TCM Schedule for Friday, September 4, 2015 -- What's On Tonight: W. C. Fields, 100 Years In Film

[Staph]

After a few more films with Star of the Month Susan Hayward in morning, in the afternoon it's films about Hollywood, in prime time, we've got W. C. Fields, and late night TCM is showing movies based on the novels on Charles Dickens. Enjoy!


6:30 AM -- Smash-Up, the Story of a Woman (1947)
A singer's wife turns to the bottle when she fears she's lost her husband to success.
Dir: Stuart Heisler
Cast: Susan Hayward, Lee Bowman, Marsha Hunt
BW-103 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Susan Hayward, and Best Writing, Original Story -- Dorothy Parker and Frank Cavett

Reportedly suggested by the life and career of Bing Crosby and songstress wife Dixie Lee; when his popularity as an entertainer eclipsed that of Lee, she drifted into extreme alcoholism, just as Susan Hayward's character does in film.


8:15 AM -- Deadline at Dawn (1946)
An aspiring actress risks her life to clear a sailor charged with murder.
Dir: Harold Clurman
Cast: Susan Hayward, Paul Lukas, Bill Williams
BW-83 mins, CC,

The only film directed by legendary stage director Harold Clurman.


9:45 AM -- Girls on Probation (1938)
A dizzy young girl falls into crime but wins her lawyer's heart.
Dir: William McGann
Cast: Jane Bryan, Ronald Reagan, Anthony Averill
BW-64 mins,

Carole Landis was cast as inmate Ruth but she was replaced by Peggy Shannon. Carole can be seen as an extra in one scene walking behind Ronald Reagan.


11:00 AM -- MGM Parade Show #13 (1955)
George Murphy introduces clips featuring Susan Hayward and Fernand Gravet from "The Great Waltz" and "I'll Cry Tomorrow."
BW-25 mins,


11:35 AM -- Madeira "Isle Of Romance" (1938)
This short film takes the viewer to Madeira Island, the largest of the group of Madeira Islands in the Atlantic Ocean.
C-8 mins,


11:45 AM -- A Star Is Born (1937)
A fading matinee idol marries the young beginner he's shepherded to stardom.
Dir: William A. Wellman
Cast: Janet Gaynor, Fredric March, Adolphe Menjou
C-111 mins, CC,

Won an Honorary Oscar for W. Howard Greene for the color photography of A Star Is Born. (plaque) This award was recommended by a committee of leading cinematographers after viewing all the color pictures made during the year.

Won an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Story -- William A. Wellman and Robert Carson

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Fredric March, Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Janet Gaynor, Best Director -- William A. Wellman, Best Writing, Screenplay -- Alan Campbell, Robert Carson and Dorothy Parker, Best Assistant Director -- Eric Stacey, and Best Picture

When the drunken Norman Maine character raucously interrupts the Oscar presentation, it was déja vu for Janet Gaynor. She had brought her sister to the Academy Awards ceremony in 1929, when she won the first Best Actress Oscar ever awarded, for 7th Heaven (1927). Her sister became very drunk and completely out of control, thoroughly embarrassing Gaynor.


1:45 PM -- Show People (1928)
In this silent film, a small-town girl tries to make it in Hollywood.
Dir: King Vidor
Cast: Marion Davies, William Haines, Dell Henderson
BW-79 mins,

Based on the career of Gloria Swanson, who began her career in comedy.


3:15 PM -- Make Me A Star (1932)
A grocery clerk goes to Hollywood in search of fame and fortune.
Dir: William Beaudine
Cast: Joan Blondell, Stuart Erwin, ZaSu Pitts
BW-86 mins,

Based on the novel Merton Of The Movies by Harry Leon Wilson, and remade under that name in 1924 and 1947.


4:45 PM -- What Price Hollywood? (1932)
A drunken director whose career is fading helps a waitress become a Hollywood star.
Dir: George Cukor
Cast: Constance Bennett, Lowell Sherman, Neil Hamilton
BW-88 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Story -- Adela Rogers St. Johns and Jane Murfin

David O. Selznick wanted Clara Bow for the role of Mary Evans, but she turned it down when she was offered more money from Fox.


