TCM Schedule for Saturday, June 28, 2014 -- The Essentials - Starring Jack Benny

Tonight's Essentials celebrates Jack Benny. He's not so much a movie star as a star of vaudeville, stage, radio and television, but tonight's selections show why his was a long and successful career in so many different venues. A quick story from January 1949: A personal friend of Harry S. Truman, Jack Benny served as Master of Ceremonies for Truman's Inaugural Ball. When he arrived at the White House for the event, a guard pointed to his violin case and asked, "Mr. Benny, what do you have in there?" As a joke, Jack whispered back, "It's a Thompson sub-machine gun." The guard replied, "Oh, that's a relief. I was afraid it was your violin". Enjoy!



6:00 AM -- First a Girl (1935)
An out-of-work actress passes herself off as a female impersonator and becomes a star.
Dir: Victor Saville
Cast: Jessie Matthews, Sonnie Hale, Anna Lee
BW-92 mins,

A remake of Viktor und Viktoria (1933 - Germany), and remade as Viktor und Viktoria (1957 - West Germany), Victor Victoria (1982 - the version with Julie Andrews, James Garner and Robert Preston, playing at 8:00 am today on TCM), and Victor/Victoria (1995 television broadcast of the Broadway musical, starring Julie Andrews, Tony Roberts and Michael Nouri).


7:33 AM -- The Backyard Broadcast (1936)
In this short film, a boy holds a talent show in his back yard by and for his adolescent friends.
Dir: Joseph Henabery
Cast: Joe Korn, Jerry Schussler, Arnold Stone
BW-22 mins,


8:00 AM -- Victor Victoria (1982)
An unemployed female singer poses as a female impersonator and becomes a star.
Dir: Blake Edwards
Cast: Julie Andrews, James Garner, Robert Preston
C-134 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Won an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song Score and Its Adaptation or Best Adaptation Score -- Henry Mancini and Leslie Bricusse

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Julie Andrews, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Robert Preston, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Lesley Ann Warren, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Blake Edwards, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration -- Rodger Maus, Tim Hutchinson, William Craig Smith and Harry Cordwell, and Best Costume Design -- Patricia Norris

The cockroaches were in a kind of deep freeze coma. They were placed where necessary for the scene and heated with a hair dryer. The crew could only hope that they went in the right direction and no one knew quite where they went after filming of the scene was completed. Julie Andrews really is terrified of cockroaches.


10:15 AM -- Carson on TCM: Julie Andrews (11/19/82) (2013)
TCM presents an interview from The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson, with Julie Andrews from 11/19/82.
C-8 mins, CC,


10:30 AM -- Topper Takes a Trip (1939)
A glamorous ghost helps a henpecked husband save his wife from gold-digging friends.
Dir: Norman Z. McLeod
Cast: Constance Bennett, Roland Young, Billie Burke
BW-80 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Effects, Special Effects -- Roy Seawright (photographic)

Wire-haired terrier Asta (real name Skippy) played Nick and Nora Charles' dog in most of the Thin Man films, as well as playing Mr. Smith in The Awful Truth (1937) and George the dinosaur-bone-stealing dog in Bringing Up Baby (1938)


11:51 AM -- Happy Times And Jolly Moments (1943)
This short film offers a nostalgic look at the Mack Sennet comedies of 1914. Vitaphone Release 1134A.
BW-18 mins,


12:15 PM -- The Forty-Niners (1954)
A man poses as a gunman to learn the identity of three killers.
Dir: Thomas Carr
Cast: Wild Bill Elliott, Virginia Grey, Henry Morgan
BW-71 mins, CC,

One of Wild Bill Elliot's 271 movie credits.


1:34 PM -- Stop Look And Listen (1967)
This Academy nominated stop-motion live-action short focuses on driving safety and dealing with road rage.
Dir: Chuck Menville
Cast: Len Janson, Chuck Menville, Lea Richardson
C-10 mins,


1:45 PM -- Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968)
An eccentric inventor uses his flying car to free a kingdom of children from oppression.
Dir: Ken Hughes
Cast: Dick Van Dyke, Sally Ann Howes, Lionel Jeffries
BW-145 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song -- Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman for the song "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang"

The film "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" has a different story than the original book by James Bond creator Ian Fleming. The screen story was a creation of children's-book author Roald Dahl (of James and the Giant Peach (1996), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), etc.), who had recently written the screen story of You Only Live Twice (1967), the first Bond film to deviate severely from the original Fleming book. Fleming's "Chitty" story was about the Potts family and their flying motorcar who rescue a French candy maker and his family from ordinary gangsters led by Joe the Monster. The story of "Vulgaria" is entirely a Dahl creation, full of his distinctive stock characters and situations. Dahl also came up with the character name Truly Scrumptious, which is possibly a tribute to Fleming's stock of female characters with playful names such as Honey Ryder, Pussy Galore, and Kissy Suzuki.


