TCM Schedule for Friday, April 20 -- What's On Tonight: Spring Break

[Staph]

Most of the daytime hours today are devoted to the films of Jimmy Durante, inexplicably followed by The Diary of Anne Frank (1959) and a western television pilot from the 1960s. In primetime, TCM continues the theme of Spring Break with a trio of films depicting spring break on the ski slopes. Enjoy!



6:45 AM -- Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs (1966)
The foppish mad scientist plots a scheme to take over the world by killing off the military leaders of every country.
Dir: Mario Bava
Cast: Vincent Price, Fabian, Franco Franchi
C-82 min, TV-PG, CC

Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine was only a moderate box-office success in America but a big hit in Italy and as such this sequel was shot in Italy with an Italian director Mario Bava and with two Italian comedic movie stars, Franco Franchi and Ciccio Ingrassia.


8:15 AM -- MGM Parade Show #9 (1955)
Ann Sothern performs in a clip from "Lady Be Good"; Marlon Brando introduces a clip from "Guys and Dolls." Hosted by George Murphy.
26 min, TV-G


8:45 AM -- Now Playing May (2012)
23 min, CC


9:15 AM -- The Cuban Love Song (1931)
An ex-marine returns to Cuba to find the child he fathered on leave.
Dir: W. S. Van Dyke
Cast: Lawrence Tibbett, Lupe Velez, Ernest Torrence
86 min, TV-G

Moïse Simons's 1929 song, "El Manisero," achieved popularity in the United States in 1932 (a year after this film was released), when it was translated into English by L. Wolfe Gilbert and Marion Sunshine. All verses in this film were in Spanish.


11:00 AM -- Broadway To Hollywood (1933)
Three generations of vaudevillians fight for stardom on stage and screen.
Dir: Willard Mack
Cast: Alice Brady, Frank Morgan, Jackie Cooper
85 min, TV-G, CC

Two of The Three Stooges, Moe Howard and Curly Howard, appear almost unrecognizably as clowns Otto and Fritz, who rough up Russell Hardie backstage.


12:30 PM -- Meet the Baron (1933)
A bumbler passes himself off as a legendary story teller.
Dir: Walter Lang
Cast: Jack Pearl, Jimmy Durante, ZaSu Pitts
67 min, TV-G, CC

The opening credits list one of the Three Stooges as Jerry Howard who became known as "Curley" and then later as "Curly".


1:45 PM -- Strictly Dynamite (1934)
A radio comic runs out of jokes, triggering a desperate search.
Dir: Elliott Nugent
Cast: Jimmy Durante, Lupe Velez, Norman Foster
71 min, TV-G

Based on a story by Broadway writers Robert T. Colwell and Robert A. Simon.


3:00 PM -- The Diary of Anne Frank (1959)
A young girl comes of age while hiding from the Nazis.
Dir: George Stevens
Cast: Millie Perkins, Joseph Schildkraut, Shelley Winters
180 min, TV-PG, CC

Won Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Shelley Winters, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- Lyle R. Wheeler, George W. Davis, Walter M. Scott and Stuart A. Reiss, and Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- William C. Mellor

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Ed Wynn, Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- Charles Le Maire and Mary Wills, Best Director -- George Stevens, Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Alfred Newman, and Best Picture

Audrey Hepburn was first offered the role of Anne Frank. She refused it for three reasons. Firstly, she had decided to accept the role in Green Mansions. Secondly, she had lived in occupied Holland during the war and had seen the Nazis carry out street executions and watched as they herded Jews onto boxcars to carry them to concentration camps. She knew that making the film would bring back memories that were far too painful for her. However, thirdly, she was thirty and felt that she was too old to play a teenage character convincingly on screen.


6:00 PM -- The Dangerous Days of Kiowa Jones (1966)
A drifter deputized by a dying sheriff fights to bring two killers to justice.
Dir: Alex March
Cast: Sal Mineo, Diane Baker, Robert Horton
C-100 min, TV-PG

This was a pilot for a western series to star Robert Horton, but it wasn't picked up by a network.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: TCM SPOTLIGHT: SPRING BREAK



8:00 PM -- Ski Party (1965)
Two college guys take a ski trip to meet girls.
Dir: Alan Rafkin
Cast: Frankie Avalon, Dwayne Hickman, Deborah Walley
C-91 min, CC

Frequently referred to as an entry in the "Beach Party" movie series, lead actor Frankie Avalon, producing studio American-International, and a similar style plot targeting the same young target audience are all that this film has in common with the others. Avalon's character has a completely different name (Todd Armstrong instead of Frankie with no last name, not even in How to Stuff a Wild Bikini, which had the character serving in the military), working against the connection. Series leading lady Annette Funicello does have an uncredited cameo, but clearly not in her regular role of Dolores/Dee Dee.


10:00 PM -- Winter A-Go-Go (1965)
A teenaged ski bum tries to turn the lodge he's inherited into a hit music club.
Dir: Richard Benedict
Cast: James Stacy, William Wellman Jr., Beverly Adams
C-88 min, TV-PG, CC

Filmed on location at Heavenly Resort - Wildwood & Saddle, South Lake Tahoe, Lake Tahoe, California.


12:00 AM -- Get Yourself A College Girl (1964)
A music publisher courts a student songwriter at a ski resort.
Dir: Sidney Miller
Cast: Mary Ann Mobley, Chad Everett, Joan O'Brien
C-87 min, TV-PG

In the UK, known as The Swinging Set.


2:00 AM -- Equinox (1970)
Four friends are attacked by a demon while on a picnic, due to possession of a tome of mystic information.
Dir: Dennis Muren
Cast: Edward Connell, Barbara Hewitt, Frank Boers Jr.
C-82 min, TV-PG

Originally a student film project by Dennis Muren, this is the film debut of Frank Bonner (Herb from WKRP in Cincinnati).


3:30 AM -- The Green Slime (1969)
A mysterious fungus invades a space station and turns the inhabitants into monsters.
Dir: Kinji Fukasaku
Cast: Robert Horton, Richard Jaeckel, Luciana Paluzzi
C-90 min, TV-14

This was the first film ever to be featured on the cult TV series Mystery Science Theater 3000. An edited version of the film appeared on the show's never-aired pilot episode.


5:15 AM -- Babysitter's Guide (1970)
10 min, TV-PG


5:30 AM -- Good Table Manners (1956)
Chuck's future self decides to go back in time to give himself some tips on proper table etiquette.
Dir: Ted Peshak
10 min, TV-G

Filmed in Glenview, Illinois


5:45 AM -- Hazard House (1952)
11 min, TV-PG