights to build a better life for his oldest son.
Dir: Delmer Daves
Cast: Henry Fonda, Maureen O'Hara, James MacArthur
C-118 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

The TV show "The Waltons," shares many similarities to this movie, including the name of the eldest son ("Clayboy" vs "Johnboy), the eldest son being a scholar, the big family growing up on a mountain named for the family, the alcoholic "recipe" brewed by two elderly sisters from their papas recipes, and the family members all wishing each other good night.


10:35 AM -- THE CAPITAL CITY WASHINGTON, D.C. (1940)
This short film focuses on Washington, D.C.'s famous buildings and monuments.
C-9 mins,


10:45 AM -- THE BEST MAN (1964)
Two presidential hopefuls get caught up in the dirty side of politics.
Dir: Franklin J. Schaffner
Cast: Henry Fonda, Cliff Robertson, Edie Adams
BW-102 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Lee Tracy

Screenwriter and the film's source playwright Gore Vidal cheerfully admitted that he meant the character of William Russell (Henry Fonda) to remind people of Adlai Stevenson and that Joe Cantwell (Cliff Robertson) was based on Richard Nixon. Stevenson and Nixon were, of course, in different American political parties, Democrat and Republican respectively. Similarly, the character of former President Art Hockstader played by Lee Tracy, bore resemblances to both former Republican U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower and former Democrat U.S. President Harry S. Truman.


12:34 PM -- FILMMAKING ON THE RIVIERA (1964)
This promotional film for "Joy House" (1964) features the cast and crew filming on location along the French Riviera.
BW-10 mins,


12:45 PM -- SEX AND THE SINGLE GIRL (1964)
A journalist sets out to expose a female sex expert but falls for her instead.
Dir: Richard Quine
Cast: Tony Curtis, Natalie Wood, Henry Fonda
C-114 mins, CC,

While dressed in a woman's nightgown, Tony Curtis says he looks just like Jack Lemmon in the movie where he dresses up like a girl. Curtis co-starred in that movie, Some Like It Hot (1959), with Lemmon, and both of them dressed like girls.


2:45 PM -- THE ROUNDERS (1965)
Two ne'er-do-well cowpokes look for sex and easy money in the modern West.
Dir: Burt Kennedy
Cast: Glenn Ford, Henry Fonda, Sue Ane Langdon
C-84 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Vince (Edgar Buchanan) asks Howdy (Henry Fonda) how he came to have such a name as Howdy. "Made it up. Why?" "Marion . . . that was my given name. A man can't ride bucking horses with a handle like that so I changed it." This was a poke at fellow actor John Wayne, who became famous playing cowboys and who was born Marion Michael Morrison.


4:15 PM -- A BIG HAND FOR THE LITTLE LADY (1966)
A pioneer woman replaces her ailing husband in a poker game after he loses most of their money.
Dir: Fielder Cook
Cast: Henry Fonda, Joanne Woodward, Jason Robards Jr.
C-95 mins, CC,

This film provides the final screen appearance of comedian Chester Conklin, who had appeared in about 300 movies from 1913.


6:00 PM -- FIRECREEK (1968)
A pacifist sheriff must use tougher means when his town is threatened by a band of outlaws.
Dir: Vincent McEveety
Cast: James Stewart, Henry Fonda, Inger Stevens
C-104 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

This marks the first time Henry Fonda played a villain in a theatrical film. He would play another western villain a short time later in "Once Upon a Time in the West" (1968).


7:50 PM -- TALE OF A TROTTER (1956)
This short film follows the life of Spunky, a "trotter" or standardbred racehorse used for harness racing with "sulkies."
BW-8 mins,



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: THE GREAT AMERICAN SONGBOOK



8:00 PM -- THE DOLLY SISTERS (1945)
Two sisters from Hungary become famous entertainers in the early 20th century.
Dir: Irving Cummings
Cast: Betty Grable, John Payne, June Haver
C-114 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song -- James V. Monaco (music) and Mack Gordon (lyrics) for the song "I Can't Begin to Tell You"

The real Rosie Dolly actually loaned her own scrapbooks to Twentieth Century-Fox for research on this movie. PBS fans will remember the Dolly Sisters from the last season of Mr. Selfridge, as the real-life golddiggers who went after Harry Selfridge.


