TCM Schedule for Friday, May 18 -- What's On Tonight: DJ 101

[Staph]

Today we're celebrating the birth of Frank Capra, born Francesco Rosario Capra, on May 18, 1897, in Bisacquino, Sicily, Italy. On May 23, 1903, Capra and his family arrived in New York on the ship Germania, and he began his love affair with America. Surprisingly, although most of his films were written by individuals on the political left who tended to exude the spirit of the New Deal, Capra himself was a lifelong conservative Republican who never voted for President Franklin D. Roosevelt, admired Francisco Franco and Benito Mussolini and later, during the McCarthy "Red Scare era. served as a secret FBI informer for his friend J. Edgar Hoover. In primetime, TCM is featuring films about the early days of rock and roll. Enjoy!



6:30 AM -- The Miracle Woman (1931)
A phony faith healer fights the temptation to go straight when she falls for a blind man.
90 min, TV-PG
Dir: Frank Capra
Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, David Manners, Sam Hardy

In a pure "pre-code" moment, we see sister Fallon's chauffeur, Lou, give Horsby "the finger" (out of Horsby's sight) immediately after Horsby warns him about what he must do to keep his job. This scene surely would have been nixed by the Hays Office had the movie been made after 1934.


8:15 AM -- The Bitter Tea of General Yen (1932)
An American missionary falls in love with a Chinese warlord.
87 min, TV-PG
Dir: Frank R. Capra
Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Nils Asther, Toshia Mori

This movie was the first to play at Manhattan's fabled showplace, Radio City Music Hall, beginning on January 11, 1933.


9:45 AM -- Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
An idealistic Senate replacement takes on political corruption.
130 min, TV-G
Dir: Frank Capra
Cast: Jean Arthur, James Stewart, Claude Rains

Won an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Story -- Lewis R. Foster

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- James Stewart, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Harry Carey, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Claude Rains, Best Art Direction -- Lionel Banks, Best Director -- Frank Capra, Best Film Editing -- Gene Havlick and Al Clark, Best Music, Scoring -- Dimitri Tiomkin, Best Sound, Recording -- John P. Livadary (Columbia SSD), Best Writing, Screenplay -- Sidney Buchman, and Best Picture

Bitterly denounced by Washington insiders angry at its allegations of corruption, yet banned by fascist states in Europe who were afraid it showed that democracy works.


12:00 PM -- It Happened One Night (1934)
A newspaperman tracks a runaway heiress on a madcap cross-country tour.
105 min, TV-PG
Dir: Frank Capra
Cast: Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert, Walter Connolly

Won Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Clark Gable (In 1996, Steven Spielberg anonymously purchased Clark Gable's Oscar to protect it from further commercial exploitation, gave it back to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, commenting that he could think of "no better sanctuary for Gable's only Oscar than the Motion Picture Academy".), Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Claudette Colbert (Claudette Colbert was so convinced that she would lose the Oscar to write-in nominee Bette Davis that she didn't attended the ceremony orignally. She was summoned from a train station to pick up her Academy Award.), Best Director -- Frank Capra, Best Writing, Adaptation -- Robert Riskin, and Best Picture

Friz Freleng's unpublished memoirs mention that this was one of his favorite films, and that it contains at least three things upon which the character "Bugs Bunny" was based: - The character Oscar Shapely's (Roscoe Karns) personality - The manner in which Peter Warne (Clark Gable) was eating carrots and talking quickly at the same time - An imaginary character mentioned once to frighten Oscar Shapely named "Bugs Dooley." Other mentions of "Looney Tunes" characters from the film include Alexander Andrews (Walter Connolly) and King Westley (Jameson Thomas) being the inspirations for Yosemite Sam and Pepé LePew, respectively.


