TCM Schedule for Thursday, February 11 -- 31 Days of Oscar

[Staph]

TCM is giving us an evening of Oscar-winning and -nominated musicals. Here are the actor connections from film to film for today's schedule:

• (One Million B.C. -- Topper Returns) -- Carole Landis
  
• (Topper Returns -- Merrily We Live) -- Billie Burke
  
• (Merrily We Live -- Juarez) -- Brian Ahearne
  
• (Juarez -- Kitty Foyle) -- Walter Kingsford
  
• (Kitty Foyle -- Captains of the Clouds) -- Dennis Morgan
  
• (Captains of the Clouds -- The Sea Hawk) -- Alan Hale
  
• (The Sea Hawk -- Roberta) -- Victor Varconi
  
• (Roberta -- Alexander's Ragtime Band) -- Helen Westley
  
• (Alexander's Ragtime Band -- Call Me Madam) -- Ethel Merman
  
• (Call Me Madam -- Singin' in the Rain) -- Donald O'Connor
  
• (Singin' in the Rain -- The Band Wagon) -- Cyd Charisse
  
• (The Band Wagon -- Flying Down to Rio) -- Fred Astaire
  
• (Flying Down to Rio -- Little Caesar) -- Maurice Black
  

Enjoy!


4:15am -- One Million B.C. (1940)
An exiled caveman finds love when he joins another tribe.
Cast: Victor Mature, Carole Landis, Lon Chaney Jr., John Hubbard
Dir: Hal Roach Jr.
BW-80 mins, TV-G

Nominated for Oscars for Best Effects, Special Effects -- Roy Seawright (photographic) and Elmer Raguse (sound), and Best Music, Original Score -- Werner R. Heymann

The special effects were so good that special effect footage from this film was used in numerous other films produced well into the 1960s.


5:37am -- One Reel Wonders: Forbidden Passage (1941)
Desperate immigrants, tired of waiting for legal entry, pay exorbitant fees and risk a grisly death to enter by illegal means.
Cast: Addison Richards, Wolfgang Zilzer, Hugh Beaumont
Dir: Fred Zinneman
BW-21 mins

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Short Subject, Two-reel

Yep, that's Ward Cleaver, the Beaver's father! (Hugh Beaumont, for those of you who are too young to remember Leave It To Beaver (1957-1963))


6:00am -- Topper Returns (1941)
A beautiful ghost enlists a henpecked husband to track down her killer.
Cast: Joan Blondell, Roland Young, Carole Landis, Billie Burke
Dir: Roy Del Ruth
BW-88 mins, TV-G

Nominated for Oscars for Best Effects, Special Effects -- Roy Seawright (photographic) and Elmer Raguse (sound), and Best Sound, Recording -- Elmer Raguse (Hal Roach SSD)

In the film, Eddie (played by Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson) says that he's going back to "Mr. Benny", an in-joke reference to the fact that Anderson played Rochester, the valet, on Jack Benny's radio program and later TV show.


7:30am -- Merrily We Live (1938)
A society matron's habit of hiring ex-cons and hobos as servants leads to romance for her daughter.
Cast: Constance Bennett, Brian Aherne, Billie Burke.
Dir: Norman Z. McLeod.
BW-95 mins, TV-G

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Billie Burke, Best Art Direction -- Charles D. Hall, Best Cinematography -- Norbert Brodine, Best Music, Original Song -- Phil Charig (music) and Arthur Quenzer (lyrics) for the song "Merrily We Live", and Best Sound, Recording -- Elmer Raguse (Hal Roach SSD)

Although not credited onscreen or noted by reviewers or the SAB, this film is so similar to What a Man (1930) (same plot and even many of the same character names) that the source of the screenplay must surely be the same for both films.


9:15am -- Juarez (1939)
True story of Mexico's Abraham Lincoln and his fight against Napoleon's empire.
Cast: Bette Davis, Paul Muni, Brian Aherne, Claude Rains
Dir: William Dieterle
BW-121 mins, TV-G

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Brian Aherne, and Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Tony Gaudio

Because the film shows many of Maximilian's generals to be Mexican, many viewers attribute it to typical Hollywood historical distortions. It is, however, indeed accurate. It's a little-known fact that, although Maximilian was eventually overthrown and executed by Mexican revolutionaries, there were actually more Mexicans fighting on Maximilian's side than against him. This was due in large part to the Catholic Church's strong support of the French occupation of Mexico and its "encouraging" Mexican Catholics to fight against the revolutionary forces by joining Maximilian's army, which they did in large numbers.


