TCM Schedule for Friday, August 19 -- Summer Under The Stars -- Debbie Reynolds

[Staph]

Today's star is the unsinkable Debbie Reynolds, who got her start when she won the 1948 Miss Burbank contest and was offered a screen test by Warner Bros. the day after her win. She initially entered the contest because everyone who entered received a silk scarf, blouse and free lunch. Enjoy!




6:00 AM -- The Affairs of Dobie Gillis (1953)
A lovesick teenager searches for romance at college.
Dir: Don Weis
Cast: Debbie Reynolds, Bobby Van, Barbara Ruick.
73 min, TV-G, CC

This modest (by MGM standards) black-and-white musical failed to be noted by a contemporary New York Times review. In addition, this was the only monochrome song-and-dance picture in which Debbie Reynolds and Bob Fosse appeared.


7:15 AM -- I Love Melvin (1953)
A photographer's assistant promises to turn a chorus girl into a cover girl.
Dir: Don Weis
Cast: Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds, Una Merkel.
C-77 min, TV-G, CC

The opening segment is Debbie Reynolds singing "A Lady Loves (to Love)" in a sophisticated setting. A second version in a rural setting was shot but cut from the film. It can be seen in That's Entertainment! III.


8:45 AM -- The Tender Trap (1955)
A swinging bachelor finds love when he meets a girl immune to his line.
Dir: Charles Walters
Cast: Frank Sinatra, Debbie Reynolds, David Wayne.
C-111 min, TV-PG, CC

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song -- Jimmy Van Heusen (music) and Sammy Cahn (lyrics) for the song "(Love Is) The Tender Trap"

The original Broadway production of "The Tender Trap" by Max Shulman and Robert Paul Smith opened at the Longacre Theater on October 13, 1954 and ran for 102 performances. The original cast included Robert Preston and Kim Hunter.


10:45 AM -- Bundle Of Joy (1956)
A shop girl is mistaken for the mother of a foundling.
Dir: Norman Taurog
Cast: Eddie Fisher, Debbie Reynolds, Adolphe Menjou.
C-98 min, TV-PG, CC

Around 1956, singer Eddie Fisher and his agent Lew Wasserman were discussing roles for Fisher's acting debut. A project being discussed at the time was "What Makes Sammy Run?" by Budd Schulberg and Stuart Schulberg. Fisher wanted to play aggressive producer Sammy Glick, "the ultimate Jewish hustler. I knew a lot of real Sammy Glicks and I felt confident that was a character I could play." Lew Wasserman decided that the character was too much of a classic negative Jewish stereotype and that it would be bad for Fisher to play it. So Fisher went in the complete opposite direction (in retrospect, perhaps too far) with then-wife Debbie Reynolds in this squeaky clean comedy that Fisher hated, made to capitalize on the birth of their daughter, future Star Wars "Princess Leia" Carrie Fisher. The Schulberg project was eventually produced in 2 parts as "Sunday Showcase (1959)" {What Makes Sammy Run?: Part 1 (#1.2)} and "Sunday Showcase (1959)" {What Makes Sammy Run?: Part 2 (#1.3)} with Larry Blyden in the role.


12:30 PM -- Tammy And The Bachelor (1957)
A country girl saves a pilot after a plane crash.
Dir: Joseph Pevney
Cast: Debbie Reynolds, Leslie Nielsen, Walter Brennan.
C-89 min, TV-PG, CC

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song -- Ray Evans and Jay Livingston for the song "Tammy"

Debbie Reynolds' single "Tammy" spent 23 weeks on the "Top 40" charts, starting 07/22/57. It was #1 for five weeks. It was also nominated for a "Best Song" Academy Award for 1957 (but lost to 'All the Way' from the film The Joker Is Wild.)


2:00 PM -- The Mating Game (1959)
A tax agent falls for a farm girl whose father he's investigating.
Dir: George Marshall
Cast: Debbie Reynolds, Tony Randall, Paul Douglas.
C-97 min, TV-G, CC

Based on the novel The Darling Buds Of May by H.E. Bates. Later made into a British television series starring Catherine Zeta-Jones in the Debbie Reynolds role.


3:45 PM -- Mary, Mary (1963)
A man on the verge of divorce is shocked by wife's glamorous makeover.
Dir: Mervyn LeRoy
Cast: Debbie Reynolds, Barry Nelson, Michael Rennie.
126 min, TV-PG, CC

The original Broadway production of "Mary, Mary" by Jean Kerr opened at the Helen Hayes Theater in New York on March 8, 1961 and ran for 1572 performances.


