TCM Schedule for Thursday, September 11, 2014 -- What's On Tonight - Jerry Lewis

[Staph]

TCM is starting the day with the more of Star of the Month Melvyn Douglas, and then we're celebrating the birthday of Betsy Drake, born Betsy Gordon Drake on September 11, 1923, in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, France, and still alive today. Though a charming actress, she is best remembered today as the third of Cary Grant's five wives. Then in prime time, TCM is featuring some of the less annoying films of Jerry Lewis. Enjoy!


6:15 AM -- On The Loose (1951)
When she's branded as a "bad girl," a troubled teen fights for her parents' approval.
Dir: Charles Lederer
Cast: Joan Evans, Melvyn Douglas, Lynn Bari
BW-74 mins,

Based on a story by Malvin Wald and Collier Young.


7:45 AM -- Arsene Lupin Returns (1938)
A reformed jewel thief helps detectives track down a criminal.
Dir: Geo. Fitzmaurice
Cast: Melvyn Douglas, Virginia Bruce, Warren William
BW-81 mins,

Based on the character created by Maurice LeBlanc, a prolific French author born in Rouen on November 11, 1864. He had studied law, but abandoned that for a career in writing. He initially wrote for various periodicals, with "Une Femme" being his first published work in 1887. He gained fame in France and abroad after starting his Arsène Lupin series of novels. Lupin was a gentleman-thief who was a master of disguise and made his first appearance in 1905 in "L'arrestation d'Arséne Lupin". In 1908 LeBlanc pitted Lupin against Sherlock Holmes in "Arsène Lupin Versus Holmlock Shears". Leblanc would eventually produce 20 volumes worth of Lupin's adventures.


9:15 AM -- The Toy Wife (1938)
A Southern belle finds herself torn between two suitors.
Dir: Richard Thorpe
Cast: Luise Rainer, Melvyn Douglas, Robert Young
BW-96 mins,

The play "Frou-frou" by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy opened in Paris, France on 30 October 1869. Its English adaptation, "Frou Frou," by Augustin Daly, opened in New York on 15 February 1870.


11:00 AM -- Every Girl Should Be Married (1948)
A young woman uses scientific research to trap a man into marriage.
Dir: Don Hartman
Cast: Cary Grant, Franchot Tone, Diana Lynn
BW-85 mins, CC,

Love interests in this film, Cary Grant and Betsy Drake tied the knot in real life less than a year after the film was released.


12:30 PM -- 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
BW-92 mins,

The stack of baby photos which they sort through includes one used in Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) eight years earlier.


2:03 PM -- A Letter From A Soldier (1951)
In this excerpt from the feature film "It's A Big Country" (1951), a U.S. GI back stateside from Korea delivers a letter to the mother of a dead fellow soldier.
Dir: Don Weis
Cast: Marjorie Main, Keefe Brasselle,
BW-9 mins,


2:15 PM -- Room for One More (1952)
A family with three children takes in troubled orphans.
Dir: Norman Taurog
Cast: Cary Grant, Betsy Drake, Lurene Tuttle
BW-95 mins, CC,

During the Pledge of Allegiance the words under God were missing. This is because the words were not added to the Pledge of Allegiance until 1954 and the movie was made in 1952.


4:00 PM -- Clarence, The Cross-Eyed Lion (1965)
Animal doctors fight to protect the wildlife of Africa.
Dir: Andrew Marton
Cast: Marshall Thompson, Betsy Drake, Richard Haydn
C-92 mins, Letterbox Format

Pilot for the Daktari (1966) TV series, which ran on CBS-TV from 1966-1969.


5:45 PM -- Zebra In The Kitchen (1965)
A young boy tries to liberate animals from the city zoo.
Dir: Ivan Tors
Cast: Jay North, Martin Milner, Andy Devine
C-92 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Uncredited actor Eddie Quillan is seen watching a clip from Hollywood Party (1934), in which he himself had a featured role 21 years earlier.