11:30am -- Kitty Foyle (1940)
A girl from the wrong side of the tracks endures scandal and heartbreak when she falls for a high-society boy.
Cast: Ginger Rogers, Dennis Morgan, James Craig, Eduardo Ciannelli
Dir: Sam Wood
BW-108 mins, TV-G

Won an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Ginger Rogers

Nominated for Oscars for Best Director -- Sam Wood, Best Sound, Recording -- John Aalberg (RKO Radio SSD), Best Writing, Screenplay -- Dalton Trumbo, and Best Picture

Ginger Rogers was initially reluctant to take on the lead role, as the novel the film was based on contained explicit sexuality and Kitty has an abortion in it. Rogers' mother advised her to wait until she sees a screenplay before making up her mind, pointing out that the production code wouldn't allow most of the material Rogers found objectionable to be seen in films anyway. Sure enough, the adapted screenplay was "clean" enough for Rogers.


1:30pm -- Captains Of The Clouds (1942)
A mail flyer joins the Canadian air force for fun but has to prove his worth when he goes to war.
Cast: James Cagney, Dennis Morgan, Brenda Marshall, Alan Hale
Dir: Michael Curtiz
C-113 mins, TV-G

Nominated for Oscars for Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Color -- Ted Smith and Casey Roberts, and Best Cinematography, Color -- Sol Polito

Many scenes were filmed at the Chateau Laurier hotel in Ottawa, Ontario. The hotel, which still exists, was originally commissioned by Grand Trunk Railway chairman Melvin Hayes. Melvin Hayes and most of the new furniture for the Chateau Laurier were lost in the Titanic sinking which delayed the hotel opening in 1912 by several months.


3:30pm -- The Sea Hawk (1940)
A British buccaneer holds the Spanish fleet at bay with the covert approval of Elizabeth I.
Cast: Errol Flynn, Brenda Marshall, Claude Rains, Donald Crisp
Dir: Michael Curtiz
BW-128 mins, TV-G

Nominated for Oscars for Best Art Direction, Black-and-White -- Anton Grot, Best Effects, Special Effects -- Byron Haskin (photographic) and Nathan Levinson (sound), Best Music, Score -- Erich Wolfgang Korngold, and Best Sound, Recording -- Nathan Levinson (Warner Bros. SSD)

The beautifully crafted costumes seen in "The Sea Hawk" were made for Flynn’s movie from the year before called The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939). Reusing them saved Warner Bros. a huge amount of money, since the costumes were heavily researched, meticulously created and costly in their day.


6:00pm -- Roberta (1935)
A football player inherits a chic Paris fashion house.
Cast: Irene Dunne, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Randolph Scott
Dir: William A. Seiter
BW-106 mins, TV-G

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song -- Jerome Kern (music), Dorothy Fields (lyrics) and Jimmy McHugh (lyrics) for the song "Lovely to Look at"

This is one of only two Astaire/Rogers films (along with The Gay Divorcee (1934)), which is based on a Broadway musical. The Broadway stage version of "The Gay Divorcee" (titled "Gay Divorce") starred Fred Astaire in the same role he played on film, however, while the stage version of "Roberta" starred neither Astaire nor Ginger Rogers.


What's On Tonight: 31 DAYS OF OSCAR: Prime Time Lineup


8:00pm -- Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938)
A forward thinking bandleader fights to make ragtime respectable.
Cast: Tyrone Power, Alice Faye, Don Ameche, Ethel Merman
Dir: Henry King
BW-106 mins

Won an Oscar for Best Music, Scoring -- Alfred Newman

Nominated for Oscars for Best Art Direction -- Bernard Herzbrun and Boris Leven, Best Film Editing -- Barbara McLean, Best Music, Original Song -- Irving Berlin for the song "Now It Can Be Told", Best Writing, Original Story -- Irving Berlin, and Best Picture

In her autobiography, Ethel Merman said that the original lyrics to "Heat Wave": "She started a heat wave by letting her seat wave" was changed for the movie to "She started a heat wave by letting her feet wave".


10:00pm -- Call Me Madam (1953)
A Washington hostess takes an assignment as ambassador to the world's smallest nation.
Cast: Ethel Merman, Donald O'Connor, Vera-Ellen, George Sanders
Dir: Walter Lang
C-115 mins

Won an Oscar for Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- Alfred Newman

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Costume Design, Color -- Irene Sharaff

Lichtenburg is actually a fictionalized name for Luxembourg. The character of Sally Adams is based on the real-life Pearl Mesta (although the plot of the film is entirely fictional), and Perle Mesta was named Ambassador to Luxembourg by President Truman.


