TCM Schedule for Thursday, January 15 -- New York vs. L.A.

[Staph]

Happy Birthday, Margaret O'Brien! She turns 72 years young today, so TCM is celebrating with a nice selection of her early films, including the one from which she took her screen name. This evening, we have more of the NY vs LA competition. Enjoy!


5:15am -- Kotch (1971)
Alienated from his son's family, an elderly man becomes infatuated with a pregnant teen.
Cast: Felicia Farr, Walter Matthau, Deborah Winters
Dir: Jack Lemmon
C-118 mins, TV-14

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Walter Matthau, Best Film Editing -- Ralph E. Winters, Best Music, Original Song -- Marvin Hamlisch (music) and Johnny Mercer (lyrics) for the song "Life Is What You Make It", and Best Sound -- Richard Portman and Jack Solomon

Jack Lemmon found direction duties both emotionally and physically draining and felt very uncomfortable behind the camera. This was his one and only film as a director.


7:15am -- Downstairs (1932)
An evil chauffeur seduces and blackmails his way through high society.
Cast: Virginia Bruce, Paul Lukas, John Gilbert
Dir: Monta Bell
BW-78 mins, TV-G

John Gilbert wanted to do this movie so badly he sold the story to MGM for $1.00. Ads for the movie proclaimed "starring Mr. and Mrs. John Gilbert" since Gilbert and Virginia Bruce were married shortly after the production completed filming.


8:45am -- Sabrina (1954)
Two wealthy brothers fall for the chauffeur's daughter.
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Audrey Hepburn, William Holden
Dir: Billy Wilder
BW-114 mins, TV-G

Won an Oscar for Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- Edith Head

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Audrey Hepburn, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- Hal Pereira, Walter H. Tyler, Sam Comer and Ray Moyer, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Charles Lang, Best Director -- Billy Wilder, and Best Writing, Screenplay -- Billy Wilder, Samuel A. Taylor and Ernest Lehman

This was the second film in a row where Audrey Hepburn gets her hair cut as a symbol of maturity. The first was in Roman Holiday (1953). It is also the first of four films in a row where she'd play a character romantically linked with a man old enough to be her father (including War and Peace (1956) with Henry Fonda, Funny Face (1957) with Fred Astaire, and Love in the Afternoon (1957) with Gary Cooper).


10:45am -- Short Film: You, John Jones! (1943)
John Jones (James Cagney) is on duty as air raid warden when he realizes how fortunate he is to live safely with his family while others around the world suffer from the war.
Cast: James Cagney, Ann Southern, Margaret O'Brien
Dir: Mervyn LeRoy
BW-10 mins

So skillful but natural was young Margaret O'Brien that when called upon by a certain director to gush some tears, the six-year-old quite innocently asked: "When I cry, do you want the tears to run all the way down, or should I stop them halfway down?"


11:00am -- Journey For Margaret (1942)
An American correspondent tries to adopt two children orphaned during the London blitz.
Cast: Fay Bainter, Laraine Day, Robert Young, Margaret O'Brien
Dir: W.S. Van Dyke II
BW-81 mins, TV-G

This is the film from which Margaret O'Brien took her name. She was born Angela O'Brien, but she so identified with the character she played in this film that she decided to change her name to Margaret.


12:30pm -- Music For Millions (1944)
A pregnant musician awaits her husband's return from World War II.
Cast: June Allyson, Jimmy Durante, Margaret O'Brien
Dir: Henry Koster
BW-118 mins, TV-G

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Screenplay -- Myles Connolly

José Iturbi plays himself as the conductor of the orchestra.


2:30pm -- 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.
BW-82 mins, TV-G

Darryl Hickman made more than 100 films and television appearances, but today is overshadowed by his younger brother Dwayne Hickman, best remembered as Dobie Gillis in The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis (1959-1963).


4:00pm -- The Secret Garden (1949)
An orphaned girl changes the lives of those she encounters at a remote estate.
Cast: Gladys Cooper, Herbert Marshall, Margaret O'Brien, Dean Stockwell
Dir: Fred M. Wilcox
BW-92 mins, TV-G

There are several moments when Mary (Margaret O'Brien) refers to her servant in India. When watching the film, one hears the word "servant," but Mary's mouth is clearly forming the word "Aya" as in other versions of The Secret Garden.


