TCM Schedule for Thursday, February 11, 2020 -- What's On Tonight: Kiss Connection

[Staph]

In the daylight hours, the theme is Suitors of Secretaries, a look at relationships between unequals, apparently a common theme in the 1930s and early 1940s. Then in prime time, it's the second week of a new February celebration call the Kiss Connection. Tell us more, Roger!

Kissing has provided a touch of titillation to the movies since the early days of the cinema. One of the first movies ever shown commercially to the public was The Kiss, an 1896 snippet of film showing John Rice bussing May Irwin in a now-quaint scene from the stage musical The Widow Jones. Since then, almost all movie romances have been sealed with kisses. So, we thought it might be fun to play a kind of “One Degree of Separation” game in which we connect a number of stars by smooching partners they have in common. Hence The Kiss Connection, in which we trace a trail of osculation in movies of the 1930s-60s that begins and ends with Irene Dunne.

Shown below are the star kissers and the films that link them, along with anecdotes about specific scenes.

February 11: In Written on the Wind (1956) Bacall kisses Rock Hudson, who in Lover Come Back (1961) kisses Doris Day, who in The Thrill of It All (1963) kisses James Garner, who in Boys’ Night Out (1962) kisses Kim Novak, who in Vertigo (1958) kisses James Stewart, who in Rear Window (1954) kisses Grace Kelly, who in High Society (1956) kisses Frank Sinatra.

Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window features one of the director’s most famous kissing scenes. It begins with a pan across the movie’s apartment-house set as a singer, who is one of the residents, practices her scales. The camera moves inside the window of the James Stewart character, who is confined with a broken leg, and comes to rest on his sleeping face.

A shadow that passes over his face seems ominous at first, but the source is revealed to be Grace Kelly’s head as she leans over Stewart and into one of the most intimate close-ups in all of cinema. He awakens with her shadow still darkening his face. Then a tight shot of the two famous profiles shows her kissing him passionately. In a husky, intimate voice she asks, “How’s your leg?”

Kelly was noted for enjoying offscreen romances with her leading men, which may have been the reason that Stewart’s wife, Gloria, reportedly drove him to and from the set of Rear Window every day of shooting and watched the filming of all scenes involving Kelly and her husband!

. . .

Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- She Had to Say Yes (1933)
1h 3m | Comedy | TV-G
A secretary pads her salary by dating prospective buyers for her company.
Director: Busby Berkeley
Cast: Loretta Young, Winnie Lightner, Lyle Talbot

Directorial debuts of Busby Berkeley and George Amy.


7:15 AM -- Vagabond Lady (1935)
1h 15m | Comedy | TV-G
A department store owner's sons compete for his secretary's heart.
Director: Sam Taylor
Cast: Robert Young, Evelyn Venable, Reginald Denny

Director Sam Taylor caught the flu in mid-February 1935; assistant director Edmond F. Bernoudy filled in for him during his illness.


8:45 AM -- She's Got Everything (1938)
1h 12m | Comedy | TV-G
A penniless heiress goes to work as secretary to a stuffed shirt.
Director: Joseph Santley
Cast: Gene Raymond, Ann Sothern, Victor Moore

Harry Segall, one of the co-writers, later won an Oscar for the screenplay for Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941).


10:15 AM -- Maybe It's Love (1935)
1h 3m | Drama | TV-G
A young couple suffers through in-law and employment problems.
Director: William Mcgann
Cast: Gloria Stuart, Ross Alexander, Frank Mchugh

The original play, Saturday's Children, opened 26 January 1927 in New York. It was also filmed as Saturday's Children (1929), Saturday's Children (1940), and Golden Showcase: Saturday's Children (1962) (TV Episode).


11:30 AM -- Goodbye Again (1933)
1h 5m | Comedy | TV-G
An author's reunion with an old flame angers the secretary who loves him.
Director: Michael Curtiz
Cast: Warren William, Joan Blondell, Genevieve Tobin

The original play "Goodbye Again" by Allan Scott and George Haight opened in New York at the Theatre Masque on 28 December 1932 and ran until July 1933 for 216 performances. It was remade in 1941 as "Honeymoon for Three".


12:45 PM -- Beauty and the Boss (1932)
1h 6m | Comedy | TV-G
After being distracted by a string of pretty secretaries, a banker hires a plain Jane, only to fall in love with her.
Director: Roy Del Ruth
Cast: Marian Marsh, David Manners, Warren William

The play upon which this film is based, "A Church Mouse", originally opened in Budapest on December 2, 1927, and opened on Broadway on October 12, 1931 and ran for 164 performances until March, 1932. It has also been filmed as Poor as a Church Mouse (1931), The Church Mouse (1934), Fröken Kyrkråtta (1941), Frk. Kirkemus (1941) and Modern Cinderella (1965).


2:00 PM -- Honeymoon for Three (1941)
1h 14m | Comedy | TV-G
A novelist pretends to be married to hold his fans at bay.
Director: Lloyd Bacon
Cast: Ann Sheridan, George Brent, Charles Ruggles

During the filming, Jane Wyman was pregnant with her first child, Maureen Reagan. She held a large handbag and a fur stole in all of her character's scenes to disguise her pregnancy.