12:00am -- Singin' In The Rain (1952)
A silent-screen swashbuckler finds love while trying to adjust to the coming of sound.
Cast: Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds, Jean Hagen
Dir: Stanley Donen
C-103 mins, TV-G

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.


2:00am -- The Band Wagon (1953)
A Broadway artiste turns a faded film star's comeback vehicle into an artsy flop.
Cast: Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse, Oscar Levant, Nanette Fabray
Dir: Vincente Minnelli
C-112 mins, TV-G

Nominated for Oscars for Best Costume Design, Color -- Mary Ann Nyberg, Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- Adolph Deutsch, and Best Writing, Story and Screenplay -- Betty Comden and Adolph Green

The full-skirted white dress worn by Cyd Charisse in "Dancing In The Dark" was actually copied from a dress worn by the film's costume designer Mary Ann Nyberg. Director Minnelli tried to buy it off the rack (it originally cost about $25.00), but no store carried exactly that type of frock. It was finally created from scratch for about $1,000.00.


4:00am -- Flying Down To Rio (1933)
A dance-band leader finds love and success in Brazil.
Cast: Dolores Del Rio, Gene Raymond, Raul Roulien, Ginger Rogers
Dir: Thornton Freeland
BW-90 mins, TV-G

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song -- Vincent Youmans (music), Edward Eliscu (lyrics) and Gus Kahn (lyrics) for the song "Carioca"

Originally conceived by RKO as a vehicle for Dolores del Rio, this film is most notable for its star-making pairing of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. The two relative unknowns smoked up the screen in a dance number called "The Carioca" that generated such a positive response form critics and fans that they were eventually reunited in nine subsequent films.

[Staph]

1. Call Me Madam (1953)

In the delightful musical comedy Call Me Madam (1953), Broadway legend Ethel Merman recreates her Tony award-winning role as Sally Adams, a wealthy but down to earth widow known as “The Hostess With the Mostess” throughout Washington D.C. society. When President Harry Truman appoints Sally as a U.S. Ambassador, she and her bookish press attaché Kenneth (Donald O’Connor) travel to the tiny Grand Duchy of Lichtenburg where Sally promptly falls for handsome foreign minister Cosmo Constantine (George Sanders) and Kenneth falls for the beautiful Princess Maria (Vera-Ellen).

Following her triumphant run in Irving Berlin’s Broadway sensation Annie Get Your Gun, Ethel Merman was reportedly looking to take a break from musical comedy and do a more dramatic role as a change of pace. However, a split second inspiration from writer Howard Lindsay changed her mind. Lindsay and his wife Dorothy Stickney were vacationing in Colorado with Merman and her family in 1948 when Lindsay reportedly came across an article on Perle Mesta, a renowned Washington hostess. Mesta, a colorful wealthy widow famous for her society parties, had recently been appointed Ambassador to Luxembourg. Lindsay immediately saw the potential for creating a show based on Mesta’s life with Ethel Merman as the lead and Merman loved the idea.

Lindsay immediately pitched the scenario to his collaborator Russel Crouse, and the two began working on the book for what became Call Me Madam. Irving Berlin agreed to write the songs, eager to repeat the success he had recently enjoyed with Merman in Annie Get Your Gun.

Call Me Madam opened on Broadway in October 1950 and was an immediate smash. It played for 644 performances and won three Tony awards including one for Irving Berlin’s score and one for Ethel Merman as Best Actress in a Musical. It took a light, good-natured approach to its political satire and took care not to offend the real Perle Mesta by running the following tongue-in-cheek disclaimer in the theater’s Playbill: “Neither the character of Miss Sally Adams nor Miss Ethel Merman resembles any person alive or dead.”

The team behind Call Me Madam needn’t have worried as Perle Mesta loved the show. Columnist Leonard Lyons arranged for Mesta and Merman to meet face to face at a dinner party, and the two hit it off immediately. “We took to each other at once,” recalled Merman in her 1978 autobiography. “I asked if she’d take a curtain call on opening night, she shot back, ‘If I’m there, who’ll stop me?’” Mesta quickly added Merman to the guest list for her famous parties and even gave a few in Merman’s honor.

