TCM Schedule for Thursday, May 5 -- Star of the Month - Esther Williams

[Staph]

A day full of families, and an evening of the all-wet-most-of-the-time Esther Williams. Enjoy!



6:45 AM -- Now Playing May (2011)
18 min, TV-PG, CC


7:15 AM -- Mother Carey's Chickens (1938)
A widow with four children fights to keep her home.
Dir: Rowland V. Lee
Cast: Anne Shirley, Ruby Keeler, James Ellison.
82 min, TV-G

Originally, RKO slated Katharine Hepburn to star in this picture. She refused to do it, and bought out her contract so that she wouldn't have to.


8:45 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.
126 min, TV-G

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

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

Shortly before filming began, Lionel Barrymore lost the use of his legs to crippling arthritis and a hip injury. To accommodate him, the script was altered so that his character had a sprained ankle, and Barrymore did the film on crutches.


11:00 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.
95 min,

Betsy Drake was Cary Grant's third wife.


12:39 PM -- Pretoria To Durban (1952)
This travel talk looks at areas around the capital city of Pretoria as well as Durban, concentraing on the history of the Voortrekkers as well as native cultures.
C-9 min,

A view of South Africa while apartheid was still in effect.


1:00 PM -- The Happy Time (1952)
A Quebec patriarch fights to keep his wayward son from leading his grandson astray.
Dir: Richard Fleischer
Cast: Charles Boyer, Louis Jourdan, Marsha Hunt.
94 min, TV-G

Turned into a stage musical of the same name in 1968, starring Robert Goulet.


2:41 PM -- Salute To The Theatres (1955)
This short features theatrical trailers of original musicals released by MGM in 1955 and visits the sets of films still in production.
C-17 min,

The soundtrack includes "I Never Trust a Woman" performed by Howard Keel, "Over the Rainbow" performed by Eileen Farrell, "Hallelujah" performed by movie cast (Hit the Deck (1955)), "Happy Days Are Here Again" performed by studio orchestra, and "Stay On the Right Side Sister" performed by Doris Day.


3:00 PM -- All Mine to Give (1957)
Pioneer children fight to build a new family after their parents die.
Dir: Allen Reisner
Cast: Glynis Johns, Cameron Mitchell, Rex Thompson.
C-102 min, TV-G, CC

Based on a true story in 1850s Wisconsin.


5:00 PM -- Spencer's Mountain (1963)
A Wyoming farmer fights to build a better life for his oldest son.
Dir: Delmer Daves
Cast: Henry Fonda, Maureen O'Hara, James MacArthur.
C-118 min, TV-G

In their book "How Underdog Was Born...", W. Watts Biggers and Chad Strover reveal that seeing Wally Cox's performance in this movie inspired them to ask him to voice their newly created character, Underdog.


7:00 PM -- Brother, Can You Spare a Dream? (2010)
In Episode Four of this seven-part documentary, covering the years 1929 to 1941, sound is introduced to the movies and an international economic depression hits the Hollywood moguls.
C-60 min, TV-PG, CC



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: STAR OF THE MONTH: ESTHER WILLIAMS



8:00 PM -- Bathing Beauty (1944)
A songwriter enrolls in an all-girl school to court a pretty gym teacher.
Dir: George Sidney
Cast: Red Skelton, Esther Williams, Basil Rathbone.
C-101 min, TV-G, CC

In one sequence Red Skelton's character is trapped inside a house by a large dog. He escapes by removing the hinge pins from the door, picking up the door and, as the dog comes inside he holds the door between them and goes out. Red said that they had written themselves into a corner and could not come up with a way for him to get out. They were going to scrap the scene when the comedian Buster Keaton visited the set, took one look and told them how to do it.


9:48 PM -- Giant Of Norway (1939)
This short tells the story of Norwegian explorer and diplomat Fridtjof Nansen (1861-1930).
Dir: Edward L. Cahn
Cast: Lumsden Hare, John Nesbitt, Hugh Sothern
11 min,

Fridtjof Wedel-Jarlsberg Nansen (10 October 1861 – 13 May 1930) was a Norwegian explorer, scientist, diplomat, humanitarian and Nobel laureate. In his youth a champion skier and ice skater, he led the first crossing of the Greenland interior in 1888, and won international fame after reaching a record northern latitude of 86°13' during his North Pole expedition of 1893–96. Although he retired from exploration after his return to Norway, his techniques of polar travel and his innovations in equipment and clothing influenced a generation of subsequent Arctic and Antarctic expeditions.


10:00 PM -- Thrill Of A Romance (1945)
A soldier returning from World War II finds love with a lady swimmer.
Dir: Richard Thorpe
Cast: Van Johnson, Esther Williams, Frances Gifford.
105 min, TV-G, CC

Filmed in part in Yosemite National Park and San Bernardino National Forest, California


12:00 AM -- Easy To Wed (1946)
In this remake of Libeled Lady, a tough newspaper editor hires a gigolo to compromise a woman suing his paper for libel.
Dir: Edward Buzzell
Cast: Van Johnson, Esther Williams, Lucille Ball.
C-110 min, TV-G, CC

Early in this film, on the lower Left of the screen, Fidel Castro, without beard, is seen as a poolside spectator with a drink in front of him. Young Fidel did "extra" work for MGM, while a student at UCLA, before becoming fully active in politics.


2:00 AM -- Fiesta (1947)
A Mexican beauty replaces her toreador brother in the bull ring so he can pursue his musical career.
Dir: Richard Thorpe
Cast: Esther Williams, Akim Tamiroff, Ricardo Montalban.
C-102 min, TV-PG, CC

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- Johnny Green

Esther Williams, in her autobiography "Million Dollar Mermaid" states that during the shooting of "Fiesta", her husband at the time - Ben Gage - got drunk and had a run-in with the Mexican police, causing production to be halted as the authorities had him thrown out of the country.


4:00 AM -- This Time For Keeps (1947)
A famous singer's son falls for a swimming star.
Dir: Richard Thorpe
Cast: Esther Williams, Jimmy Durante, Lauritz Melchior.
C-105 min, TV-G, CC

Esther Williams was pregnant during the filming of this movie, unfortunately a couple months later she suffered a miscarriage.