2:00 PM -- You Can't Take It With You (1938)
A girl from a family of freethinkers falls for the son of a conservative banker.
126 min, TV-G
Dir: Frank Capra
Cast: Jean Arthur, Lionel Barrymore, James Stewart

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

Frank Capra first became aware of the play when he caught a performance of it when he was in New York in 1937 for the premiere of Lost Horizon. He tried to persuade Columbia boss Harry Cohn to buy the rights but Cohn refused, partly because he baulked at the prospect of shelling out what he considered to be the exorbitant sum of $200,000 for the rights, but mainly because he was still smarting from the lost battles he'd had with Capra over the final edit of Lost Horizon. Capra too was out of sorts with Cohn as he objected strongly to the Columbia boss trying to market the Jean Arthur film If You Could Only Cook in Britain as one of his own. A court case ensued, only being resolved in November 1937, with the proviso that Columbia buy the rights to the play and assign the project to Capra.


4:15 PM -- Lady For A Day (1933)
A gangster helps an old apple-vendor pose as a society woman to fool her visiting daughter.
96 min, TV-G
Dir: Frank Capra
Cast: Warren William, May Robson, Guy Kibbee

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- May Robson, Best Director -- Frank Capra, Best Writing, Adaptation -- Robert Riskin, and Best Picture

A number of beggars in downtown Los Angeles were cast in small roles, including the legless man, nicknamed Shorty, whom Capra had remembered as selling pencils when the director was a paperboy.


6:00 PM -- Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)
When he inherits a fortune, a small-town poet has to deal with the corruption of city life.
116 min, TV-G
Dir: Frank Capra
Cast: Gary Cooper, Jean Arthur, George Bancroft

Won an Oscar for Best Director -- Frank Capra

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Gary Cooper, Best Sound, Recording -- John P. Livadary (Columbia SSD), Best Writing, Screenplay -- Robert Riskin, and Best Picture

This movie marks the entry of the verb doodle (in the sense of absent-minded scribbling) into the English language. The word was coined for the movie by screenwriter Robert Riskin.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: DJ 101


8:00 PM -- American Graffiti (1973)
Four high-school seniors face an uncertain future as they try to live through their last big school dance.
C-112 min, TV-MA
Dir: George Lucas
Cast: Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, Charles Martin Smith

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Candy Clark, Best Director -- George Lucas, Best Film Editing -- Verna Fields and Marcia Lucas, Best Writing, Story and Screenplay Based on Factual Material or Material Not Previously Published or Produced -- George Lucas, Gloria Katz and Willard Huyck, and Best Picture

Shot almost exclusively at night, the film was also shot in sequence, so as filming went on and the actors grew tired from the shooting schedule, the characters they played would also look more and more tired as the night went on.


10:00 PM -- Rock Around the Clock (1956)
A music promoter decides to get into the new world of rock music.
77 min, TV-G
Dir: Fred F. Sears
Cast: Bill Haley and His Comets, The Platters, Ernie Freeman Combo

This is the first full-length rock 'n' roll movie.


11:30 PM -- Go, Johnny, Go! (1959)
Rock-n-roll promoter Alan Freed searches for a talent contest's mysterious winner.
74 min, TV-G
Dir: Paul Landres
Cast: Alan Freed, Jimmy Clanton, Sandy Stewart

This was Ritchie Valens' only screen appearance.


1:00 AM -- Jamboree (1957)
A love affair between overnight rock stars is threatened when their managers insist they go solo.
83 min
Dir: Roy Lockwood
Cast: Kay Medford, Bob Pastene, Paul Carr

Featured here is Dick Clark in his film debut as a Philadelphia DJ hosting early Rock acts, just months before "Bandstand" went network.


2:30 AM -- Ganja and Hess (1973)
After being stabbed with an ancient, germ-infested knife, a doctor's assistant finds himself with an insatiable desire for blood.
C-110 min, TV-MA
Dir: Bill Gunn
Cast: Duane Jones, Marlene Clark, Bill Gunn

This film effectively ended Bill Gunn's short career. He was supposed to make a Blaxploitation film like Blacula. He failed his producers by making an art film, which they chopped up and released under another name.


4:30 AM -- The Slams (1973)
A thief is forced to escape from jail to collect his money.
C-90 min, TV-MA
Dir: Jonathan Kaplan
Cast: Jim Brown, Judy Pace, Roland Harris

Featured in Dusk to Dawn Drive-In Trash-o-Rama Show Vol. 8 (2002).