Even though Ethel Merman had made the show into a smash, it was a risk for 20th Century Fox to have her star in the film version of Call Me Madam. Merman was a powerhouse box office draw on the Broadway stage, but film success had so far eluded her. She had appeared in a few movies during the 1930s including an adaptation of her hit Broadway show Anything Goes (1936), but Hollywood had never been able to successfully translate her immense talent to the silver screen in a way that did her justice. However, Irving Berlin helped convince Fox studio chief Darryl Zanuck to allow Merman to reprise her role in Call Me Madam. It was a role that would showcase her at her very best, argued Berlin, and if anyone was born to play the role of Sally Adams, it was Ethel Merman.

Zanuck agreed and rolled out the red carpet for Merman to welcome her back to Hollywood. Call Me Madam would mark Merman’s first film appearance in a decade — she had last appeared on screen performing one number in 1943’s Stage Door Canteen. Zanuck secured Walter Lang (State Fair <1945>, The King and I <1956>) to direct and gave Merman the full star treatment to make her feel at home at Fox, including giving her Betty Grable’s plush dressing room to use for the duration of the shoot.

George Sanders was hired to play Merman’s love interest, Cosmo Constantine. The Academy Award-winning actor (All About Eve <1950>) had never before appeared in a musical. However, Sanders did his own singing and surprised everyone with his impressive rich baritone voice. He and Merman worked well together, though Merman admitted that they were not close. “George was sweet and believable and warm as toast as Cosmo Constantine,” she said in her autobiography, “but he was a strange man, very hard to get to. Between takes he locked himself in his dressing room and that was it. He didn’t seem to want to bother with anybody. Obviously he was a very unhappy man even then or he wouldn’t have done what he did,” she said referring to Sanders’ 1972 suicide.

The delightful Donald O’Connor, fresh off the success of his 1952 film Singin’ in the Rain, was cast as Merman’s press attaché Kenneth. He was paired with lovely Vera-Ellen as Princess Maria, the duo performing several elegant dance numbers throughout the film.

Call Me Madam remained remarkably true to its original stage source. However, there were a few small changes made for the film version. “They Like Ike,” a song that was written for the Broadway show and was eventually adopted as Dwight D. Eisenhower’s famous campaign song that helped win him the 1952 presidential election, was dropped from the film for being too political. The number was replaced with an old 1913 Irving Berlin song called “That International Rag.” In addition, a new number called “What Chance Have I With Love?” was added to showcase the singing and dancing talents of Donald O’Connor.

With a host of gushing reviews, Ethel Merman’s return to the silver screen in Call Me Madam was a triumph. “Call Me Madam...has become a handsome, hilarious, surefire hit movie,” raved Time magazine. “...At its Technicolored best — with Walter Lang’s zestful direction, Robert Alton’s dances and a topnotch supporting cast — the movie is a bouncier, better show than it was on the stage...But best of all the movie captures on film the special talents of Ethel Merman...From the opening scene, she sparkplugs the picture with a powerhouse personality.”

The New York Times said, “Whatever pleasure Ethel Merman bestowed in Call Me Madam on the stage — and the evidence is that it was plenty as she played it on Broadway 644 times — may be counted a minor fraction of the pleasure she is sure to convey as the boss-lady of this gay fandango in repeating it on the screen. For the sleek Technicolored movie version of the popular musical comedy...is an admirable duplication of the show as presented on the stage. And, in it, the wonderful Miss Merman is better than ever—in spades!”

Call Me Madam was a solid hit at the box office and was nominated for two Academy Awards. Irene Sharaff, whose sumptuous gowns helped feature Merman at her best, was nominated for Best Costume Design, and Alfred Newman was nominated (and won) for Best Musical Score. The songs in the film include “The Hostess With the Mostes’ on the Ball,” “Can You Use Any Money Today?” and the showstopping duet between Merman and O’Connor “You’re Just in Love.”

Producer: Sol C. Siegel
Director: Walter Lang
Screenplay: Arthur Sheekman; Russel Crouse and Howard Lindsay (musical "Call Me Madam")
Cinematography: Leon Shamroy
Art Direction: John De Cuir, Lyle Wheeler
Film Editing: Robert Simpson
Cast: Ethel Merman (Sally Adams), Donald O'Connor (Kenneth Gibson), Vera-Ellen (Princess Maria), George Sanders (General Cosmo Constantine), Billy De Wolfe (Pemberton Maxwell), Helmut Dantine (Prince Hugo), Walter Slezak (August Tantinnin), Steven Geray (Prime Minister Sebastian), Ludwig Stossel (Grand Duke Otto), Lilia Skala (Grand Duchess Sophie), Charles Dingle (Sen. Brockway), Emory Parnell (Sen. Charlie Gallagher), Percy Helton (Sen. Wilkins)
C-115m. Closed Captioning.

by Andrea Passafiume