TCM Schedule for Thursday, May 12, 2022 -- What's On Tonight: Star of the Month Anna May Wong

[Staph]

In the daylight hours, TCM is celebrating Katharine Hepburn, born May 12, 1907, in Hartford, Connecticut. Hepburn and Spencer Tracy made nine films together; today we get to see three of them. Then in prime time, it's the second week of Star of the Month Anna May Wong. Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- The Little Minister (1934)
1h 50m | Romance | TV-G
A young miss masquerades as a gypsy to win a minister's love.
Director: Richard Wallace
Cast: Katharine Hepburn, John Beal, Alan Hale

Katharine Hepburn reportedly wasn't interested in taking the part of "Babbie" until she heard Margaret Sullavan wanted the part badly.


8:00 AM -- A Woman Rebels (1936)
1h 28m | Drama | TV-G
A Victorian feminist has an illegitimate baby.
Director: Mark Sandrich
Cast: Katharine Hepburn, Herbert Marshall, Elizabeth All...

The film lost $222,000 at the box office and was Katharine Hepburn's 3rd flop in a row, contributing to exhibitors declaring her "box office poison".


9:45 AM -- The Sea of Grass (1947)
2h 11m | Drama | TV-PG
Cattlemen and their farmer enemies feud over New Mexico grasslands.
Director: Elia Kazan
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Robert Walker

This film was very successful at the box office, earning MGM a profit of $742,000 ($8.1M in 2017) according to studio records. This was the most profitable of all the Spencer Tracy-Katharine Hepburn MGM films.


12:00 PM -- Without Love (1945)
1h 51m | Comedy | TV-PG
A World War II housing shortage inspires a widow to propose a marriage of convenience with an inventor.
Director: Harold S. Bucquet
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Lucille Ball

Spencer Tracy hated making this movie, but did it as a favor to Katharine Hepburn, who had starred in the play.


2:00 PM -- Mary of Scotland (1936)
2h 3m | Romance | TV-G
Biography of the flighty Scottish queen who was brought down by love.
Director: John Ford
Cast: Katharine Hepburn, Fredric March, Florence Eldridge

According to A. Scott Berg's memoir "Kate Remembered", Katharine Hepburn was already chosen for Mary, but they had trouble casting Elizabeth. At one point Hepburn, who had by then been nicknamed "Katharine of Arrogance", suggested that she play both roles. Supporting player John Carradine asked, "But if you played both queens, how would you know which one to upstage?" She was not amused at the time, but roared with laughter when retelling the story years later.


4:15 PM -- Holiday (1938)
1h 35m | Comedy | TV-G
An unhappy heiress falls in love with her stodgy sister's freethinking fiance.
Director: George Cukor
Cast: Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, Doris Nolan

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Art Direction -- Stephen Goosson and Lionel Banks

Katharine Hepburn understudied the role of Linda Seton (played by Hope Williams) in the original Broadway play. She also performed a scene from Holiday for her first screen test, which led to her first film role.


6:00 PM -- Desk Set (1957)
1h 43m | Comedy | TV-G
An efficiency expert introduces his amazing new machine that can answer anything to a TV network research department.
Director: Walter Lang
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Gig Young

Improvised Scene: Sumner is leaving Bunny's apartment, shortly after Mike leaves and Peg arrives, when Bunny and Sumner are recapping the afternoon's events for Peg. Tracy puts on the ruined shoes and grimaces as he tries to walk in them, which causes Bunny to laugh. He hobbles off stage and returns with his hat pulled down over his ears, his shirt dangling out of his pants, staggering as though drunk and talking crazy. This moment, including the women's hysterical laughter and Katharine Hepburn's literally falling out of her chair, is spontaneous and not in the script.



WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: STAR OF THE MONTH -- ANNA MAY WONG



8:00 PM -- Piccadilly (1929)
1h 48m | Silent | TV-G
In this silent film, the dancers at a London nightclub get wrapped up in jealousy and murder.
Director: E. A. Dupont
Cast: Gilda Grey, Anna May Wong, Jameson Thomas

Last silent film for Anna May Wong.


10:00 PM -- Shanghai Express (1932)
1h 20m | Romance | TV-14
A beautiful temptress re-kindles an old romance while trying to escape her past during a tension-packed train journey.
Director: Josef Von Sternberg
Cast: Marlene Dietrich, Clive Brook, Anna May Wong

Winner of an Oscar for Best Cinematography -- Lee Garmes

Nominee for Oscars for Best Director -- Josef von Sternberg, and Best Picture

The extras in the film are mostly speaking Cantonese - a Chinese dialect used mainly in southern China. If the film were to be more accurate, the extras would be speaking Mandarin, but most Chinese residents in the Los Angeles area (who worked as film extras) spoke Cantonese, making Josef von Sternberg use Cantonese.


11:45 PM -- Daughter of the Dragon (1931)
1h 10m | Crime | TV-G
A Chinese princess gets caught between the ruthless warlord Fu Manchu and a handsome secret agent.
Director: Lloyd Corrigan
Cast: Anna May Wong, Warner Oland, Sessue Hayakawa

The third and final Fu Manchu film where Warner Oland played the title character. He also played Fu in a skit in "Paramount on Parade". Oland would sign with "Fox Pictures" soon after this film and begin his long association with the famous Earl Derr Bigger's character, the fictional Chinese American detective. Charlie Chan.


1:15 AM -- Nine to Five (1980)
1h 50m | Comedy | TV-PG
Recently divorced Judy Bernly takes an office job and soon becomes pals with fellow secretaries.
Director: Colin Higgins
Cast: Jane Fonda, Dolly Parton, Lily Tomlin

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song -- Dolly Parton for the song "Nine to Five"

Dolly Parton accepted the role with the condition that she would write and sing the theme song, which was nominated for an Academy Award and won two Grammys. Parton made the same deal for almost every other movie, in which she has starred. The exception was Steel Magnolias (1989), which declined to use the Parton-penned song Eagle When She Flies.


3:15 AM -- Executive Suite (1954)
1h 44m | Drama | TV-PG
When a business magnate dies, his board of directors fights over who should run the company.
Director: Robert Wise
Cast: William Holden, June Allyson, Barbara Stanwyck

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Nina Foch, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- George J. Folsey, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- Cedric Gibbons, Edward C. Carfagno, Edwin B. Willis and Emile Kuri, and Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- Helen Rose

Producer John Houseman wanted Henry Fonda for the role of McDonald Walling. Fonda turned him down to star as Doc in Rodgers and Hammerstein's Broadway musical "Pipe Dream." Ironically, though Fonda engaged in singing lessons for months ahead of time, Rodgers and Hammerstein ultimately decided that his voice was not strong enough to grant him the role, which freed Fonda to recreate his iconic stage role in the screen version of Mister Roberts (1955).


5:15 AM -- Memphis Belle (1944)
40m | Documentary | TV-G
Footage of actual bombing missions highlights William Wyler's account of the U.S. Air Force's work during WWII.
Director: Lt. Col. William Wyler
Cast: Eugene Kern, Col. Stanley Wray, Capt. Robert K. Morgan

Pilot Robert Morgan named the aircraft after his girlfriend at the time, Margaret Polk, of Memphis, TN. Morgan chose the nose artwork from a 1941 illustration in "Esquire" magazine by famous pin-up artist George Petty. She is wearing a blue outfit on the port (left) side of the aircraft and a red one on the starboard (right) side.