10:15 PM -- ANNIE GET YOUR GUN (1950)
Fanciful musical biography of wild West sharpshooter Annie Oakley.
Dir: George Sidney
Cast: Betty Hutton, Howard Keel, Louis Calhern
C-107 mins, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- Adolph Deutsch and Roger Edens

Nominated for Oscars for Best Cinematography, Color -- Charles Rosher, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- Cedric Gibbons, Paul Groesse, Edwin B. Willis and Richard Pefferle, and Best Film Editing -- James E. Newcom

Ginger Rogers wrote in her 1991 autobiography that she told her agent Leland Hayward to aggressively go after this film for her, and that money was no object. She wrote that she would have worked for one dollar, to make it legal. Hayward spoke with Louis B. Mayer, who said: "Tell Ginger to stay in her high-heel shoes and her silk stockings, she could never be as rambunctious as Annie Oakley has to be".


12:15 AM -- ON THE TOWN (1949)
Three sailors wreak havoc as they search for love during a whirlwind 24-hour leave in New York City.
Dir: Gene Kelly
Cast: Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Betty Garrett
C-98 mins, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- Roger Edens and Lennie Hayton

A total of 5 days was spent filming in New York City. The 2 major problems faced by the crew was the weather (it rained for most of the shoot) and the popularity of Frank Sinatra. Gene Kelly explained that the movie was filmed at the height of Sinatra mania and Frank would be instantly recognized by people on the streets. To avoid crowds the cast insisted on taxis instead of limousines for transportation and that the camera be hidden inside a station wagon. During the finale of the "New York, New York" musical number, which takes place in the sunken plaza at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in front of the statue of Prometheus, you can see at the top of the frame of the last shot, the heads of hundreds of curious spectators staring at the three stars over the wall behind the statue.


2:00 AM -- THE BAND WAGON (1953)
A Broadway artiste turns a faded film star's comeback vehicle into an artsy flop.
Dir: Vincente Minnelli
Cast: Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse, Oscar Levant
C-112 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay -- Betty Comden and Adolph Green, Best Costume Design, Color -- Mary Ann Nyberg, and Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- Adolph Deutsch

According to supplemental information on the DVD Nanette Fabray stated that Oscar Levant was very difficult to work with. Whenever something would go wrong and he would make a mistake he would blame whoever was around instead of himself. This Included stage hands, other actors, lighting technicians or whoever was handy. She said that, since she was usually closest, she caught the brunt of it. Following the scene where they shot the botched rehearsal he blamed her for something and she lost her temper and told him off using unladylike language. Everyone on the set applauded her. After that he was much easier to work with.


4:15 AM -- M-G-M JUBILEE OVERTURE (1954)
This short film celebrates Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's 30th anniversary with The MGM Symphony Orchestra performing numbers from the studio's best-known musicals.
Dir: George Sidney
C-10 mins,


4:30 AM -- BROADWAY MELODY OF 1936 (1936)
A Broadway columnist tries to use an innocent dancer to frame a producer.
Dir: Roy Del Ruth
Cast: Jack Benny, Eleanor Powell, Robert Taylor
BW-101 mins, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Dance Direction -- Dave Gould for "I've Got a Feeling You're Fooling"

Nominated for Oscars for Best Writing, Original Story -- Moss Hart, and Best Picture

Reportedly, Eleanor Powell did not want to be in this film but was too polite to directly tell MGM executives. She asked for the leading role and an exorbitant salary, and MGM accepted her demands. Powell was spotted in a Fox screen test by Louis Maayer, who initially thought she was African-American but changed his mind when he found she was white. She was initially offered the part played by Una Merkel but eventually played the lead.