6:00 PM -- It Started With A Kiss (1959)
After a whirlwind courtship, an Army officer and his wacky wife try to make their marriage work.
Dir: George Marshall
Cast: Glenn Ford, Debbie Reynolds, Eva Gabor.
C-100 min, TV-PG, CC

The car that Glenn Ford wins is a 1955 Lincoln Futura, the one-off concept car that ultimately became the Batmobile on Batman.


7:51 PM -- One Reel Wonder: Canoeman's Holiday (1956)
A fishing and rafting trip planned by the Loon Bay Lodge in St. Stephen, New Brunswick, Canada.
Dir: Douglas Sinclair
Cast: Harry Wismer, George Wheelock, Jean Wheelock
8 min

Filmed on the St. Croix River, in Maine and New Brunswick.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: SUMMER UNDER THE STARS: DEBBIE REYNOLDS



8:00 PM -- The Gazebo (1959)
A suburban couple tries to cope with a murder victim whose body refuses to stay put.
Dir: George Marshall
Cast: Glenn Ford, Debbie Reynolds, Carl Reiner.
102 min, TV-G, CC

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- Helen Rose

Remade in France in 1971, also as The Gazebo


9:54 PM -- One Reel Wonder: The Story Of A Dress (1964)
This short, released as part of the publicity campaign for The Unsinkable Molly Brown, tells the story of the red dress worn by Debbie Reynolds in the film's dance number finale.
Cast: Morton Haack, Debbie Reynolds, Charles Walters
5 min

This short references Mata Hari (1931), The Last Time I Saw Paris (1954), The Prodigal (1955), High Society (1956), and of course, The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964).


10:00 PM -- The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964)
Musical biography of the backwoods girl who struck it rich in Colorado and survived the Titanic.
Dir: Charles Walters
Cast: Debbie Reynolds, Harve Presnell, Ed Begley.
C-129 min, TV-G, CC

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Debbie Reynolds, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- George W. Davis, E. Preston Ames, Henry Grace and Hugh Hunt, Best Cinematography, Color -- Daniel L. Fapp, Best Costume Design, Color -- Morton Haack, Best Music, Scoring of Music, Adaptation or Treatment -- Robert Armbruster, Leo Arnaud, Jack Elliott, Jack Hayes, Calvin Jackson and Leo Shuken, and Best Sound -- Franklin Milton (M-G-M SSD)

This is Debbie Reynolds's personal favorite of her movies.


12:15 AM -- Divorce, American Style (1967)
A bored couple drifts toward divorce, only to discover how hard the single life is.
Dir: Bud Yorkin
Cast: Dick Van Dyke, Debbie Reynolds, Jason Robards Jr..
C-109 min, TV-PG, CC

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen -- Robert Kaufman (story) and Norman Lear (screenplay)

Movie debut of Otter of the Delta House / Vice President John Hoynes -- Tim Matheson.


2:15 AM -- Singin' In The Rain (1952)
A silent-screen swashbuckler finds love while trying to adjust to the coming of sound.
Dir: Gene Kelly
Cast: Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds.
C-103 min, TV-G, CC

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Jean Hagen, and Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- Lennie Hayton

In the "Would You" number, Kathy Selden (Debbie Reynolds) is dubbing the voice of Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen) because Lina's voice is shrill and screechy. However, it's not Reynolds who is really speaking, it's Jean Hagen herself, who actually had a beautiful deep, rich voice. So you have Jean Hagen dubbing Debbie Reynolds dubbing Jean Hagen. And when Debbie is supposedly dubbing Jean's singing of "Would You", the voice you hear singing actually belongs to Betty Noyes, who had a much richer singing voice than Debbie.


4:11 AM -- One Reel Wonder: The Singing Nun (1966)
C-3 min

Dorothy Dandridge, Pearl Bailey, and Nichelle Nichols tested for the role of Sister Mary.


4:15 AM -- The Singing Nun (1966)
Fanciful biography of the Belgian nun who briefly made the hit parade.
Dir: Henry Koster
Cast: Debbie Reynolds, Ricardo Montalban, Greer Garson.
C-97 min, TV-PG, CC

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Scoring of Music, Adaptation or Treatment -- Harry Sukman

Loosely based on the true story of Soeur Sourire, who had a #1 pop hit in America with "Dominique". Unfortunately, the lovable nun was a one-hit wonder whose life did not continue happily after her brief blush of chart success. After leaving the church for a full-time music career, she ran into heavy financial problems and eventually took her own life.