TCM Schedule for Thursday, November 26, 2015 -- What's On Tonight: Tracy & Hepburn

[Staph]

In the daylight hours, TCM has a series of films starring some of the most successful child stars, including Dean Stockwell, Claude Jarman Jr., Roddy McDowell, Elizabeth Taylor, Margaret O'Brian, and Mickey Rooney. Other child stars may have earned more money or been more popular, but these kids could really act. In prime time, TCM is featuring five of the nine films that starred Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn. I haven't seen Desk Set (1957) in a decade or more. It's view of computers and women in the workplace is a bit dated, but Tracy and Hepburn's dialog just crackles. Enjoy!


7:00 AM -- The Boy With Green Hair (1948)
An orphaned boy mystically acquires green hair and a mission to end war.
Dir: Joseph Losey
Cast: Pat O'Brien, Robert Ryan, Barbara Hale
C-82 mins, CC,

Unfortunately for the film's director, Joseph Losey, the eccentric, politically conservative Howard Hughes took over RKO while this film was being shot and, hating the film's pacifist message, did his best to sabotage it. Losey, however, managed to protect the integrity of his project. Screenwriter Ben Barzman, who was also later blacklisted along with Losey, would later recall that "Joe shot the picture in such a way that there wasn't much possibility for change. A few lines were stuck in here and there to soften the message, but that was about it". Barzman also remembered that 12-year-old Dean Stockwell was called into Hughes' office and Hughes told him that when the other children spoke of the horror of war, he should say, "And that's why America has gotta have the biggest army, and the biggest navy, and the biggest air force in the world!" According to Barzman, little Stockwell was so in sympathy with the film's message that he dared to respond, "No, sir!" Even after Hughes started to scream at him, the boy held his ground and refused to do it.


8:30 AM -- The Yearling (1946)
A Florida boy's pet deer threatens the family farm.
Dir: Clarence Brown
Cast: Gregory Peck, Jane Wyman, Claude Jarman Jr.
C-128 mins, CC,

Won Oscars for Best Cinematography, Color -- Charles Rosher, Leonard Smith and Arthur E. Arling, and Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Color -- Cedric Gibbons, Paul Groesse and Edwin B. Willis

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Gregory Peck, Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Jane Wyman, Best Director -- Clarence Brown, Best Film Editing -- Harold F. Kress, and Best Picture

Claude Jarman Jr. was chosen from over 19,000 boys to play Jody. The factor which won him the role was his long hair. Jarman had been busy with school work and hadn't had a haircut in several months, which made producer Sidney Franklin think that he looked the part of a Florida farm boy.


10:45 AM -- The Secret Garden (1949)
An orphaned girl changes the lives of those she encounters at a remote estate.
Dir: Fred M. Wilcox
Cast: Margaret O'Brien, Herbert Marshall, Dean Stockwell
C-92 mins, CC,

Dickon is supposed to be around the same age as Mary and Colin (10 years old), but the actor who portrayed him, Brian Roper, was about 20 years old at the time of filming. Margaret O'Brien and Dean Stockwell were also a few years older than the characters they played in the movie.


12:30 PM -- Kim (1951)
Rudyard Kipling's classic tale of an orphaned boy who helps the British Army against Indian rebels.
Dir: Victor Saville
Cast: Errol Flynn, Dean Stockwell, Paul Lukas
C-113 mins, CC,

In the master shot of the scene in which Flynn enters the tent with a bowl of food for Dean Stockwell for the lama, practical joker Flynn had piled it high with steaming fresh camel dung. Stockwell played the scene as written but it cost Flynn $500 because he had bet with the crew that he could make the young actor crack up laughing.


2:30 PM -- National Velvet (1944)
A British farm girl fights to train a difficult horse for the Grand National Steeplechase.
Dir: Clarence Brown
Cast: Mickey Rooney, Donald Crisp, Elizabeth Taylor
C-124 mins, CC,

Won Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Anne Revere, and Best Film Editing -- Robert Kern

Nominated for Oscars for Best Director -- Clarence Brown, Best Cinematography, Color -- Leonard Smith, and Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Color -- Cedric Gibbons, Urie McCleary, Edwin B. Willis and Mildred Griffiths

12-year-old Elizabeth Taylor underwent drastic measures to prove that she was right for the role. Velvet brown was supposed to be a girl in her late teens, going through the natural changes into womanhood. Taylor was told by the director that she couldn't be velvet, as she was rather "boyish". This only provoked Elizabeth more; she ate steak everyday, doubled her portion of meals, and rode her horse constantly to train. In three months, Elizabeth grew three inches, and began to gain the natural curves of a woman. For her efforts alone, she won the role.


