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Staph

(6,245 posts)
Fri Dec 28, 2018, 02:19 AM Dec 2018

TCM Schedule for Friday, December 28, 2018 -- What's On Tonight: TCM Spotlight: Songs on Screen

In the daylight hours, TCM is big on Broadway! Then in prime time, TCM finishes their month-long celebration of songs that began in films and became a part of American pop musical culture. Enjoy!


6:05 AM -- BROADWAY BALLYHOO (1934)
In this musical short, three bus drivers struggle to find tourists for their tour and discuss various locations they want to see in New York City.
Dir: Roy Mack
Cast: Sally Burrill, Avis Andrews, Art Frank
BW-21 mins,


6:30 AM -- BROADWAY RHYTHM (1944)
A retired vaudevillian clashes with his producer son.
Dir: Roy Del Ruth
Cast: George Murphy, Ginny Simms, Charles Winninger
C-115 mins, CC,

The original project was intended to be the fifth film in the "Broadway Melody" series, and was to star Gene Kelly, Eleanor Powell and Lena Horne. MGM chief Louis B. Mayer decided instead to turn it into a vehicle to make a star out of his then-mistress Ginny Simms. Horne was then placed into this film in a supporting role and her "Brazilian Boogie" and "Somebody Loves Me" numbers (originally filmed for "Broadway Melody of 1943" was inserted into this one. Her other number filmed for "Broadway Melody", "Honeysuckle Rose", was placed into Thousands Cheer (1943) along with two other numbers meant for the abandoned film: Eleanor Powell's "Boogie Woogie" tap dance and a Gene Kelly number.


8:30 AM -- BROADWAY MELODY OF 1936 (1936)
A Broadway columnist tries to use an innocent dancer to frame a producer.
Dir: Roy Del Ruth
Cast: Jack Benny, Eleanor Powell, Robert Taylor
BW-101 mins, CC,

Winner of an Oscar for Best Dance Direction -- Dave Gould for "I've Got a Feeling You're Fooling".

Nominee for Oscars for Best Writing, Original Story -- Moss Hart, and Best Picture

Reportedly, Eleanor Powell did not want to be in this film but was too polite to directly tell MGM executives. She asked for the leading role and an exorbitant salary, and MGM accepted her demands. Powell was spotted in a Fox screen test by Louis Maayer, who initially thought she was African-American but changed his mind when he found she was white. She was initially offered the part played by Una Merkel but eventually played the lead.



10:17 AM -- PHIL SPITALNY AND HIS MUSICAL QUEENS (1934)
Phil Spitalny has his all-woman orchestra perform popular songs in this musical short. Vitaphone Release 1719.
Dir: Joseph Henabery
BW-11 mins,


10:30 AM -- BROADWAY MELODY OF 1938 (1937)
Backstage problems jeopardize a Broadway musical.
Dir: Roy Del Ruth
Cast: Robert Taylor, Eleanor Powell, George Murphy
BW-111 mins, CC,

The song "Dear Mr. Gable" was a birthday present for Clark Gable's 36th birthday. Composer and arranger Roger Edens adapted the old song "You Made Me Love You" by James V. Monaco. It was sung at Gable's birthday party by a young Judy Garland. Producer Louis B. Mayer was so impressed by it, that he gave order to let Garland sing it again in the next great musical MGM was going to produce.


12:30 PM -- BROADWAY MELODY OF 1940 (1940)
A vaudeville team breaks up when both men fall for the same gorgeous hoofer.
Dir: Norman Taurog
Cast: Fred Astaire, Eleanor Powell, George Murphy
BW-102 mins, CC,

It had been reported that Fred Astaire was intimidated by Eleanor Powell because she was one of the few female tap dancers capable of out-performing him.


2:18 PM -- RAMBLING 'ROUND RADIO ROW 6 (HARRY ROSE) (1934)
In this short film, musical host Harry Rose mixes a "cocktail" of musical acts. Vitaphone Release 1473.
BW-9 mins,


2:30 PM -- BROADWAY SERENADE (1939)
Career conflicts threaten a singer's marriage to a young composer.
Dir: Robert Z. Leonard
Cast: Jeanette MacDonald, Lew Ayres, Ian Hunter
BW-113 mins, CC,

One of the scenes depicts Mary (Jeanette MacDonald) singing "Musetta's Waltz" from Act II of Puccini's opera "La Bohème." In a later scene, Jimmy (Lew Ayres) is living in a garret, and out of frustration he tries to burn his scores in the garret's stove, while Herman burns his hands retrieving them. The first and fourth acts of Puccini's opera takes place in a Parisian garret shared by four struggling artists. One of them is a poet who's working on a play. Since there's no firewood, he burns his manuscript.