3:30 PM -- Ever Since Eve (1937)
1h 19m | Comedy | TV-G
A plain-jane secretary masquerades as a beauty to win her boss's heart.
Director: Lloyd Bacon
Cast: Marion Davies, Robert Montgomery, Frank Mchugh

Marion Davies's last movie.


5:00 PM -- A Girl, a Guy and a Gob (1941)
1h 31m | Comedy | TV-G
A stuffy boss tries to steal his secretary from her sailor boyfriend.
Director: Richard Wallace
Cast: George Murphy, Lucille Ball, Edmond O'brien

First film produced by Harold Lloyd in which he did not star.


6:45 PM -- Man Wanted (1932)
1h 2m | Romance | TV-G
A female executive falls in love with her male secretary.
Director: William Dieterle
Cast: Kay Francis, David Manners, Una Merkel

The Polo match was filmed at the Will Rogers Polo Club-Pacific Palisades, California.



WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: PRIMETIME THEME -- KISS CONNECTION



8:00 PM -- Written on the Wind (1957)
1h 32m | Drama
A young woman marries into a corrupt oil family then falls for her husband's best friend.
Director: Douglas Sirk, William Holland
Cast: Rock Hudson, Lauren Bacall, Robert Stack, Dorothy Malone

Winner of an Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Dorothy Malone

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Robert Stack, and Best Music, Original Song -- Victor Young (music) and Sammy Cahn (lyrics) (For the song "Written on the Wind". Victor Young's nomination was posthumous.)

Douglas Sirk wanted it to be stated that Kyle Hadley (Robert Stack) had homosexual leanings towards Mitch Wayne (Rock Hudson) and was secretly in love with him. However, this could not be mentioned directly due to the Hays Code. Nevertheless, the implication was so strong that 1956 audiences were given ample opportunity to read it either way; to today's audiences, the subtext may be pretty obvious.

Lauren Bacall (kissed by Bogie early Friday morning) kisses Rock Hudson ...


10:00 PM -- Lover Come Back (1961)
1h 47m | Comedy | TV-G
An ad exec in disguise courts his pretty female competitor.
Director: Delbert Mann
Cast: Rock Hudson, Doris Day, Tony Randall

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen -- Stanley Shapiro and Paul Henning

Hollywood legend claims that, during the filming of Rock Hudson and Doris Day's bathing suit scene (set on a soundstage beach) one of Hudson's testicles kept popping out from his swimtrunks. While screening dailies the next afternoon, the crew laughed so hard, they became teary-eyed, especially when the projectionist figured how to roll the film back-and-forth so it looked like Hudson's testicle was doing a "dance."

Rock Hudson kisses Doris Day ...


12:00 AM -- The Thrill of It All (1963)
1h 48m | Comedy | TV-G
A doctor tries to cope with his wife's newfound stardom as an advertising pitch woman.
Director: Norman Jewison
Cast: Doris Day, James Garner, Arlene Francis

Carl Reiner had intended the role of Beverly Boyer for Judy Holliday, but her ill health prevented her from making the film. This was the second time that Ms. Day stepped into a film role that had been intended for someone else. The first, Move Over, Darling (1963), was originally being shot as Something's Got To Give (1962) starring Marilyn Monroe, whose tragic death lead to that film's being recast and filmed with Ms. Day.

Doris Day kisses James Garner ...


2:00 AM -- Boys' Night Out (1962)
1h 55m | Comedy | TV-PG
A psychology student researches infidelity by becoming a platonic kept woman for four buddies.
Director: Michael Gordon
Cast: Kim Novak, James Garner, Tony Randall

Toni Jackson (Anne Jeffreys) asks Cathy (Kim Novack) if her survey on the sexual patterns of the suburban male is something like the Kinsey Report. The Kinsey Report is actually two different surveys: "Sexual Behavior in the Human Male" (1948) and Sexual Behavior in the Human Female" (1953). These two books were controversial and groundbreaking on opening up opinions and discussions on human sexuality and bringing them into public discourse.

James Garner kisses Kim Novak ...


4:00 AM -- Vertigo (1958)
2h 8m | Suspense/Mystery | TV-PG
A detective falls for the mysterious woman he's been hired to tail.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: James Stewart, Kim Novak, Barbara Bel Geddes

Nominee for Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White or Color -- Hal Pereira, Henry Bumstead, Sam Comer and Frank R. McKelvy, and Best Sound -- George Dutton (Paramount SSD)

Costume designer Edith Head and director Sir Alfred Hitchcock worked together to give Madeleine's clothing an eerie appearance. Her trademark gray suit was chosen for its color because they thought it seemed odd for a blonde woman to be wearing all gray. Also, they added the black scarf to her white coat because of the odd contrast. But when Kim Novak reported for filming, according to Hitchcock, she had "all sorts of preconceived notions" about her character, including what she would and would not wear. Before shooting began, she told the director she did not like the grey suit and black shoes she was slated to wear, thinking them too heavy and stiff for her character. Novak later recalled, "I didn't think it would matter to him what kind of shoes I wore. I had never had a director who was particular about the costumes, the way they were designed, the specific colors. The two things he wanted the most were those shoes and that gray suit." Hitchcock explained to Novak that the visual aspect of the film was even more important to him than the story, and insisted on her wearing the suit and the shoes that he had been planning for several months. Novak learned to make it work for her, as she saw it a symbol of her character.

Kim Novak kisses James Stewart ...