TCM Schedule for Friday, November 22, 2013 -- Friday Night Spotlight: Screwball Comedies

[Staph]

Most of today's films feature the music of the amazing Max Steiner, one of the most prolific composers in Hollywood. Steiner worked on 36 films in 1934 and 37 the next year. It is doubtful anyone will ever approach that record again! And in the evening, we've got more screwball comedies, including one of my all time favorite films, Bringing Up Baby. Enjoy!



6:00 AM -- Aggie Appleby, Maker Of Men (1933)
A socialite can't choose between the tough guy she's turned into a gentleman and the gentleman she's turned into a tough guy.
Dir: Mark Sandrich
Cast: Charles Farrell, Wynne Gibson, William Gargan
BW-73 mins, TV-G,

The play was copyrighted on 3 December 1932, but had no Broadway performances.


7:15 AM -- One Man's Journey (1933)
Father and son doctors disagree over the son's materialistic goals.
Dir: John Robertson
Cast: Lionel Barrymore, May Robson, Dorothy Jordan
BW-72 mins, TV-G, CC,

Crew or equipment visible mistake -- As Dr. Watt leaves the McGinnis house, the shadows of the trees fall clearly on the "sky" cyclorama.


8:30 AM -- Man of Two Worlds (1934)
An Eskimo is brought to England and "civilized."
Dir: J. Walter Ruben
Cast: Francis Lederer, Elissa Landi, Henry Stephenson
BW-96 mins, TV-G,

A fictional story meant to capitalize on the success of the documentary Nanook of the North (1922).


10:15 AM -- Break of Hearts (1935)
An unknown composer tries to save the conductor she loves from his drinking problem.
Dir: Philip Moeller
Cast: Katharine Hepburn, Charles Boyer, John Beal
BW-78 mins, TV-G, CC,

The character of Franz Roberti was based on two real-life conductors of the period: Leopold Stokowski, who was well known for his rearrangements of music by Bach, Wagner and other composers; and Arturo Toscanini, who was notorious for insulting his musicians during rehearsals the way Roberti does in the film.


11:45 AM -- By Your Leave (1935)
A bored couple facing middle-age succumbs to wandering eyes.
Dir: Lloyd Corrigan
Cast: Frank Morgan, Genevieve Tobin, Neil Hamilton
BW-82 mins, TV-G,

The play opened on Broadway in New York City, New York, USA on 24 January 1934 and closed in February 1934 after 37 performances. The opening night cast included Howard Lindsay as Henry Smith (played by Frank Morgan in this film) and Dorothy Gish as Ellen Smith (played by Genevieve Tobin).


1:15 PM -- Gridiron Flash (1935)
A college football team recruits a tough convict.
Dir: Glenn Tryon
Cast: Eddie Quillan, Betty Furness, Grant Mitchell
BW-64 mins, TV-G,

From a story by Nicholas T. Barrows and Earle Snell.


2:30 PM -- Star Of Midnight (1935)
A New York lawyer tries to track down a kidnapped actress.
Dir: Stephen Roberts
Cast: William Powell, Ginger Rogers, Paul Kelly
BW-90 mins, TV-PG, CC,

Early in the film, William Powell's character says that people consider him "Charlie Chan, Philo Vance and the Saint all rolled into one." Powell previously played Philo Vance on four occasions.


4:15 PM -- Sylvia Scarlett (1935)
A female con artist masquerades as a boy to escape the police.
Dir: George Cukor
Cast: Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, Brian Aherne
BW-95 mins, TV-PG, CC,

Howard Hughes visited the set one day, landing his amphibious plane near the beach where they were filming. Hughes said he stopped by to say hello to his good friend Cary Grant but in actuality he wanted to meet Katharine Hepburn, whom he was fascinated by. The film The Aviator recreates this first meeting of theirs.


