TCM Schedule for Friday, April 15, 2022 -- What's On Tonight: Play Ball - Night Two

[Staph]

In the daylight hours, TCM is featuring the work of director Charles Walters. He started as an actor, dancer, and choreographer on Broadway. Then he was signed in 1942 by Arthur Freed for the new MGM musical unit, where he worked as a dance director from 1943 to 1946, then made the transition to full motion picture director, specialising in musicals and comedies. He remained at MGM in that capacity from 1947 to 1964.

Then in prime time, we get Night Two of Play Ball, starting with a somewhat unusual film -- Jackie Robinson playing himself in The Jackie Robinson Story (1950). Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- Good News (1947)
1h 35m | Musical | TV-G
A football hero falls in love with his French tutor.
Director: Charles Walters
Cast: June Allyson, Peter Lawford, Patricia Marshall

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song -- Hugh Martin, Ralph Blane and Roger Edens for the song "Pass That Peace Pipe"

First-time director Charles Walters knew that his future at MGM depended on his ability to bring this film on schedule and under budget, and he did, but not without several rookie mistakes in terms of not capturing enough takes of certain scenes. This forced some sleight of hand in the editing process, including the slowing down of one outdoor football scene and the speeding up of the first shot of the final prom scene. Some errors could not be concealed, and this resulted in the two blatant episodes of chorines falling out of step in the choreography. The first occurs in the initial strains of the title song, wherein the chorine in front lunges on the wrong note and then forgets her lyrics. The second involves another chorine tripping on her own feet during the trumpet solo in "The Varsity Drag," forcing her onto the floor and necessitating the camera to cut quickly away from her. No doubt these errors remained in the final print because the film was released well before the era of home video, which meant audiences did not have the luxury of watching films repeatedly or rewinding them to catch mistakes.


7:45 AM -- Summer Stock (1950)
1h 49m | Musical | TV-G
A farmer gets sucked into show business when a theatrical troupe invades her farm.
Director: Charles Walters
Cast: Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, Eddie Bracken

For "Get Happy," Charles Walters, the film's director, returned to his choreographic roots to stage the routine at Garland's request. As the number was filmed several months after principal photography had been completed, few of the original ensemble members were still on the MGM lot. In hiring the men who would back Garland, Walters deliberately chose eight dancers who would tower over the diminutive star, realizing that their height would lend a comedic edge to the song's evangelistic lyric, as the smallest figure on stage would be attempting to proselytize the pack. Walters completed the picture by dressing Garland in an abbreviated version of the men's pink and black tuxedo costume. She had worn the outfit two years earlier in a number Walters directed for Easter Parade (1948). The number, "Mr. Monotony," was deleted from the final print of that film, but Walters remembered the costume and resurrected it for "Get Happy."


9:45 AM -- Texas Carnival (1951)
1h 17m | Comedy | TV-G
A penniless carnival worker runs up a mountain of debts when he's mistaken for a millionaire.
Director: Charles Walters
Cast: Esther Williams, Red Skelton, Howard Keel

At the time Texas Carnival was filmed, Red Norvo's trio included an African-American musician, bassist Charles Mingus, and when they recorded their number for this film (backing Ann Miller on It's Dynamite) Mingus played on the soundtrack. But when the number was filmed, MGM executives insisted that a white bassist substitute for Mingus on screen.


11:15 AM -- Three Guys Named Mike (1951)
1h 30m | Comedy | TV-G
A stewardess can't choose among three suitors.
Director: Charles Walters
Cast: Jane Wyman, Van Johnson, Howard Keel

Barbara Billingsley, who would go on to her arguably most famous role as June Cleaver on Leave It to Beaver (1957), shows up as the instructor at stewardess school.


1:00 PM -- Lili (1953)
1h 21m | Musical | TV-G
A French orphan gets a job with a carnival puppet show.
Director: Charles Walters
Cast: Leslie Caron, Mel Ferrer, Jean Pierre Aumont

Winner of an Oscar for Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Bronislau Kaper

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Leslie Caron, Best Director -- Charles Walters, Best Writing, Screenplay -- Helen Deutsch, Best Cinematography, Color -- Robert H. Planck, and Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- Cedric Gibbons, Paul Groesse, Edwin B. Willis and Arthur Krams

This film was based on The Saturday Evening Post's Paul Gallico's short story "The Man Who Hated People," published in the 28 October 1950 edition, which was inspired by the children's puppet show "Kukla, Fran and Ollie." Due to the success of the film, Gallico expanded the story into a novella.


2:30 PM -- The Belle of New York (1952)
1h 22m | Musical | TV-G
A turn-of-the-century playboy courts a Salvation Army girl.
Director: Charles Walters
Cast: Fred Astaire, Vera-ellen, Marjorie Main

There are two versions of Fred Astaire's "I Wanna be a Dancin Man" number. The first was shot in front of a red curtain with Astaire in casual attire. MGM wasn't pleased with the costume, so they re shot the number in front of a different backdrop, with Astaire in a far more debonair suit. When they made That's Entertainment! III (1994) they did a split screen comparison of the two numbers. The side-by-side comparison demonstrated the technical precision of Astaire's dancing.