5:45pm -- Little Women (1949)
The four daughters of a New England family fight for happiness during and after the Civil War.
Cast: June Allyson, Janet Leigh, Margaret O'Brien, Elizabeth Taylor
Dir: Mervyn LeRoy
C-122 mins, TV-G

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.


What's On Tonight: TCM SPOTLIGHT: NEW YORK VS. L.A.


8:00pm -- The Naked City (1948)
A step-by-step look at a murder investigation on the streets of New York.
Cast: Howard Duff, Barry Fitzgerald, Dorothy Hart
Dir: Jules Dassin
BW-96 mins, TV-14

Won Oscars for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- William H. Daniels, and Best Film Editing -- Paul Weatherwax

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Motion Picture Story -- Malvin Wald

Film debut of James Gregory, John Randolph, Nehemiah Persoff, John Randolph, and Kathleen Freeman.


9:45pm -- He Walked By Night (1948)
After killing a cop, a burglar fights to evade the police.
Cast: Richard Basehart, Scott Brady, Roy Roberts, Jack Webb
Dir: Alfred L. Werker
BW-79 mins, TV-14

Technical advisor for the film was Sgt. Marty Wynn of the Los Angeles Police Dept. During the course of shooting he fell into conversation with Jack Webb, then the star of radio's "Jeff Regan, Private Investigator", who had a small part in the film. Wynn suggested that Webb do a radio series based on actual police files. Thus was born the idea for "Dragnet," which debuted on NBC radio about four months after this film was released.


11:15pm -- Killer's Kiss (1955)
When he rescues a girl from her gangster lover, a prizefighter is marked for death.
Cast: Jerry Jarret, Irene Kane, Frank Silvera, Jamie Smith
Dir: Stanley Kubrick
BW-67 mins, TV-PG

In one scene Irene Kane was supposed to walk across 42nd Street, but a truck driver repeatedly blocked the way with his vehicle. The driver agreed to clear the area only if Kane would later meet him for a drink. She agreed and the scene was shot, but to this day no one knows if the rendezvous actually took place.


12:30am -- Double Indemnity (1944)
An insurance salesman gets seduced into plotting a client's death.
Cast: Porter Hall, Fred MacMurray, Edward G. Robinson, Barbara Stanwyck
Dir: Billy Wilder
BW-108 mins, TV-PG

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Barbara Stanwyck, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- John F. Seitz, Best Director -- Billy Wilder, Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Miklós Rózsa, Best Sound, Recording -- Loren L. Ryder (Paramount SSD), Best Writing, Screenplay -- Raymond Chandler and Billy Wilder, and Best Picture

The character Walter Neff was originally named Walter Ness, but director/writer Billy Wilder found out that there was a man living in Beverly Hills named Walter Ness who was actually an insurance salesman. To avoid being sued for defamation of character, they changed the name.


2:30am -- Shaft (1971)
A slick black detective enlists gangsters and African nationals to fight the mob.
Cast: Moses Gunn, Gwenn Mitchell, Richard Roundtree
Dir: Gordon Parks
C-100 mins, TV-MA

Won an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song -- Isaac Hayes for the song "Theme from Shaft" -- shut your mouth!

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Original Dramatic Score -- Isaac Hayes

The women backing vocalists in the film's theme song are Telma Hopkins and Joyce Vincent Wilson from Tony Orlando & Dawn.

[Staph]

1. Sabrina (1954)

"Once upon a time, on the North Shore of Long Island...there lived a small girl on a very large estate." So begins Sabrina (1954), an enchanting fairy tale about a chauffeur's daughter in love with the younger son of the master of the estate. Sabrina goes to Paris and comes back a polished princess, but her fairy tale has some romantic complications on its way to an unexpected, but happy ending. However, the complications during the creation of this romantic fantasy were sometimes more nightmare than fairy tale.

British ingenue Audrey Hepburn had become a worldwide sensation in her first American film, Roman Holiday (1953). Sabrina, based on Samuel Taylor's Broadway hit, Sabrina Fair, would be the follow-up, and Paramount assigned it to Billy Wilder, one of their top directors. Wilder wanted Cary Grant to play the stuffy older brother Linus, who woos Sabrina in order to distract her from the unsuitable romance with his irresponsible brother David. Grant was unavailable, and Humphrey Bogart, who had just signed a three-picture deal with Paramount, was chosen to play Linus. To play David, Wilder selected William Holden, who had won an Oscar for his performance in Wilder's Stalag 17 (1953). Location shooting would take place on the Long Island estate of Paramount chairman Barney Balaban.

