TCM Schedule for Friday, August 19, 2016 -- Summer Under The Stars - Ruby Keeler

Today's Star is Ruby Keeler, a chorus girl from Broadway who went out and became a STAR! Many years later, she said "It's really amazing. I couldn't act. I had that terrible singing voice, and now I can see I wasn't the greatest tap dancer in the world, either." But she did have that special something that makes her one of the very watchable stars from the 1930s. Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- HOLLYWOOD HANDICAP (1938)
In this short film, a group of musician stable hands race a horse in the Hollywood Derby at Santa Anita race track.
Dir: Buster Keaton
Cast: Cyril Ring, Frank Mayo, E Alyn Warren
BW-10 mins,

Ruby Keeler plays herself in a cameo role.


6:17 AM -- MR. AND MRS. JESSE CRAWFORD "AT HOME" (1939)
In this short film, Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Crawford host a formal dress audition in their home for a prospective sponsor of their radio show. Vitaphone Release B219.
Dir: Lloyd French
Cast: Anthony Ross, Percy Helton ,
BW-11 mins,


6:30 AM -- SWEETHEART OF THE CAMPUS (1941)
A college dean tries to keep a nightclub from opening too close to his campus.
Dir: Edward Dmytryk
Cast: Ruby Keeler, Ozzie Nelson, Harriet Hilliard
BW-67 mins, CC,

Known in the UK as Broadway Ahead/


7:40 AM -- HENRY BUSSE AND HIS ORCHESTRA (1940)
In this short film, trumpet-player and orchestra leader Henry Busse and his Orchestra perform several musical numbers.
Dir: Jean Negulesco
BW-10 mins,


8:00 AM -- MOTHER CAREY'S CHICKENS (1938)
A widow with four children fights to keep her home.
Dir: Rowland V. Lee
Cast: Anne Shirley, Ruby Keeler, James Ellison
BW-82 mins,

Originally, RKO slated Katharine Hepburn to star in this picture. She refused to do it, and bought out her contract so that she wouldn't have to.


9:23 AM -- DAD FOR A DAY (1938)
In this short film, a service station owner falls in love with a widowed woman with a son who runs the lunch counter next door.
Dir: Edward L. Cahn
Cast: Harold Switzer, Louis Jean Heydt, Robert Blake
BW-11 mins,


9:45 AM -- AND SHE LEARNED ABOUT DAMES (1934)
A promotional short for "Dames" (1934), where a young girl wins a trip to Hollywood and a chance to meet the cast and crew of the picture.
Cast: Martha Merrill, Victoria Vinton, Ethelreda Leopold
BW-9 mins,


10:00 AM -- READY, WILLING AND ABLE (1937)
Two songwriters want to cast a British star in their new show.
Dir: Ray Enright
Cast: Ruby Keeler, Lee Dixon, Allen Jenkins
BW-94 mins,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Dance Direction -- Bobby Connolly for "Too Marvelous for Words"

Last film of Ross Alexander, who died two months before this film was released.


11:41 AM -- ECHO MOUNTAIN (1936)
In this musical short, a guide leads several tourists up a beautiful mountain in Switzerland. Vitaphone Release 7633-7634.
Dir: Ralph Staub
Cast: Lee Kohlmar, Herbert Evans, Fred Lawrence
C-18 mins,


12:00 PM -- COLLEEN (1936)
An eccentric millionaire hires a gold digger to run his business.
Dir: Alfred E. Green
Cast: Dick Powell, Ruby Keeler, Jack Oakie
BW-90 mins, CC,

Based on a story by Robert Lord.


1:35 PM -- STOCKHOLM "PRIDE OF SWEDEN" (1937)
This short film focuses on the people, culture, and history of Stockholm.
C-9 mins,


1:45 PM -- SIX HITS AND A MISS (1945)
This short film presents musical performances by such talents as Six Hits and a Miss and Rudolph Friml Jr. and His Band. Vitaphone Release 1062A.
Dir: Jean Negulesco
BW-9 mins,


2:00 PM -- SHIPMATES FOREVER (1935)
An admiral's son gives up the Navy for a career as a song-and-dance man.
Dir: Frank Borzage
Cast: Dick Powell, Ruby Keeler, Lewis Stone
BW-109 mins, CC,

Near the end of the movie, there is a great shot of a Martin P3M-2 seaplane landing in the ocean. Markings on the side of the plane show a "6". There were only 6 P3M-2's built.


4:00 PM -- FLIRTATION WALK (1934)
A West Point cadet falls for his commanding officer's daughter.
Dir: Frank Borzage
Cast: Dick Powell, Ruby Keeler, Pat O'Brien
BW-98 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Sound, Recording -- Nathan Levinson (sound director), and Best Picture

Bobby Connolly shot the Hawaiian number on the biggest set ever constructed at Warner Bros. studio up to that time. He followed with the military wedding number, using 400 professional dancers.


