TCM Schedule for Monday, October 13 -- CAROLE LOMBARD

[Longhorn]

4:00am Outrage, The (1964)
A Mexican bandit's crimes receive wildly different interpretations from four witnesses.
Cast: Paul Newman, Claire Bloom, Edward G. Robinson. Dir: Martin Ritt. BW-96 mins, TV-PG

5:37am Short Film: From The Vaults: Dr. Zhivago: Behind The Camera With David Lean (1965)
A behind the scenes look with legendary director David Lean showcasing the development and filming of "Dr. Zhivago" (1965).
C-10 mins

6:00am Men Call It Love (1931)
A man leaves his mistress to court a happily married woman.
Cast: Adolphe Menjou, Leila Hyams, Hedda Hopper. Dir: Edgar Selwyn. BW-72 mins, TV-G

7:15am Forbidden (1932)
On an ocean voyage, a librarian falls for a married man.
Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Adolphe Menjou, Ralph Bellamy. Dir: Frank Capra. BW-85 mins, TV-G

8:45am Farewell To Arms, A (1932)
An American serving in World War I falls for a spirited nurse.
Cast: Gary Cooper, Helen Hayes, Adolphe Menjou. Dir: Frank Borzage. BW-89 mins, TV-G

10:15am Prestige (1932)
A woman joins her fiance at a Malaysian prison camp only to discover he's become an alcoholic.
Cast: Ann Harding, Melvyn Douglas, Adolphe Menjou. Dir: Tay Garnett. BW-71 mins, TV-G

11:30am Circus Queen Murder, The (1933)
A vacationing DA gets mixed up in a tangled case involving a touring circus.
Cast: Adolphe Menjou, Greta Nissen, Dwight Frye. Dir: Roy William Neill. BW-65 mins

12:45pm Syncopation (1942)
A young trumpeter rises through the jazz world and finds love.
Cast: Jackie Cooper, Adolphe Menjou, Bonita Granville. Dir: William Dieterle. BW-88 mins, TV-G

2:30pm Sniper, The (1952)
An unhappy man goes on a killing spree.
Cast: Adolphe Menjou, Arthur Franz, Marie Windsor. Dir: Edward Dmytryk. BW-88 mins, TV-PG

4:00pm Parson and the Outlaw, The (1957)
Billy the Kid fakes his death so he can go straight.
Cast: Anthony Dexter, Sonny Tufts, Marie Windsor. Dir: Oliver Drake. C-71 mins, TV-PG

5:15pm Girl In Black Stockings, The (1957)
A young girl's murder leaves a hotel full of suspects.
Cast: Anne Bancroft, Lex Barker, Mamie Van Doren. Dir: Howard W. Koch. BW-75 mins, TV-PG

6:45pm Snorkel, The (1958)
After committing the perfect crime, a man tries to convince authorities his suspicious stepdaughter is insane.
Cast: Peter Van Eyck, Betta St. John, Mandy Miller. Dir: Guy Green. BW-74 mins, TV-PG

What's On Tonight: STAR OF THE MONTH: CAROLE LOMBARD

8:00pm My Man Godfrey (1936)
A zany heiress tries to help a tramp by making him the family butler.
Cast: William Powell, Carole Lombard, Alice Brady. Dir: Gregory La Cava. BW-94 mins, TV-G

9:46pm Short Film: One Reel Wonders: Putter, The (1931)
BW-13 mins

10:00pm No Man of Her Own (1933)
A card sharp on the run falls for a beautiful librarian.
Cast: Carole Lombard, Clark Gable, Dorothy Mackaill. Dir: Wesley Ruggles. BW-81 mins, TV-G

11:30pm Fools For Scandal (1938)
A Hollywood star falls for a broken down aristocrat.
Cast: Carole Lombard, Fernand Gravet, Ralph Bellamy. Dir: Mervyn LeRoy. BW-80 mins, TV-G

1:00am Swing High, Swing Low (1937)
When success goes to his head, a bandleader could lose everything.
Cast: Carole Lombard, Fred MacMurray, Dorothy Lamour. Dir: Mitchell Leisen. C-83 mins, TV-PG

