TCM Schedule Saturday Dec. 21 - Christmas Marathon: A Christmas Carol, Fitzwilly, It Happened on 5th Avenue

The Day At a Glance

CHRISTMAS MARATHON
Shop Around the Corner, The (1940)
Bachelor Mother (1939)
Penny Serenade (1941)
Blossoms in the Dust (1941)
Saturday, December 21
Curse of the Cat People, The (1944) (7:30 am ET)
Tenth Avenue Angel (1948)
Christmas Carol, A (1938)
On Moonlight Bay (1951) (Musical Matinee)
Little Women (1949)
Susan Slept Here (1954)
Fitzwilly (1967)
It Happened on 5th Avenue (1947)
Man Who Came to Dinner, The (1942)
We're No Angels (1955)
Miracle on Main Street (1939)
Silent Partner, The (1978)

The Day's Schedule

12:00 AM The Shop Around the Corner (1940)




Margaret Sullavan, James Stewart and Frank Morgan in The Shop Around the Corner



Feuding co-workers do not realize they are secret romantic pen pals.
Dir: Ernst Lubitsch Cast: Margaret Sullavan, James Stewart, Frank Morgan
Runtime: 97 mins Genre: Romance Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Trivia: Even though Margaret Sullavan was infamous for her quick temper and disdainful attitude towards Hollywood, James Stewart counted working with her as one of the great joys of his professional career. And because he knew her personally, he was more equipped than most of the cast and crew members to deal with her frequent and volatile emotional outbursts.


2:00 AM 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
Runtime: 80 mins Genre: Comedy Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Oscar nominations:
WRITING (Original Story) -- Felix Jackson

Trivia: After making this movie, David Niven returned to England to serve in the British Army during World War II. At the Battle of the Bulge in 1944, German infiltrators into American lines caused roadblocks to be established and military police asked all suspicious persons questions about things no German was likely to know. Lt. Col. David Niven was stopped at a roadblock and was asked who won the baseball World Series in 1940. He replied, "I haven't the faintest idea, but I do know that I made a picture with Ginger Rogers in 1938." The MP replied, "OK, beat it, Dave, but watch your step, for Chrissake."

3:30 AM Penny Serenade (1941)




A woman on the verge of divorce recalls her heartbreaking attempts to adopt a child.
Dir: George Stevens Cast: Irene Dunne, Cary Grant, Beulah Bondi
Runtime: 125 mins Genre: Romance Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Oscar nominations:
ACTOR -- Cary Grant {"Roger Adams"}

Trivia: Cary Grant, generally known as a comedic actor, was only ever nominated twice for an Academy Award for Best Actor and in both instances for lesser-known dramatic roles. This was one of them, followed three years later by None But the Lonely Heart (1944).


5:45 AM Blossoms in the Dust (1941)







True-life story of Edna Gladney, who fought for orphans' rights in Texas.
Dir: Mervyn Leroy Cast: Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, Felix Bressart
Runtime: 100 mins Genre: Drama Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Oscar nominations:
ACTRESS -- Greer Garson {"Edna Gladney"}
(*WINNER*) ART DIRECTION (Color) -- Art Direction: Cedric Gibbons, Urie McCleary; Interior Decoration: Edwin B. Willis
CINEMATOGRAPHY (Color) -- Karl Freund, W. Howard Greene
OUTSTANDING MOTION PICTURE -- Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Trivia: The child who portrayed Tony in the movie was a 4-year-old named Pat Barker. It was only when Pat came to Fort Worth to celebrate the movie's premiere that the world discovered Pat was really Patricia.

7:30 AM The Curse of the Cat People (1944)

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A child explores her late mother's life and discovers her maternal bloodline is cursed.
Dir: Gunther V. Fritsch Cast: Simone Simon, Kent Smith, Jane Randolph
Runtime: 70 mins Genre: Suspense/Mystery Rating: TV-PG CC: Y

Trivia: The theme within the film, a child believed to be on the verge of insanity because she lives in a fantasy world, was personal to producer Val Lewton who behaved in a similar way as a child. His wife has said that she felt he never truly entered the real world as an adult.

9:00 AM Tenth Avenue Angel (1948)





A child of the tenements helps an ex-con find a new life.
Dir: Roy Rowland Cast: Margaret O'Brien, Angela Lansbury, George Murphy
Runtime: 74 mins Genre: Drama Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Trivia: The three dollars and twenty-five cents for the roller skates Flavia Mills is admiring in the pawn shop window in 1936 would be the equivalent of fifty-six dollars and forty cents in 2016.

Trivia: Flavia's block party speech was taken from President Franklin D. Roosevelt's address to the Young Democratic Club in Baltimore, Maryland on April 13, 1936.