6:30 PM -- Going Hollywood (1933)
A girl poses as a French maid to catch a singing star.
Dir: Raoul Walsh
Cast: Marion Davies, Bing Crosby, Fifi D'Orsay
BW-78 mins, CC,

Marion Davies requested Bing Crosby as her co-star, but William Randolph Hearst, the financial backer of Cosmopolitan Productions, refused because he did not like Crosby's singing style. Composer Arthur Freed, however, convinced Hearst that Crosby would be good for Davies' sagging career. Davies also requested Fifi D'Orsay be cast as "Lili", and Hearst agreed despite his wish to cast Lili Damita in that role.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: W.C. FIELDS, 100 YEARS IN FILM



8:00 PM -- The Bank Dick (1940)
When he foils two robberies in one day, the town drunkard is hired to guard the local bank.
Dir: Edward Cline
Cast: W. C. Fields, Cora Witherspoon, Una Merkel
BW-72 mins, CC,

"Mahatma Kane Jeeves" (the pseudonym used by W.C. Fields as screenwriter) is a play on words from stage plays of the era. "My hat, my cane, Jeeves!" And in fact, at the end of the film his butler does hand him his hat and his cane.


9:30 PM -- It's A Gift (1934)
A disgruntled druggist sells his store to buy an orange grove in California.
Dir: Norman McLeod
Cast: W. C. Fields, Kathleen Howard, Jean Rouverol
BW-68 mins, CC,

The final scene, on Bissonette's "orange ranch", was filmed at the house and property W.C. Fields was living in at the time of the filming. For his entire life, Fields rented living quarters, adamantly refusing to buy a house or land.


10:51 PM -- Colorful Islands Madagascar And Seychelles (1936)
This short film focuses on the customs and culture of Madagascar and Seychelles.
C-8 mins,


11:00 PM -- You Can't Cheat An Honest Man (1939)
A circus manager tries to break up his daughter's romance with a ventriloquist.
Dir: George Marshall
Cast: W. C. Fields, Edgar Bergen, Charlie McCarthy
BW-79 mins,

Legend has it that on the set of You Can't Cheat an Honest Man (1939), a stagehand was cleaning out W.C. Fields' dressing room and accidentally bumped into a table on which Fields had placed a bottle of whiskey. He caught the bottle before it hit the floor, but the cork had popped out and he couldn't find it. He placed the bottle back on the table and left. Later Fields came back to the dressing room, and a few minutes after-wards stormed out, roaring "Who took the cork out of my lunch?"


12:30 AM -- David Copperfield (1935)
Charles Dickens' classic tale of an orphaned boy's fight for happiness and the colorful characters who help and hinder him.
Dir: George Cukor
Cast: W. C. Fields, Lionel Barrymore, Maureen O'Sullivan
BW-130 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Film Editing -- Robert Kern, Best Assistant Director -- Joseph M. Newman, and Best Picture

According to film historians, W.C. Fields performed in only one film exactly according to script and as directed. That one was MGM's David Copperfield (1935) in which he co-starred with Freddie Bartholomew, who was only ten years old. Fields admired the Charles Dickens book and wanted desperately to play Mr. Micawber in the movie, so he agreed to forgo his usual ad-libs and put aside his distaste at working with child actors.


3:00 AM -- Scrooge (1970)
A miser faces the ghosts of his past on Christmas Eve.
Dir: Ronald Neame
Cast: Albert Finney, Alec Guinness, Edith Evans
C-114 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration -- Terence Marsh, Robert Cartwright and Pamela Cornell, Best Costume Design -- Margaret Furse, Best Music, Original Song -- Leslie Bricusse for the song "Thank You Very Much", and Best Music, Original Song Score -- Leslie Bricusse, Ian Fraser and Herbert W. Spencer

Scrooge (played by then 34-year old Albert Finney) is actually younger than his nephew Fred (played by then 46-year old Michael Medwin).


5:00 AM -- Oliver Twist (1922)
A young orphan falls in with a man training children to be thieves.
Dir: Frank Lloyd
Cast: Jackie Coogan, Lon Chaney, Gladys Brockwell
BW-74 mins,

When it was found without intertitles in the 1970s, the film was restored with the help of Jackie Coogan and Sol Lesser. The intertitles were created by Blackhawk Films.

[Number9Dream]

1. Thanks... Been a long time since these Fields movies were shown

Hoping to record "The Bank Dick", "It's a Gift", & "You Can't Cheat An Honest Man".