5:45 PM -- STUDIO HIGHLIGHTS (1934)
This short promotional film offers a brief look at "Flirtation Walk" (1934), followed by a short trailer for the film.
Cast: Ruby Keeler
BW-8 mins,


6:00 PM -- GOLD DIGGERS OF 1933 (1933)
Three chorus girls fight to keep their show going and find rich husbands.
Dir: Mervyn LeRoy
Cast: Warren William, Joan Blondell, Aline MacMahon
BW-98 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Sound, Recording -- Nathan Levinson (sound director)

At 5:55 PM PST on March 10, 1933, the Long Beach earthquake hit southern California, measuring 6.4 on the Richter scale. When the earthquake hit, Busby Berkeley was filming the "Shadow Waltz" dance sequence on a sound stage on the Warner Brothers lot in Burbank. The earthquake caused a blackout on the sound stage and short-circuited some of the neon-tubed violins. Berkeley was almost thrown from a camera boom, and dangled by one hand until he could pull himself back up. Since many of the chorus girls in the dance number were on a 30-foot-high scaffold, Berkeley yelled for them to sit down and wait until the stage hands and technicians could open the sound stage doors and let in some light.


7:49 PM -- EDDIE DUCHIN & ORCHESTRA WITH SYLVIA FROOS (1933)
In this musical short, pianist Eddy Duchin and his orchestra play several popular tunes with Sylvia Froos, such as "Shadow Waltz" and "Lullaby of the Leaves." Vitaphone Release 1558.
Dir: Joseph Henabery
Cast: Eddie Duchin and His Central Park Casino Dance Orchestra ,
BW-10 mins,



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: SUMMER UNDER THE STARS: RUBY KEELER



8:00 PM -- 42ND STREET (1933)
The definitive backstage musical, complete with the dazzling newcomer who goes on for the injured star.
Dir: Lloyd Bacon
Cast: Warner Baxter, Bebe Daniels, George Brent
BW-89 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Sound, Recording -- Nathan Levinson (sound director), and Best Picture

At the end of the "42nd Street" number, Billy and Peggy pull down a curtain or shade with the word "Asbestos" written on it. This can be a confusing reference to 21st-century viewers, who may only be familiar with asbestos as a mineral composite which is now known to cause the lung cancer mesothelioma, but during the first part of the 20th century, asbestos was an often-used flame-retardant component in building materials. It also would have been a reference familiar to theater people, since live-performance theaters were at the time required to have a curtain made of asbestos that would separate the stage from the audience in the event of an on-stage fire. In that context, the presence of the curtain in the film is the movie's way of implying that whatever Billy and Peggy are going to do behind the curtain, it will surely be "hot."


9:34 PM -- HOW TO BREAK 90 #2 POSITION & BACK SWING (1933)
In this short film, golf champion Bobby Jones demonstrates the correct and incorrect ways to hit a drive. Vitaphone Release 5820.
Dir: George Marshall
Cast: Glenda Farrell, Guy Kibbee ,
BW-10 mins,


9:45 PM -- GO INTO YOUR DANCE (1935)
An irresponsible Broadway star gets mixed up with gambling and gangsters.
Dir: Archie L. Mayo
Cast: Al Jolson, Ruby Keeler, Glenda Farrell
BW-89 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Dance Direction -- Bobby Connolly for "Latin from Manhattan"

Following the sensational success of Columbia's The Jolson Story (1946), Warner Bros. decided that Jolson's revived fame was a good reason to reissue this film. Although there were no changes or censor cuts, Warners did make up new opening credits, which added the famous later Warner "fanfare" and gave Jolson solo over-the-title billing. (Originally he and Keeler had both been starred. She was now listed in smaller print, with the rest of the supporting cast.) Additionally, the studio added a written prologue to make sure audiences knew that the story was set back in the long-ago and far-away time of 1935.


11:30 PM -- DAMES (1934)
A reformer's daughter wins the lead in a scandalous Broadway show.
Dir: Ray Enright
Cast: Joan Blondell, Dick Powell, Ruby Keeler
BW-91 mins, CC,

In the "Dames" number, Dick Powell as a Broadway producer doesn't want to see composer George Gershwin, but when asked by his secretary about seeing Miss Dubin, Miss Warren and Miss Kelly, he lets them enter his office. This is an inside joke, referring to Al Dubin and Harry Warren, who wrote the music for this film, and Orry-Kelly, who was the costume designer.


1:30 AM -- FOOTLIGHT PARADE (1933)
A producer fights labor problems, financiers and his greedy ex-wife to put on a show.
Dir: Lloyd Bacon
Cast: James Cagney, Joan Blondell, Ruby Keeler
BW-103 mins, CC,

Film debut of Dorothy Lamour.


3:30 AM -- CALLING ALL GIRLS (1942)
This short film presents the process that studios use to select girls to be members of the chorus line in movie musicals. Vitaphone Releases 655A, 658A.
BW-19 mins,


4:00 AM -- THE PHYNX (1970)
A rock band tours to Albania to rescue kidnapped American stars.
Dir: Lee H. Katzin
Cast: A. Michael Miller, Ray Chippeway, Dennis Larden
C-90 mins,

Film debuts of Rich Little and Sally Struthers.


5:44 AM -- THE FRIENDSHIP TRAIN (1947)
This short film details the history of the "Friendship Train," created to travel across the U.S. to collect food for war ravaged countries in Europe.
BW-14 mins,