4:15 PM -- Edge of the City (1957)
An army deserter and a black dock worker join forces against a corrupt union official.
Dir: Martin Ritt
Cast: John Cassavetes, Sidney Poitier, Jack Warden
BW-86 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Expanded from the 1955 hour-long live TV play "A Man Is Ten Feet Tall," broadcast on "Philco Television Playhouse (1948)," also with Sidney Poitier in the role of Tommy.


5:45 PM -- A Raisin in the Sun (1961)
A black woman uses her late husband's life insurance to build a better world for her children.
Dir: Daniel Petrie
Cast: Sidney Poitier, Claudia McNeil, Ruby Dee
BW-128 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

The Broadway production of "A Raisin in the Sun" by Lorraine Hansberry opened at the Ethel Barrymore Theater in New York on March 11, 1959, ran for 530 performances and was nominated for the 1960 Tony Award (New York City) for the Best Play. Sidney Poitier, Claudia McNeil, Ruby Dee, Diana Sands, Ivan Dixon, Louis Gossett Jr. and John Fiedler recreated their stage roles in the movie version. A 1960 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play nomination went to Claudia McNeil.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: THE ESSENTIALS: STARRING JACK BENNY



8:00 PM -- To Be or Not to Be (1942)
A troupe of squabbling actors joins the Polish underground to dupe the Nazis.
Dir: Ernst Lubitsch
Cast: Carole Lombard, Jack Benny, Robert Stack
BW-99 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Werner R. Heymann

According to the book The United Artists Story by Ronald Bergan, "Unfortunately, at its release, Pearl Harbor had been attacked, Germany was sweeping across Europe, and the film's star, Carole Lombard, was killed in a plane crash while on a war-bond selling tour. Therefore, neither critics nor public were in the mood to laugh, finding the picture tasteless and callous. Over the years, however, it recovered its production costs and became a classic."


9:53 PM -- Cary Grant: In A Tribute To The Will Rogers Memorial Hospital (1940)
In this short film, Cary Grant asks moviegoers to donate to the Will Rogers Memorial Hospital, a hospital and recovery center for tuberculosis patients.
BW-2 mins,


10:00 PM -- The Big Broadcast Of 1937 (1936)
A failing radio station needs to put on a ratings winner to have any chance of continued operation.
Dir: Mitchell Leisen
Cast: Jack Benny, George Burns, Gracie Allen
BW-100 mins, CC,

Shortly after arriving in the US from Germany, Oskar Fischinger was contracted by Paramount Pictures to create an animated sequence (in Technicolor or Gasparcolor; sources differ) for this movie. The movie was scored to a jazz piece, "Radio Dynamics", by studio musician Ralph Rainger. Unfortunately, Paramount switched the production to black-and-white, and Fischinger's animation became a sequence within the film, showing consumer products emanating from a radio broadcasting tower, rather than pure abstract imagery. Fischinger later released his color version as Allegretto (1936).


11:44 PM -- Radio Bugs (1944)
In this comedic short, a gang of children try out a career as radio stars.
Dir: Cy Endfield
Cast: Pietro Sosso, Robert Blake, Morris Ankrum
BW-11 mins,


12:00 AM -- College Holiday (1936)
A group of men are invited to spend the summer with a lady hotelier interested in eugenics.
Dir: Frank Tuttle
Cast: Jack Benny, George Burns, Gracie Allen
BW-87 mins, CC,

Rather broad writing credits:
J.P. McEvoy ... (original screenplay) and
Harlan Ware ... (original screenplay) and
Jay Gorney ... (original screenplay) and
Henry Myers ... (original screenplay)
Frederick Hazlitt Brennan ... (contributor to treatment) (uncredited)
Walter DeLeon ... (contributor to treatment) (uncredited)
Bobby Vernon ... (contributor to screenplay construction) (uncredited)


1:32 AM -- Gym College (1955)
In this short film, members of the Florida State University gymnastics team demonstrate their athletic skills.
Dir: Howard Winner
BW-8 mins,


1:48 AM -- Canoeman's Holiday (1956)
This short film takes a look at the Loon Bay Lodge in St. Stephen, Canada.
Dir: Douglas Sinclair
BW-8 mins,


2:00 AM -- So Evil So Young (1961)
A young girl is framed for a robbery, and sent to a harsh reform school, where she becomes the target of a vicious warden.
Dir: Godfrey Grayson
Cast: Jill Ireland, John Charlesworth, Colin Tapley
BW-77 mins,

Released after the death of actor John Charlesworth.


3:19 AM -- The Hurrying Kind (1962)
In this short film, a high school student wants to drop out and work at a garage, until he learns of the myriad opportunities available in the military.
Cast: Michael Bell, Olan Soule,
C-24 mins,


3:45 AM -- The Cool Ones (1967)
A rock promoter creates a popular singing duo and tries to run their lives.
Dir: Gene Nelson
Cast: Roddy McDowall, Debbie Watson, Gil Peterson
C-95 mins, Letterbox Format

The egotistical tycoon was allegedly based on Phil Spector.


5:30 AM -- Gang Boy (1959)
In this short film, a police officer tries to prevent a gang war by bringing the rival groups together over dinner.
Dir: Arthur Swerdloff
Cast: Curly Riviera,
C-27 mins,