7:30 PM -- TCM Presents Elvis Mitchell Under the Influence: Joan Allen (2008)
Celebrities reveal the classic movies that influenced their lives in interviews with acclaimed film critic/interviewer Elvis Mitchell.
C-27 mins, CC, Letterbox Format



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: JERRY LEWIS



8:00 PM -- The Nutty Professor (1963)
A timid chemist discovers a potion that unleashes his sleazy side.
Dir: Jerry Lewis
Cast: Jerry Lewis, Stella Stevens, Del Moore
C-107 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

It was widely believed at the time that the Nutty Professor's sleazy alter ego, Buddy Love, was a satirical swipe at Jerry Lewis's longtime partner, Dean Martin.


10:00 PM -- The Caddy (1953)
A master golfer suffering from performance anxiety caddies for a man he's taught everything.
Dir: Norman Taurog
Cast: Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Donna Reed
C-95 mins,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song -- Harry Warren (music) and Jack Brooks (lyrics) for the song "That's Amore"

The Central Intelligence Agency was concerned about the portrayal of race relations in Hollywood films, particularly for foreign consumption, and in the early 1950s quietly contacted a number of film studios about using more African-American actors in small, subtly positive roles. One result was the smattering of black observers in the crowd during this film's big golf game.


11:48 PM -- Shoot Yourself Some Golf (1942)
In this short film, Ronald Reagan and Jane Wyman are given golf lessons by several professional golfers. Vitaphone Release 779A.
Dir: Del Frazier
Cast: Charles Drake,
C-11 mins,

I wonder if the wingnuts watching this short will understand that Jane Wyman was really Ronnie's wife at the time, and that the Sainted Ronnie was America's first (and so far, only) divorced President?


12:00 AM -- Three on a Couch (1966)
When a psychiatrist refuses to marry until her patients are cured, her fiance sets out to do the job himself.
Dir: Jerry Lewis
Cast: Jerry Lewis, Janet Leigh, Mary Ann Mobley
C-109 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

One of the films included in "The Fifty Worst Films of All Time (and how they got that way)" by Harry Medved and Randy Lowell.


2:00 AM -- The Big Mouth (1967)
A meek bank auditor stands in for a look-alike gangster to uncover a stolen treasure.
Dir: Jerry Lewis
Cast: Jerry Lewis, Harold J. Stone, Susan Bay
C-107 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Feature-film debut of Rob Reiner, with a cameo by Colonel Harlan Sanders.


4:00 AM -- At War With The Army (1950)
A song-and-dance team have trouble adjusting to Army life.
Dir: Hal Walker
Cast: Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Mike Kellin
BW-92 mins,

When Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin signed with Paramount Pictures, it was with the proviso that they could make one film outside the studio every year for their own company, York Productions. At War with the Army (1950) was the first fruit of that negotiation, with the stars exchanging their usual salary for a 90% cut of the profits. However, on the film's release, the two found themselves in the midst of a protracted legal battle over their contract and the profits. After several years, they relinquished all financial interest in the film in exchange for dropping their stipulation that they make films outside of Paramount. All the legal battles over the film are probably one of the main reasons why its copyright was not renewed in 1977 with the film ending up in the public domain.


5:38 AM -- Come To Dinner (1933)
This short film presents a parody of "Dinner at Eight" (1933), replete with look-alike actors of Lionel Barrymore and Marie Dressler. Vitaphone Release 1636-1637.
Dir: Roy Mack
Cast: Ninon Bunyea, Leda LTa, Flavia Arcaro
BW-22 mins,

[bvf]

1. Appreciate these--thanks, Staph!

As an avid TCM viewer.

"...less annoying films of Jerry Lewis"--LOL!

[Staph]

2. I have a dear friend

who refers to a French dip sandwich as a Jerry Lewis. I love my friend Tim!

[bvf]

3. When I was growing up I remember

reading that he was big in France, so that makes perfect sense to me.