Bogart and Wilder were both used to having their own way, and they clashed immediately. Bogart came into the film already resentful, because he knew he was second choice. He disliked Wilder's autocratic style of directing, and resented the director's closeness to the younger, handsomer Holden, and Wilder's obvious affection for the charming Hepburn. Bogart's resentment boiled over when the trio began having cocktails in Holden's trailer. Wilder later said that there was no slight intended; he just forgot to invite Bogart. On the set, Bogart mocked Wilder's Viennese accent, calling him a "Nazi son of a bitch," and a "kraut bastard." Wilder, a Jew, was deeply offended, and retaliated with some insults of his own. The atmosphere was acrimonious all during production. After Sabrina wrapped, Wilder and Bogart patched up their differences. When Bogart was dying of cancer a few years later, Wilder paid him a final visit, and Bogart apologized. Although he had called Bogart "evil, a bore, a coward," Wilder would later admit, "he was very good, better than he thought he was. He liked to play the hero, and in the end, he was."

Wilder had his own problems during the making of Sabrina. He was in pain from a back problem, and he and writer Ernest Lehman were barely keeping up with rewrites during production. On at least one occasion, when he didn't have enough new pages for that day's work, he asked Hepburn to feign illness so the rest of the day's shooting would be canceled, giving him time to do more rewrites. Hepburn did as she was told, even though it made her appear difficult or unprofessional.

Meanwhile, Hepburn and Holden were also playing out a personal drama. The long-married Holden routinely had affairs with his co-stars, and he was immediately attracted to Hepburn, becoming protective of her when Bogart disparaged her. Soon, they embarked on a passionate romance, and Hepburn hoped to marry Holden and have children with him. However, Holden had had a vasectomy after his two sons were born, and he knew his wife would not give him a divorce. The affair ended as soon as shooting was completed.

Hepburn began another relationship during the making of Sabrina, however, that would last a lifetime. Paramount costume designer Edith Head, who had designed her costumes for Roman Holiday, would only provide Hepburn's everyday wardrobe in Sabrina. Wilder wanted Sabrina to return from France with an elegant wardrobe, and sent Hepburn to see the hottest young designer in Paris, Hubert de Givenchy. When Hepburn arrived, Givenchy's assistant told him "Miss Hepburn" was waiting to see him. The designer assumed it was Katharine Hepburn, whom he admired, and his disappointment was obvious. However, the disappointment didn't last long. He told Hepburn to choose what she wanted from his latest collection, and was impressed by her fashion sense. She asked him to modify one evening dress to hide her prominent collarbone, which he did. The style became so popular that it came to be known as the "Sabrina neckline." They became close friends, and Givenchy would provide Hepburn's personal wardrobe for the rest of her life as well as design clothes for most of her films.

None of the difficulties during production showed in the finished product, a film as frothy and delicate as the souffles Sabrina learns to make. The New York Times called Sabrina "the most delightful comedy-romance in years." The film was a worldwide hit, and retains its freshness, wit and elegance after more than 50 years. Hepburn, who won the Oscar® for Roman Holiday, would be nominated again for Sabrina, one of six nominations the film received. It won only one, for costume design. Although Edith Head won the Oscar® based on Givenchy's costumes, he was not credited, and she accepted the award without mentioning him. Hepburn was devastated, and called Givenchy to apologize. She promised the designer that it would never happen again. According to Givenchy, she kept that promise.

Producer/Director: Billy Wilder
Screenplay: Billy Wilder, Samuel Taylor, Ernest Lehman, based on the play Sabrina Fair by Samuel Taylor
Cinematography: Charles Lang, Jr.
Editor: Arthur Schmidt
Costume Design: Edith Head, Hubert de Givenchy (uncredited)
Art Direction: Hal Pereira, Walter Tyler
Music: Frederick Hollander
Principal Cast: Humphrey Bogart (Linus Larrabee), Audrey Hepburn (Sabrina Fairchild), William Holden (David Larrabee), Walter Hampden (Oliver Larrabee), John Williams (Thomas Fairchild), Martha Hyer (Elizabeth Tyson), Marcel Dalio (Baron), Marcel Hillaire (the Professor), Nella Walker (Maude Larrabee).
BW-114m. Closed captioning.

by Margarita Landazuri