4:30 PM -- TWO GIRLS ON BROADWAY (1940)
A sister act splits up over love.
Dir: S. Sylvan Simon
Cast: Lana Turner, Joan Blondell, George Murphy
BW-73 mins, CC,

The film is a remake of The Broadway Melody (1929), starring Bessie Love and Anita Page as the Mahoney sisters and Charlie King as Eddie. This film is the earliest remake of a Best Picture Oscar winner.


6:00 PM -- THE BARKLEYS OF BROADWAY (1949)
A married musical team splits up so the wife can become a serious actress.
Dir: Charles Walters
Cast: Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Oscar Levant
C-109 mins, CC,

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Cinematography, Color -- Harry Stradling Sr.

This was the last film to co-star Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers; their first in ten years, since The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939); their only film together in color; and the only one they made for a studio (MGM) other than RKO.




TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: TCM SPOTLIGHT: SONGS ON SCREEN



8:00 PM -- A HARD DAY'S NIGHT (1964)
A typical day in the life of the Beatles.
Dir: Richard Lester
Cast: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison
BW-87 mins, CC,

Nominee for Oscars for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen -- Alun Owen, and Best Music, Scoring of Music, Adaptation or Treatment -- George Martin

United Artists executives didn't really care about the film itself, they were mainly interested in exploiting a legal loophole which would allow them to distribute the lucrative soundtrack album. In fact, they fully expected to lose money on the film. With a final cost of about $500,000 and a box office take of about $8,000,000 in the first week, "A Hard Day's Night" is among the most profitable (percentage-wise) films of all time.



9:45 PM -- JAILHOUSE ROCK (1957)
After learning to play the guitar in prison, a young man becomes a rock 'n roll sensation.
Dir: Richard Thorpe
Cast: Elvis Presley, Judy Tyler, Mickey Shaughnessy
BW-97 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Originally choreographer Alex Romero created a dance for the song "Jailhouse Rock" that was in a style apropos for a more classically trained dancer than Elvis Presley. When Romero realized that his plans for the number were never going to work, he asked Elvis how would he normally move to the song, leading Elvis to become the uncredited choreographer for what many consider his most famous dance number in all of his movies.


11:30 PM -- TOMMY (1975)
A seemingly handicapped boy becomes a Pinball Wizard.
Dir: Ken Russell
Cast: Ann-Margret, Roger Daltrey, Oliver Reed
C-112 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Ann-Margret, and Best Music, Scoring Original Song Score and/or Adaptation -- Pete Townshend

According to Pete Townshend, Oliver Reed had incredible problems recording his part of the soundtrack owing to his inability to sing, and he was able to complete it only because his singing parts were recorded in small bits. Because of this frustrating experience, Townshend was extremely suspicious towards Jack Nicholson when he was chosen to the role of the doctor. Townshend, however, finally agreed when he heard Nicholson singing effortlessly.



1:30 AM -- A STAR IS BORN (1954)
A falling star marries the newcomer he's helping reach the top.
Dir: George Cukor
Cast: Judy Garland, James Mason, Jack Carson
C-176 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- James Mason, Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Judy Garland (Judy Garland couldn't attend the ceremony because she was giving birth to her third child and only son, Joey Luft. Even though she did not win the Academy Award she always stated that Joey was the best "Academy Award" she ever received that night.), Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- Malcolm C. Bert, Gene Allen, Irene Sharaff and George James Hopkins, Best Costume Design, Color -- Jean Louis, Mary Ann Nyberg and Irene Sharaff, Best Music, Original Song -- Harold Arlen (music) and Ira Gershwin (lyrics) for the song "The Man that Got Away", and Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- Ray Heindorf

Groucho Marx called Judy Garland not winning an Oscar for A Star Is Born (1954), "the biggest robbery since Brink's." Hedda Hopper later reported that her loss to Grace Kelly for The Country Girl (1954) was the result of the closest Oscar vote up till that time that didn't end in a tie, with just six votes separating the two. In any event, it was a heartbreak from which she never really recovered and which has remained a matter of some controversy ever since.



4:45 AM -- NEPTUNE'S DAUGHTER (1949)
Mistaken identity complicates a polo player's romance with a bathing suit designer.
Dir: Edward Buzzell
Cast: Esther Williams, Red Skelton, Ricardo Montalban
C-93 mins, CC,

Winner of an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song -- Frank Loesser for the song "Baby, It's Cold Outside"

When Frank Loesser's "Baby, It's Cold Outside" was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song, other songwriters protested because Loesser had originally written it in 1944 as a duet for himself and his wife to sing at parties, and they argued that it should not therefore be counted as an "original" song. But the Academy ruled that since the song had never been performed PROFESSIONALLY before it appeared in the film, it was therefore eligible, and it went on to win the award.



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