2:30am Dear Mr. Gable (1968)
Burgess Meredith narrates this documentary about the off-screen life of one of Hollywood's most masculine stars, Clark Gable.
BW-52 mins, TV-G

3:30am Misfits, The (1961)
A sensitive divorcee gets mixed up with modern cowboys roping mustangs in the desert.
Cast: Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe, Montgomery Clift. Dir: John Huston. BW-125 mins, TV-PG

[Longhorn]

1. My Man Godfrey (1936)

My Man Godfrey (1936) is about a bum, a "forgotten man" who becomes a butler for a wildly rich and stir-crazy household. The film still serves as a benchmark for screwball comedies as well as a social commentary on the impact of The Great Depression on America. The real-life divorced couple of Carole Lombard and William Powell made for great chemistry, while the supporting cast was filled with wonderful character actors who became fixtures in other '30s and '40s comedies: Eugene Pallette, the bullfrog-voiced, long-suffering paterfamilias, Alice Brady as his scatterbrained wife, Gail Patrick as Lombard's scheming sister and the hilariously bug-eyed Mischa Auer, who found his stride as the pouty "mascot" of the household (His imitation of a gorilla is one of the film's comic highpoints).

The director of My Man Godfrey - Gregory La Cava - may not be as well known today as some of his contemporaries like Howard Hawks, George Cukor or Preston Sturges, but, like them, he found his own course to freedom within the studio system. A former animator who began directing two-reel comedies in the company of Leo McCarey and Frank Capra, La Cava freelanced for much of his career, holding studio bosses in contempt and preferring to find a more organic style of working, one that mirrored that of the screenwriter of My Man Godfrey, Morrie Ryskind.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning co-author of the play Of Thee I Sing (1932), with George S. Kaufman, and a screenwriter in his own right (A Night at the Opera, 1935), Ryskind was hired to write the script for My Man Godfrey. His usual method for preparing a screenplay was rather unorthodox - he usually work-shopped his scripts with an informal team of colleagues. In this case, he rewrote and improvised dialog, often on the set, with the film's two leads and the director. La Cava also preferred this method of working, and was known for reshaping scenes and rewriting on the set, often shooting without a finished script. This spontaneous approach influenced the role of Irene, which was actually based on Carole Lombard.

La Cava had other eccentricities. When the director and star William Powell found themselves in a disagreement about the portrayal of Godfrey, the two spent an evening with a bottle of Scotch, reaching consensus hours later on the character's depiction. Arriving on the set the next morning with a headache, but intending to get a day's work done, La Cava discovered that Powell was nowhere to be found. A telegram was delivered to the set from the absent actor. It read, "WE MAY HAVE FOUND GODFREY LAST NIGHT BUT WE LOST POWELL. SEE YOU TOMORROW."

My Man Godfrey became a runaway hit, earning huge profits and six Oscar nominations, although it surprisingly didn't win in any category. Nevertheless, it confirmed William Powell's status as a leading man (He followed this with Libeled Lady <1936> starring Myrna Loy and Jean Harlow) and La Cava subsequently made the popular backstage comedy Stage Door (1937). In the part of the dizzy heiress, Carole Lombard (she was originally suggested for the role by her ex-husband Powell) finally revealed her full potential as a comedienne and actress. She also won a Best Actress nomination for her performance. In addition, My Man Godfrey garnered nominations for Best Actor (Powell), Best Supporting Actor (Mischa Auer), Best Supporting Actress (Alice Brady), Best Director and Best Screenplay. In 1957, Universal-International remade My Man Godfrey with June Allyson and David Niven in the lead roles but it was a pale imitation of the original film.

Producer: Gregory La Cava, Charles R. Rogers
Director: Gregory La Cava
Screenplay: Gregory La Cava, Eric Hatch, Morrie Ryskind
Cinematography: Ted Tetzlaff
Costume Design: Travis Banton
Film Editing: Ted Kent, Russell Schoengarth
Original Music: Charles Previn
Principal Cast: William Powell (Godfrey), Carole Lombard (Irene), Alice Brady (Angelica), Gail Patrick (Cornelia), Jean Dixon (Molly), Eugene Pallette (Alexander), Mischa Auer (Carlo), Alan Mowbray (Tommy Gray).
BW-94m.Closed captioning.

by Genevieve McGillicuddy