TCM Schedule for Friday, December 25, 2015 -- What's On Tonight: Orphans

[Staph]

Merry Christmas (or happy midwinter holiday of your choice)! During the day, TCM is showing more Christmas-related films, and in prime time, it's a selection of films about orphans. Don't be distressed -- these are cheery, Hollywood-style orphans, like Annie (1982) and Shirley Temple in Curly Top (1935). Enjoy!


6:45 AM -- Little Women (1933)
The four March sisters fight to keep their family together and find love while their father is off fighting the Civil War.
Dir: George Cukor
Cast: Katharine Hepburn, Joan Bennett, Paul Lukas
BW-116 mins, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Writing, Adaptation -- Victor Heerman and Sarah Y. Mason

Nominated for Oscars for Best Director -- George Cukor, and Best Picture

Uncredited producer David O. Selznick had a difficult time convincing RKO executives to produce this film, as there was a belief in Hollywood at the time that films based on historic novels were not popular, particularly one that centered on women during the Civil War. Selznick persisted and the film was a commercial success. Because of this, later in the decade Selznick produced Gone with the Wind (1939) through his own production company, Selznick International Pictures, from the novel by Margaret Mitchell.


8:45 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).


10:40 AM -- Mario Lanza And The Boy Choir Singing "Ave Maria" From The Great Caruso (1951)
Mario Lanza and a choir of boys sing "Ave Marie" in this short clip taken from "The Great Caruso" (1951).
C-3 mins,


10:45 AM -- 3 Godfathers (1948)
Three outlaws on the run risk their freedom and their lives to return a newborn to civilization.
Dir: John Ford
Cast: John Wayne, Pedro Armendariz, Harry Carey Jr.
C-106 mins, CC,

This is a remake of the silent film The Three Godfathers (1916), which starred Ford's long-time friend Harry Carey. When Carey died in 1947, Ford decided to remake the story in Technicolor and dedicate the film to his memory. Carey's son, Harry Carey Jr., plays one of the three, "The Abilene Kid".


12:45 PM -- I'll Be Seeing You (1944)
A soldier meets a woman on Christmas furlough from prison and they fall in love.
Dir: William Dieterle
Cast: Ginger Rogers, Joseph Cotten, Shirley Temple
BW-85 mins, CC,

Neither of the movies at the cinema, 'Make Way for Glory' and 'Romantic Rhapsody', are actual movies.


2:15 PM -- The Man Who Came to Dinner (1941)
An acerbic critic wreaks havoc when a hip injury forces him to move in with a midwestern family.
Dir: William Keighley
Cast: Bette Davis, Ann Sheridan, Monty Woolley
BW-113 mins, CC,

The authors asked Alexander Woollcott if he would like to play the part of Whiteside when the play opened on Broadway. He declined. The authors then approached Monty Woolley, who at that time was a professor at Yale. They wrote him "would it amuse you to play the part of Whiteside?" to which Woolley replied "it would amuse everyone."


4:15 PM -- In the Good Old Summertime (1949)
In this musical remake of The Shop Around the Corner, feuding co-workers in a small music shop do not realize they are secret romantic pen pals.
Dir: Robert Z. Leonard
Cast: Judy Garland, Van Johnson, S. Z. "Cuddles" Sakall
C-103 mins, CC,

Liza Minnelli appears in the final scene. She's the little girl with Van Johnson and her mother, Judy Garland.


6:00 PM -- It Happened on 5th Avenue (1947)
Two homeless men move into a mansion while its owners are wintering in the South.
Dir: Roy Del Ruth
Cast: Don DeFore, Ann Harding, Charlie Ruggles
BW-115 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Story -- Herbert Clyde Lewis and Frederick Stephani

In 1910, Victor Moore, who plays Mr. McKeever in this film, starred in George M. Cohan's "Forty Five Minutes From Broadway" in which the song "Mary Is A Grand Old Name" made it's debut. This song is used several times in the movie.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: ORPHANS



8:00 PM -- Annie (1982)
An orphan attracts the attention of a Wall Street tycoon and a con artist.
Dir: John Huston
Cast: Albert Finney, Carol Burnett, Aileen Quinn
C-127 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration -- Dale Hennesy and Marvin March, and Best Music, Original Song Score and Its Adaptation or Best Adaptation Score -- Ralph Burns

Edward Herrmann also played Franklin D. Roosevelt in Eleanor and Franklin (1976) & Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years (1977), and The Roosevelts: An Intimate History (2014). The last was in voice only, shortly before his death.


10:15 PM -- Bachelor Mother (1939)
A fun-loving shop girl is mistaken for the mother of a foundling.
Dir: Garson Kanin
Cast: Ginger Rogers, David Niven, Charles Coburn
BW-82 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Story -- Felix Jackson

Felix Jackson also wrote the story and screenplay for Destry Rides Again (1939).


11:43 PM -- A Visit To Santa (1963)
Two children dreaming of Christmas visit Santa at the North Pole in this short film.
C-12 mins,


12:00 AM -- Room for One More (1952)
A family with three children takes in troubled orphans.
Dir: Norman Taurog
Cast: Cary Grant, Betsy Drake, Lurene Tuttle
BW-95 mins, CC,

During the Pledge of Allegiance the words under God were missing. This is because the words were not added to the Pledge of Allegiance until 1954 and the movie was made in 1952.


1:40 AM -- Seasoned Greetings (1933)
In this short film, an innovative greeting card shop owner attempts to beat out neighboring competition by inventing talking greeting cards. Vitaphone Release 1564-1565.
Dir: Roy Mack
Cast: Lita Grey Chaplin, Harlan Briggs, Robert Cummings
BW-20 mins,


2:00 AM -- Curly Top (1935)
A wealthy man adopts two orphaned sisters.
Dir: Irving Cummings
Cast: Shirley Temple, John Boles, Rochelle Hudson
BW-76 mins, CC,

This was the first film to pair Shirley Temple with Arthur Treacher; they would appear together in three more movies.


3:17 AM -- Kiddie Kure (1940)
In this comedic short gang of children are invited over to dine with a cranky hypochondriac.
Dir: Edward L. Cahn
Cast: George McFarland (Spanky), Rollie Jones, Thurston Hall
BW-11 mins,


3:30 AM -- The Kid (1921)
In this silent comedy, an adoptive father schemes to keep his son.
Dir: Charles Chaplin
Cast: Jackie Coogan, Edna Purviance, Carl Miller
BW-53 mins,

Jackie Coogan, who plays the adorable "Kid", grew up to be the extremely weird "Uncle Fester" on the beloved '60s sitcom The Addams Family (1964).


4:30 AM -- Bad Little Angel (1939)
An orphan on the run tries to find a new home.
Dir: William Thiele
Cast: Virginia Weidler, Gene Reynolds, Guy Kibbee
BW-72 mins,

Rex, the dog in this movie, was the same dog who played Toto in The Wizard of Oz (1939).


5:50 AM -- Flicker Memories (1941)
In this short film, clips from several unidentified silent movies are woven together into a story.
Dir: George Sidney
BW-8 mins,