TCM Schedule for Sunday, December 2 -- CHRISTMAS DOUBLE FEATURE

[Longhorn]

4:30am Gold Rush, The (1925)
In this silent film, a lost soul in the Yukon seeks love and wealth.
Cast: Charles Chaplin, Georgia Hale, Mack Swain. Dir: Charles Chaplin. BW-69 mins, TV-G

5:41am Short Film: One Reel Wonders: Movie Album #1, The (1935)
BW-10 mins

6:00am Front Page, The (1931)
A crusading newspaper editor tricks his retiring star reporter into covering one last case.
Cast: Pat O'Brien, Adolphe Menjou, Edward Everett Horton. Dir: Lewis Milestone. BW-100 mins, TV-G

7:45am Short Film: One Reel Wonders: Important News (1936)
BW-10 mins

8:00am Wife vs. Secretary (1936)
A secretary becomes so valuable to her boss that it jeopardizes his marriage.
Cast: Clark Gable, Myrna Loy, Jean Harlow. Dir: Clarence Brown. BW-88 mins, TV-G

9:30am Man Who Came To Dinner, The (1942)
An acerbic critic wreaks havoc when a hip injury forces him to move in with a midwestern family.
Cast: Bette Davis, Ann Sheridan, Monty Woolley. Dir: William Keighley. BW-113 mins, TV-G

11:30am My Favorite Year (1982)
A flamboyant star throws a TV comedy show into chaos.
Cast: Peter O'Toole, Mark Linn-Baker, Jessica Harper. Dir: Richard Benjamin. C-92 mins, TV-14

1:19pm Short Film: From The Vaults: Filmmaking On The Riviera (1964)
BW-10 mins

1:30pm Barefoot In The Park (1967)
A free-thinking bride and her conservative groom have trouble adjusting to married life.
Cast: Jane Fonda, Robert Redford, Mildred Natwick. Dir: Gene Saks. C-106 mins, TV-PG

3:30pm Hello, Dolly! (1969)
A widowed matchmaker sets her sights on a wealthy man looking for a rich, young wife.
Cast: Barbra Streisand, Walter Matthau, Michael Crawford. Dir: Gene Kelly. C-148 mins, TV-PG

6:00pm Thin Man, The (1934)
A husband-and-wife detective team takes on the search for a missing inventor and almost get killed for their efforts.
Cast: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Maureen O'Sullivan. Dir: W.S. Van Dyke II. BW-91 mins, TV-G

7:34pm Short Film: One Reel Wonders: Sunkist Stars At Palm Springs (1936)
Winners of a dance contest spend a day at Palm Springs with stars.
Cast: Walter Huston, Betty Grable Dir: Roy Rowland C-20 mins

What's On Tonight: TCM PRIME TIME FEATURE: CHRISTMAS DOUBLE FEATURE

8:00pm Shop Around The Corner, The (1940)
Feuding co-workers don't realize they're secret romantic pen pals.
Cast: Margaret Sullavan, James Stewart, Frank Morgan. Dir: Ernst Lubitsch. BW-99 mins, TV-G

9:42pm Short Film: One Reel Wonders: Rural Hungary (1939)
C-9 mins

10:00pm 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.
Cast: Judy Garland, Van Johnson, S.Z. "Cuddles" Sakall. Dir: Robert Z. Leonard. C-103 mins, TV-PG

12:00am Smart Set, The (1928)
An egotistical polo player has to redeem himself after he's kicked off the U.S. team.
Cast: William Haines, Jack Holt, Alice Day. Dir: Jack Conway. BW-80 mins

1:24am Short Film: From The Vaults: 1925 Mgm Studio Tour (1925)
BW-32 mins

2:00am Tous Les Matins du Monde (1991)
A reclusive musician and his one student clash over the value of performance.
Cast: Jean-Pierre Marielle, Gerard Depardieu, Guillaume Depardieu. Dir: Alain Corneau. C-114 mins, TV-MA

4:00am St. Louis Blues (1958)
Musical biopic about the life of legendary bluesman W.C. Handy.
Cast: Nat King Cole, Pearl Bailey, Cab Calloway. Dir: Allen Reisner. BW-94 mins, TV-PG

[Longhorn]

1. Shop Around The Corner, The (1940)

THE SHOP AROUND THE CORNER
Behind the Camera on THE SHOP AROUND THE CORNER

James Stewart was at the top of Ernst Lubitsch's list to play the simple Alfred Kralik because the actor was "the antithesis of the old-time matinee idol; he holds his public by his very lack of a handsome face or suave manner."

At first, European actress Dolly Haas was penciled in for the female lead, but Lubitsch had second thoughts about casting an unknown actress for American audiences.