10:30 AM A Christmas Carol (1938)






Reginald Owen and Ann Rutherford in "A Christmas Carol" (1938)



In this adaptation of Charles Dickens' classic tale, an elderly miser learns the error of his ways on Christmas Eve.
Dir: Edwin L. Marin Cast: Reginald Owen, Gene Lockhart, Kathleen Lockhart
Runtime: 69 mins Genre: Drama Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Trivia: Film debut of June Lockhart. Also in the cast were June's father, Gene Lockhart, and mother Kathleen Lockhart. It was the only time all three appeared in the same film.

12:00 PM On Moonlight Bay (1951)





A small-town tomboy falls for the boy-next-door in the years before World War I.
Dir: Roy Del Ruth Cast: Doris Day, Gordon MacRae, ["Smiling"] Jack Smith
Runtime: 95 mins Genre: Musical Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Trivia: This movie proved to be so popular that the studio immediately green-lit By the Light of the Silvery Moon (1953) which is a direct sequel with all the actors playing the same characters.


2:00 PM Little Women (1949)







The four daughters of a New England family fight for happiness during and after the Civil War.
Dir: Mervyn Leroy Cast: June Allyson, Peter Lawford, Margaret O'Brien
Runtime: 121 mins Genre: Drama Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Oscar nominations:
(*WINNER*) ART DIRECTION (Color) -- Art Direction: Cedric Gibbons, Paul Groesse; Set Decoration: Edwin B. Willis, Jack D. Moore
CINEMATOGRAPHY (Color) -- Robert Planck, Charles Schoenbaum



Trivia: In addition to being pregnant with her first biological child, June Allyson also adopted her first child while this movie was in production. After Allyson learned that her daughter, Pamela Powell, had arrived for the first time at her home, she immediately left the set without asking permission, and raced home to hold her daughter. She returned later that day and told the rest of the cast and crew the joyous news.

4:15 PM Susan Slept Here (1954)







A Hollywood screenwriter takes in a runaway girl who's more woman than he can handle.
Dir: Frank Tashlin Cast: Dick Powell, Debbie Reynolds, Anne Francis
Runtime: 98 mins Genre: Comedy Rating: TV-PG CC: Y

Oscar nominations:
MUSIC (Song) -- "Hold My Hand," Music and Lyrics by Jack Lawrence and Richard Myers
SOUND RECORDING -- RKO Radio Studio Sound Department, John O. Aalberg, Sound Director

Trivia: In addition to being Dick Powell's final film as an actor, this was also the only colour film in which he appeared.

6:00 PM Fitzwilly (1967)





When an aging philanthropist goes broke, her butler robs from the rich so she can give to the poor.
Dir: Delbert Mann Cast: Dick Van Dyke, Barbara Feldon, Edith Evans
Runtime: 102 mins Genre: Comedy Rating: TV-PG CC: Y

Trivia: First credited movie appearance of Barbara Feldon. Also the final film performance of Billy Halop.

8:00 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, Charles Ruggles
Runtime: 115 mins Genre: Comedy Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Trivia: The movie originally was planned to be directed by Frank Capra, but he chose to do It's a Wonderful Life (1946) instead.

10:15 PM The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942)







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
Runtime: 112 mins Genre: Comedy Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Trivia: The only real snafu that happened during production was a bizarre one: Bette Davis' dog bit her hard on the nose, leaving a noticeable wound. Davis had to retreat to her home in New Hampshire for several weeks, according to Hal B. Wallis, in order to heal and be presentable for the camera. She eventually returned to the set before her nose was fully healed. "We shot for two days with Bette's back to the camera," said Wallis. "This was fine, except that every time the other actors saw her, they broke into fits of giggling led by Monty Woolley. It became impossible for them to speak their lines."

12:15 AM We're No Angels (1955)





After escaping Devil's Island, three offbeat prisoners help a goodhearted family outwit a scheming relative.
Dir: Michael Curtiz Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Aldo Ray, Peter Ustinov
Runtime: 106 mins Genre: Comedy Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Trivia: Included among the American Film Institute's 2000 list of the 500 movies nominated for the Top 100 Funniest American Movies.


2:15 AM Miracle on Main Street (1939)



On Christmas Eve, a couple hiding from the police find an abandoned baby and decide to raise the child.
Dir: Steve Sekely Cast: Margo, Walter Abel, William Collier Sr.
Runtime: 78 mins Genre: Drama Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Trivia: Final film of actress Dorothy Devore.


3:45 AM The Silent Partner (1978)





A bank teller (Elliot Gould) is held up at gun point in his bank. Luckily for him he receives a clue that this is going to occur and diverts most of the cash into his own safety deposit box, leaving only a nominal amount for the crook.

Dir: Daryl Duke Cast: Susannah York, Christopher Plummer, Elliott Gould
Runtime: 105 mins Genre: Adaptation Rating: TV-MA CC: Y

Trivia: The only ever dramatic theatrical feature film to be scored by jazz pianist and composer Oscar Peterson, who was a schoolmate of lead actor Christopher Plummer.