4:00 PM -- High Society (1956)
1h 47m | Musical | TV-PG
In this musical version of The Philadelphia Story, tabloid reporters invade a society wedding.
Director: Charles Walters
Cast: Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly, Frank Sinatra

Nominee for Oscars for Best Music, Original Song -- Cole Porter for the song "True Love", and Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- Johnny Green and Saul Chaplin

Cole Porter's, "Well, Did You Evah", sung here by Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby, was originally performed by (film's director) Charles Walters and Betty Grable in the 1939 Broadway musical "DuBarry Was A Lady".


6:00 PM -- Don't Go Near the Water (1957)
1h 42m | Comedy | TV-G
Navy office workers scheme to build a recreation hall on a remote Pacific island.
Director: Charles Walters
Cast: Glenn Ford, Gia ala, Earl Holliman

This film was preceded one year earlier by "The Teahouse of the August Moon", also by MGM, and starring Glenn Ford. Both films look, sound, and have similar enough premises that they are often confused with each other.



WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: PRIMETIME THEME -- PLAY BALL -- NIGHT TWO



8:00 PM -- The Jackie Robinson Story (1950)
1h 16m | Drama | TV-PG
Jackie Robinson plays himself in this true story of the man who broke Major League Baseball's color barrier.
Director: Alfred E. Green
Cast: Jackie Robinson, Ruby Dee, Minor Watson

When Jackie Robinson gets a draft notice in the mail, he doesn't explicitly say what it is. He only says it begins with the word "Greetings." In 1950 audiences would have remembered that World War II draft notices began that way. It was a popular source of dark humor at the time.


9:30 PM -- The Natural (1984)
2h 17m | Drama | TV-14
An overaged baseball player comes out of nowhere to save his team.
Director: Barry Levinson
Cast: Robert Redford, Glenn Close, Kim Basinger

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Glenn Close, Best Cinematography -- Caleb Deschanel, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration -- Mel Bourne, Angelo P. Graham and Bruce Weintraub, and Best Music, Original Score -- Randy Newman

While the movie owes a lot to Malamud's book, the film takes many liberties with it. Characters are changed, combined, and created. Most of the best lines in the movie come from the book, but are often spoken by different characters. Roy is a very different character in the novel; less virtuous, more ambiguous, and the novel is much darker and more cynical about its subject matter than the film. Although many fans prefer the film version over the novel, and consider it the rare film that improves upon its source material, others consider the movie's formulaic "Hollywood" treatment to be a betrayal of Malamud's literary intentions.


12:00 AM -- The Pride of the Yankees (1943)
2h 8m | Drama | TV-PG
Baseball legend Lou Gehrig faces a crippling disease at the height of his success.
Director: Sam Wood
Cast: Gary Cooper, Teresa Wright, Babe Ruth

Winner of an Oscar for Best Film Editing -- Daniel Mandell

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Gary Cooper, Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Teresa Wright, Best Writing, Original Story -- Paul Gallico, Best Writing, Screenplay -- Herman J. Mankiewicz and Jo Swerling, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Rudolph Maté, Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Black-and-White -- Perry Ferguson and Howard Bristol, Best Sound, Recording -- Thomas T. Moulton (Samuel Goldwyn SSD), Best Effects, Special Effects -- Jack Cosgrove (photographic), Ray Binger (photographic) and Thomas T. Moulton (sound), Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Leigh Harline, and Best Picture

In reality, Gary Cooper was decidedly not a fan of baseball and required extensive coaching in order to look even passable on a baseball diamond. In fact, he had never played the game before, even as a youth, and had never even seen a baseball game in person until he was hired for this film.


2:15 AM -- Lust In The Dust (1984)
1h 27m | Comedy | TV-MA
A group of unscrupulous characters seek buried treasure in the old west.
Director: Paul Bartel
Cast: Tab Hunter, Divine, Lainie Kazan

The title comes from the famous production nickname of Duel in the Sun (1946).


3:45 AM -- Female Trouble (1975)
1h 32m | Comedy | TV-MA
A fictitious biography of Dawn Davenport, a headline-seeking criminal.
Director: John Waters
Cast: Divine, David Lochary, Mary Vivian Pearce

Years after making the film, John Waters was contacted by divorce lawyers on behalf of a woman who claimed that her ex-husband (who had been a church official) had received a substantial sum of money for allowing a 'pornographic movie' to be filmed in his church. Waters informed them that Female Trouble was most definitely not a porno and that he hadn't paid the man a nickel for using the church to film its wedding scene.


5:30 AM -- Time Out for Trouble (1961)
19m | Short | TV-PG
The spirit of an evil mantle clock examines various household accidents in this short film.
Director: David S. Glidden
Cast: Bonnie Hammett, John Nesom, Alice Spann

Depicts husband and wife in same bed, uncommon for the time.


5:45 AM -- The Corvair In Action! (1960)
6m | Short | TV-G
Technicians herald the arrival of a new car that delivers the goods as no other compact car can.

The Chevrolet Corvair was produced by General Motors from 1960-69. It was the only mass-produced, air-cooled, rear-engined car ever made in the US.