TCM Schedule for Thursday, April 12 -- What's On Tonight: Liza Minnelli

[Staph]

Today we're celebrating Ann Miller, born Johnnie Lucille Collier, on April 12, 1923 in Nacogdoches, Texas, as well as Tom Ewell and Spencer Tracy. It's a sort of six degrees kind of day, with three Miller films, including one with Tom Ewell, three Ewell films, including one with Spencer Tracy, and three Tracy films. In primetime, we've got a trio of Liza Minelli films, one documentary on Judy Garland's daughter, and her very first appearance on film, as the baby carried by her mother at the end of the film. Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- New Faces of 1937 (1937)
A producer over-finances a Broadway show, expecting it to flop.
Dir: Leigh Jason
Cast: Joe Penner, Milton Berle, Parkyakarkus
103 min, TV-G

The PCA at first refused to issue an approved certificate for the film because Eddie Rio's pantomime of a lady taking a bath was considered vulgar. They eventually relented.


7:45 AM -- Room Service (1938)
Three zany producers try to extend their hotel credit until they can get a play mounted.
Dir: William A. Seiter
Cast: Groucho Marx, Chico Marx, Harpo Marx
79 min, TV-G, CC

The original play was adapted into a Marx Brothers screenplay by Morrie Ryskind, who co-wrote the stage and screen versions of The Cocoanuts and Animal Crackers and also co-wrote A Night at the Opera. Much of the original play's strong language had to be toned down for the screen, into milder expletives such as "Jumping Butterballs!"


9:15 AM -- Small Town Girl (1953)
A sheriff's daughter falls for a playboy arrested for speeding.
Dir: Leslie Kardos
Cast: Jane Powell, Farley Granger, Ann Miller
C- 94 min, TV-G, CC

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song -- Nicholas Brodszky (music) and Leo Robin (lyrics) for the song "My Flaming Heart"

Hank Williams was to have made his acting debut in this film as a small-town sheriff, but died shortly before filming got underway.


11:00 AM -- The Great American Pastime (1956)
A mild-mannered lawyer gets more than he bargained for when he takes over a little league team.
Dir: Herman Hoffman
Cast: Tom Ewell, Anne Francis, Ann Miller
90 min, TV-G

Written by Nathaniel Benchley, the son of Algonquin Round Table figure Robert Benchley and the father of Peter Benchley of "Jaws."


12:45 PM -- The Seven Year Itch (1955)
A married man whose wife is on vacation falls for the blonde bombshell upstairs.
Dir: Billy Wilder
Cast: Marilyn Monroe, Tommy Ewell, Evelyn Keyes
104 min, TV-PG, CC

In the early 1980s, 20th Century Fox (which has the film rights), wanted to remake this movie. Al Pacino was rumored to play Richard Sherman and Melanie Griffith was rumored to play the Girl. However the project was turned down and as of 2009, it remains in development hell. Thank heavens!


2:45 PM -- Adam's Rib (1949)
Husband-and-wife lawyers argue opposite sides in a sensational women's rights case.
Dir: George Cukor
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Judy Holliday
101 min, TV-G, CC

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay -- Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin

Inspired by the real-life story of husband-and-wife lawyers William Dwight Whitney and Dorothy Whitney, who represented Raymond Massey and his ex-wife Adrienne Allen in their divorce. After the Massey divorce was over, the Whitneys divorced each other and married the respective Masseys.


4:45 PM -- Pat And Mike (1952)
Romance blooms between a female athlete and her manager.
Dir: George Cukor
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Aldo Ray
95 min, TV-G, CC

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay -- Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin

The writers, Garson Kanin and Ruth Gordon, were close friends of Hepburn and Tracy, and wrote the film to showcase Hepburn's athletic abilities.


6:30 PM -- Father's Little Dividend (1951)
In this sequel to Father of the Bride, a doting father faces a series of comic trials when his daughter has her first child.
Dir: Vincente Minnelli
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Joan Bennett, Elizabeth Taylor
81 min, TV-G, CC

This is one of a handful of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer productions of the 1950-1951 period whose original copyrights were never renewed and are now apparently in Public Domain; for this reason this title is now offered, often in very inferior copies, at bargain prices, by numerous VHS and DVD distributors who do not normally handle copyrighted or Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer material.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: LIZA MINNELLI



8:00 PM -- Arthur (1981)
A childlike millionaire must choose between keeping his fortune and marrying a girl from the wrong side of the tracks.
Dir: Steven Gordon
Cast: Dudley Moore, Liza Minnelli, John Gielgud
97 min, TV-MA, CC

Won Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- John Gielgud (John Gielgud was not present at the award's ceremony. Presenters Carol Burnett and Joel Grey accepted the award on his behalf.), and Best Music, Original Song -- Burt Bacharach, Carole Bayer Sager, Christopher Cross and Peter Allen for the song "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)"

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Dudley Moore, and Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen -- Steve Gordon

At one point during the production, Liza Minnelli is supposed to board a bus in front of Bergdorf's on Fifth Avenue. When a real bus came along, she boarded it thinking it was the "movie bus". Not until she was halfway down the block did she realize her blunder when she looked back and saw the whole crew cracking up.


10:00 PM -- Private Screenings: Liza Minnelli (2010)
The actress discusses her life and career with host Robert Osborne.
C- 46 min, TV-14, CC

Because Liza constantly traveled with her mother, she spent most of her childhood in hotels. She was the inspiration for the character of "Eloise", who grew up in the Plaza Hotel. The books were written by Liza's godmother, Kay Thompson.


11:00 PM -- New York, New York (1977)
A jazz musician and a singer fight and love their way through the show biz world of the late forties.
Dir: Martin Scorsese
Cast: Liza Minnelli, Robert De Niro, Lionel Stander
C- 163 min, TV-MA, CC

Both Liza Minnelli and Martin Scorsese have said that virtually all of the dialogue in the film was improvised. This created later difficulty during the editing phase, as the director and editors struggled to create a streamlined narrative.


2:00 AM -- The Sterile Cuckoo (1969)
An innocent college boy gets mixed up with a needy, neurotic young woman.
Dir: Alan J. Pakula
Cast: Liza Minnelli, Wendell Burton, Tim McIntire
C- 107 min, TV-PG, CC

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Liza Minnelli, and Best Music, Original Song -- Fred Karlin (music) and Dory Previn (lyrics) for the song "Come Saturday Morning"

After winning the part of Pookie Adams, Liza Minnelli had a copy of the script sent over to her mother, Judy Garland, who read it and thought the part of this troubled, friendless girl would be an unattractive role for her daughter. Liza says she became defensive and argued that Pookie was a great role for any actress, but that Garland was personally concerned Liza identified too closely with Pookie.


4:00 AM -- 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 min, TV-PG, CC

Buster Keaton was working as a gag writer at MGM when this movie was made. The filmmakers approached him to devise a way for a violin to get broken that would be both comic and plausible. Keaton came up with an appropriate fall, and the filmmakers then realized he was the only one who would be able to execute it properly, so they cast him in the film. Keaton also devised the sequence in which Van Johnson inadvertently wrecks Judy Garland's hat, and coached Johnson intensively in how to perform the scene. This was the first MGM film Keaton appeared in since being fired from the studio in 1933.