4:45 PM -- Lassie Come Home (1943)
A faithful collie undertakes an arduous journey to return to her lost family.
Dir: Fred M. Wilcox
Cast: Roddy McDowall, Donald Crisp, Dame May Whitty
C-89 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Cinematography, Color -- Leonard Smith

Elizabeth Taylor replaced Maria Flynn for the role of Priscilla. Some sources say Flynn was afraid of the dog on the set. Others say that she grew taller than Roddy McDowall or that the strong Technicolor lighting caused her eyes to water. In any case, production was halted. The producer was walking the 600 block of North Foothill Road in Beverly Hills doing his nightly patrol as an air raid warden when he met Francis Taylor, who patrolled the 700 block. Knowing he and Sara wanted to get their daughter into the movies, he asked him to bring Elizabeth to the studio. There she was introduced to Lassie and the production resumed.


6:15 PM -- The Phantom Tollbooth (1969)
A bored boy enters a fantasy world where letters and numbers are at war.
Dir: Chuck Jones
Cast: Mel Blanc, Daws Butler, Candy Candido
C-89 mins, CC,

This film was actually made in 1968 but due to MGM's financial problems and frequently changing management, the film was not heavily promoted. When it was released in 1970, it was not a box office success.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: HEPBURN & TRACY



8:00 PM -- Desk Set (1957)
A computer expert tries to prove his electronic brain can replace a television network's research staff.
Dir: Walter Lang
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Gig Young
C-104 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Improvised Scene: Sumner (Spencer Tracy) is leaving Bunny's (Katharine Hepburn) apartment, shortly after Mike leaves and Peg arrives, when Bunny and Sumner are recapping the afternoon's events for Peg. Tracy goes "offstage" and returns with his hat pulled down over his ears, his shirt dangling out of his pants, staggering as though drunk and talking crazy. This moment, including the women's hysterical laughter and Hepburn's literally falling out of her chair, is not in the script.


10:00 PM -- Woman of the Year (1942)
Opposites distract when a sophisticated political columnist falls for a sportswriter.
Dir: George Stevens
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Fay Bainter
BW-114 mins, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Screenplay -- Michael Kanin and Ring Lardner Jr.

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Katharine Hepburn

Before production finished, it was clear to all at the studio that Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn were romantically involved. Although studio executives would normally have tried to curtail such a relationship for fear of negative public reaction, they kept a hands off approach, partly because of the stars' discretion and partly because they realized that Hepburn was helping to keep Tracy's drinking under control. When he went on a bender, she would often sleep on the floor outside his hotel room door, waiting until things got quiet before she went in to help him sober up so he could report to the set.


12:00 AM -- State of the Union (1948)
A presidential candidate fights to keep his integrity and his wife during a grueling campaign.
Dir: Frank Capra
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Van Johnson
BW-123 mins, CC,

Adolphe Menjou was a hard-line political conservative who had willingly co-operated with the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) and named names. Katherine Hepburn was decidedly more liberal and had been an outspoken critic of the blacklist. When Hepburn learned Menjou had worked with HUAC, she refused to speak to or have anything to do with him unless they were filming a scene. Once the cameras were off, she kept her distance.


2:15 AM -- Pat And Mike (1952)
Romance blooms between a female athlete and her manager.
Dir: George Cukor
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Aldo Ray
BW-95 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay -- Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin

The writers, Garson Kanin and Ruth Gordon, were close friends of Hepburn and Tracy, and wrote the film to showcase Hepburn's athletic abilities. Hepburn was already an avid golfer.


4:00 AM -- Adam's Rib (1949)
Husband-and-wife lawyers argue opposite sides in a sensational women's rights case.
Dir: George Cukor
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Judy Holliday
BW-101 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay -- Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin

Katharine Hepburn, George Cukor and Garson Kanin managed to turn Judy Holliday's performance into a screen test for Born Yesterday (1950). In particular, one long scene in which Doris recounts how and why she shot her husband was written as a near monologue for the character. Holliday shot her close-up of the speech in one take. Then Hepburn refused to shoot more than a few brief reaction shots, thus forcing Cukor to focus the entire scene on Holliday. That scene convinced Cohn to test Holliday. After three tests (she borrowed a gown from Hepburn for one of them), he finally cast her over such glamorous stars as Rita Hayworth, Lucille Ball and the young Marilyn Monroe. Hepburn would later explain her generosity to Kanin: "It was the kind of thing you do because people have done it for you."