6:00 PM -- Somewhere I'll Find You (1942)
Brothers feud over a girl they both fall for while covering World War II.
Dir: Wesley Ruggles
Cast: Clark Gable, Lana Turner, Robert Sterling
BW-108 mins, TV-G, CC,

Filming was halted on January 16, 1942, due to the death of Clark Gable's wife, Carole Lombard, and resumed on February 23.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: FRIDAY NIGHT SPOTLIGHT: SCREWBALL COMEDIES



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

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- William Powell, Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Carole Lombard, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Mischa Auer, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Alice Brady, Best Director -- Gregory La Cava, and Best Writing, Screenplay -- Eric Hatch and Morrie Ryskind

The film makes reference to the Dionne Quntiplets, who were born just months before this was filmed, when Mrs. Bullock says, "Why shouldn't Godfrey have five children? If a woman in Canada can have five children, why can't Godfrey?" It was common, at the time, to have the Quntiplets referenced in films, because they were the first multiply birth, past triplets, to all be born alive. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the girls are still the largest multiple birth recognized by them, because they only recognize babies conceived naturally.


10:00 PM -- Bringing Up Baby (1938)
A madcap heiress upsets the staid existence of a straitlaced scientist.
Dir: Howard Hawks
Cast: Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, Charlie Ruggles
BW-102 mins, TV-G, CC,

David's response to Aunt Elizabeth asking him why he is wearing a woman's dressing gown ("Because I just went gay all of a sudden!&quot is considered by many film historians to be the first use of the word "gay" in its roughly modern sense (as opposed to its archaic meaning of "happy, carefree&quot in an American studio film. Among homosexuals, the word first came into its current use during the 1920s or possibly even earlier, though it was not widely known by heterosexuals as a slang term for homosexuals until the late 1960s. The line was not in the original shooting script for the film; it was an ad lib from Cary Grant himself.


12:00 AM -- Ball Of Fire (1942)
A group of professors takes in a nightclub singer hiding from the law to protect her gangster boyfriend.
Dir: Howard Hawks
Cast: Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck, Oscar Homolka
BW-112 mins, TV-G, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Barbara Stanwyck, Best Writing, Original Story -- Thomas Monroe and Billy Wilder, Best Sound, Recording -- Thomas T. Moulton (Samuel Goldwyn SSD), and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic Picture -- Alfred Newman

The roles of the seven professors (besides Gary Cooper) were inspired by Disney's Seven Dwarfs. There is even a photograph showing the actors sitting in front of a Disney poster, each one in front of his corresponding dwarf: S.Z. Sakall - Dopey; Leonid Kinskey - Sneezy; Richard Haydn - Bashful; Henry Travers - Sleepy; Aubrey Mather - Happy; Tully Marshall - Grumpy, and Oskar Homolka - Doc. When Gary Cooper is taking notes of the news boy's slang, the marquee on the theater across the street advertises Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.


2:00 AM -- You Can't Take It With You (1938)
A girl from a family of freethinkers falls for the son of a conservative banker.
Dir: Frank Capra
Cast: Jean Arthur, Lionel Barrymore, James Stewart
BW-126 mins, TV-G, CC,

Won Oscars for Best Director -- Frank Capra, and Best Picture

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Spring Byington, Best Writing, Screenplay -- Robert Riskin, Best Cinematography -- Joseph Walker, Best Sound, Recording -- John P. Livadary (Columbia SSD), and Best Film Editing -- Gene Havlick

Frank Capra first became aware of the play when he caught a performance of it when he was in New York in 1937 for the premiere of Lost Horizon. He tried to persuade Columbia boss Harry Cohn to buy the rights but Cohn refused, partly because he baulked at the prospect of shelling out what he considered to be the exorbitant sum of $200,000 for the rights, but mainly because he was still smarting from the lost battles he'd had with Capra over the final edit of Lost Horizon. Capra too was out of sorts with Cohn as he objected strongly to the Columbia boss trying to market the Jean Arthur film If You Could Only Cook in Britain as one of his own. A court case ensued, only being resolved in November 1937, with the proviso that Columbia buy the rights to the play and assign the project to Capra.


4:15 AM -- Joy of Living (1938)
A Broadway musical star falls for an eccentric millionaire.
Dir: Tay Garnett
Cast: Irene Dunne, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Alice Brady
BW-91 mins, TV-G, CC

Based on a story by brother/sister writer team Dorothy and Herbert Fields. Dorothy is better known as a songwriter, with a Tony, a Grammy and a Oscar to her name for her lyrics.

[CBHagman]

1. Nothing but amazing viewing tonight.

Be sure to listen for the moment in My Man Godfrey where Eugene Pallette makes reference to tax rates. It'll make a tea partyer's ears melt right off his/her head.