Ernst Lubitsch waited for James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan - his personal picks for the film's leads - to become available in the midst of their busy schedules. In the meantime, he shot and completed Ninotchka, starring Greta Garbo and Melvyn Douglas.

While directing The Shop Around the Corner, Ernst Lubitsch drew upon his extensive experiences working in his father's Berlin shop as a young lad.

At the film's January 25, 1940 premiere at Radio City Music Hall, Lubitsch remarked, "I have known just such a little shop in Budapest...The feeling between the boss and those who work for him is pretty much the same the world over, it seems to me. Everyone is afraid of losing his job and everyone knows how little human worries can affect his job. If the boss has a touch of dyspepsia, better be careful not to step on his toes; when things have gone well with him, the whole staff reflects his good humor."

In preparation for her character, Margaret Sullavan purchased a simple dress for $1.95 that she thought a shop girl would wear but Ernst Lubitsch took one look and told her it was too stylish.

James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan had known each other a long time before making The Shop Around the Corner. Both were in a summer stock company called the University Players. It was there that Stewart realized his potential as an actor, so he followed Sullavan and fellow player Henry Fonda to New York to begin an acting career in earnest.

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.

Even James Stewart could get flustered working with Margaret Sullavan, though, and one day it took him forty-eight takes to get a scene right. Stewart said: "We were in this little restaurant and I had the line: 'I will come out on the street and I will roll my trousers up to my knees.' For some reason I couldn't say it. She was furious. She said, 'This is absolutely ridiculous.' There I was standing with my trousers rolled up to my knees, very conscious of my skinny legs, and I said, 'I don't want to act today; get a fellow with decent legs and just show them.' Margaret said, 'Then I absolutely refuse to do the picture.' So we did more takes."

Soon after wrapping principal photography, Ernst Lubitsch talked to the New York Sun in January 1940. "It's not a big picture, just a quiet little story that seemed to have some charm. It didn't cost very much, for such a cast, under $500,000. It was made in twenty-eight days. I hope it has some charm."

by Scott McGee

[Longhorn]

2. And its remake: In The Good Old Summertime (1949)

The original title of MGM's musical remake of The Shop Around the Corner (1940) was The Girl From Chicago, with June Allyson and Frank Sinatra announced as its stars. By the time it went into production as In the Good Old Summertime, however, Allyson had become pregnant and was replaced by Judy Garland, with Van Johnson stepping in as leading man. Reset from a leather-goods shop in Budapest to a music store in turn-of-the-century Chicago, the story once again tells of pen pals who fall in love without realizing they are coworkers with a disagreeable on-the-job relationship. As in the original, the climax comes during the Yuletide season, providing Garland with the opportunity to sing a lovely song called "Merry Christmas."

Garland's other songs in the film include "Meet Me Tonight in Dreamland," "Put Your Arms Around Me, Honey," "Mr. Law Plays the Barbershop" (performed with a male quartet) and an especially spirited rendition of the Eva Tanguay signature song "I Don't Care." Garland's reputation at MGM by this time was that of a troubled genius who often caused delays and skyrocketing budgets. But, according to John Fricke in his 1992 book "Judy Garland: World's Greatest Entertainer, "Garland completed four of her six songs for the film in one session, never requiring more than three takes. She also managed to breeze through the filming."

When studio head Louis B. Mayer asked Johnson what had allowed Garland to get through the production so easily, her costar replied, "We made her feel wanted and needed. We joked with her and kept her happy." Producer Joe Pasternak elaborated: "A great artist is entitled to a lot more latitude. The quality that makes her great makes her feel more deeply. All of us felt - and you don't often feel this way in Hollywood - we would accommodate ourselves gladly to work with Judy... We knew her magical genius and respected it."

In the Good Old Summertime marked a beginning and an end. Two-and-a-half-year-old Liza Minnelli, the daughter of Garland and director Vincente Minnelli, made her (un-credited) film debut in the final scene as the child of the now-married Garland and Johnson characters. And Buster Keaton, in a supporting role, made his final appearance at MGM, where his silent-comedy triumphs had included The Cameraman (1928) and Spite Marriage (1929).

Director: Robert Z. Leonard, Buster Keaton (uncredited)
Producer: Joe Pasternak
Screenplay: Miklos Laszlo (play 'Parfumerie'), Albert Hackett, Frances Goodrich,
Ivan Tors, Buster Keaton (uncredited)
Cinematography: Harry Stradling
Editor: Adrienne Fazan
Art Direction: Randall Duell, Cedric Gibbons
Music: George E. Stoll (uncredited)
Cast: Judy Garland (Veronica Fisher), Van Johnson (Andrew Derby Larkin), S.Z. 'Cuddles' Sakall (Otto Oberkugen), Spring Byington (Nellie Burke), Clinton Sundberg (Rudy Hansen)
C-103m. Close captioning. Descriptive Video.

by Roger Fristoe