TCM schedule Saturday 12/30/23 -- Viva Las Vegas, The Birds, Cary Grant, Troy Donahue, John Wayne

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Saturday, December 30, 2023.
The day at a glance
STAR OF THE MONTH: CARY GRANT
- DAD ENERGY
Father Goose (1964)
Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948)
- MORE CARY
Crisis (1950)
Toast of New York, The (1937)
Saturday, December 30
- TCM DAYTIME
WEEKEND FEATURES
Palm Springs Weekend (1963)
MGM Cartoons: The Pups' Christmas (1936)
Surprised Parties (1942) (short)
Switzerland the Beautiful (1934) (short)
Living on Love (1937)
Buck Rogers Ch. 8: Revolt of the Zuggs (1939)
(P) Popeye: Choose Your Weppins (1935)
Private Eyes (1953)
Swingtime in the Movies (1938) (short)
Repeat Performance (1947)
Five Million Years to Earth (1968)
Birds, The (1963)
Viva Las Vegas (1964)
- TCM PRIMETIME
AFI LIFE ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS
(P) AFI Life Achievement: 50th Anniversary (2023)
Searchers, The (1956) (AFI recipient John Ford)
AFI Life Achievement: 50th Anniversary (2023)
- TCM LATE NIGHT: SCREENWRITERS
Player, The (1992)
In a Lonely Place (1950)

10:00 PM Father Goose (1964)

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A WWII drifter finds himself protecting schoolgirls and their beautiful teacher.
Dir: Ralph Nelson Cast: Cary Grant, Leslie Caron, Trevor Howard
Runtime: 118 mins Genre: Adventure Rating: TV-G CC:

Oscar nominations:
FILM EDITING -- Ted J. Kent
SOUND -- Universal City Studio Sound Department, Waldon O. Watson, Sound Director
WRITING (Story and Screenplay--written directly for the screen) -- Story by S. H. Barnett; Screenplay by Peter Stone, Frank Tarloff (WINNER)

Trivia: One of Cary Grant's favorite projects. He always maintained his role in this film was most like his real personality. He claimed he kept in touch with most of the girls as they grew up and had families of their own.


12:15 AM Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948)

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A New York businessman's dream of a country home is shattered when he buys a tumbledown rural shack.
Dir: H. C. Potter Cast: Cary Grant, Myrna Loy, Melvyn Douglas
Runtime: 94 mins Genre: Comedy Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Trivia: The house "Blandings' Way" really exists on Indian Hill Road in New Milford, Connecticut. It's a beautiful huge white art deco/colonial house that has many of the actual rooms discussed in the movie - such as a room to cut flowers. Also less than a mile away on Long Mountain Road is executive producer of the movie and MGM head Dore Schary's old country home. As a promotional stunt, the studio had 73 replicas of the Blandings house built around the country. Many opened for house tours, with the proceeds going to charity, and some were raffled off. The stunt obviously worked, because the film was a box office hit.

2:00 AM Crisis (1950)

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An American doctor gets caught in the middle of a revolution when he's forced to operate on a South American dictator.
Dir: Richard Brooks Cast: Cary Grant, Jose Ferrer, Paula Raymond
Runtime: 95 mins Genre: Drama Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Trivia: The South American dictator, Farrago, and his beautiful wife seem clearly modeled on Argentine dictator Gen. Juan Domingo Perón and his wife Eva Perón--something writer-director Richard Brooks conceded in a 1965 interview.


4:00 AM The Toast of New York (1937)

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A 19th century con artist rises from medicine shows to Wall Street.
Dir: Rowland V. Lee Cast: Cary Grant, Edward Arnold, Frances Farmer
Runtime: 109 mins Genre: Drama Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Trivia: Both Fisk and his partner Ned Stokes (called Nick Boyd in the movie) were married but competed for the affections of showgirl Josie Mansfield. In real life she was a world-wise dark-haired, full-figured woman who bore little resemblance to the innocent, apple-cheeked blonde sincerity of Francis Farmer. Stokes and Mansfield blackmailed Fisk, and Stokes shot Fisk to death in 1872. Although the dying Fisk named Stokes as his murderer, he only served four years of a six year term for manslaughter.


6:00 AM Palm Springs Weekend (1963)

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College students on spring break turn Palm Springs into a disaster area.
Dir: Norman Taurog Cast: Troy Donahue, Connie Stevens, Ty Hardin
Runtime: 100 mins Genre: Comedy Rating: TV-PG CC: Y

Trivia: During the scene where the motel swimming pool fills up with soap bubbles, many of the set crew, actors, and actresses became physically sick from the fumes caused by the bubbles popping, forcing the set to be temporarily closed down.


8:00 AM Cartoon: The Pups' Christmas (1936)
Two pups experience their very first Christmas and are both excited and fascinated.
Dir: Rudolf Ising Cast: Bernice Hansen, Leone Le Doux, Dorothy Lloyd
Runtime: 8 mins Genre: Short Rating: TV-G CC: Y


8:09 AM Short: Surprised Parties (1942)
In this short film, a gang of children attempt to throw a surprise party for their friend.
Dir: Edward L. Cahn Cast: George McFarland, Margaret Bert, Frank Ward
Runtime: 10 mins Genre: Short Rating: TV-G CC: N


8:20 AM Short: Switzerland the Beautiful (1934)
This focuses on the land, people and culture of Switzerland.
Dir: Ruth FitzPatrick Cast: James A. Fitzpatrick, Ray Fernstrom
Runtime: 8 mins Genre: Short Rating: TV-G CC: N


8:29 AM Living on Love (1937)
A man and woman working different shifts share the same apartment without realizing it.
Dir: Lew Landers Cast: James Dunn, Whitney Bourne, Joan Woodbury
Runtime: 60 mins Genre: Comedy Rating: TV-G CC: Y


9:30 AM Serial: Buck Rogers, Chapter 8: Revolt of the Zuggs (1939)
In Chapter Eight of Buck Rogers, the Saturnians join Buck's war against Killer Kane.
Dir: Ford Beebe, Ray Trampe Cast: Buster Crabbe, Constance Moore, Jackie Moran
Runtime: 19 mins Genre: Horror/Science-Fiction Rating: TV-G CC: N


10:00 AM Cartoon: Choose Your Weppins (1935)
Excitement prevails with Popeye and Olive as joint owners of a pawn shop; Wimpy is a policeman; and Bluto is a suave, dignified scoundrel instead of his usual rough unkempt self. Bluto is arrested by Wimpy but escapes and runs into the pawn shop. He challenges Popeye to a duel and the fun begins.
Dir: Dave Fleischer, Dave Tendlar Cast: William Costello, Mae Questel, Gus Wicke
Runtime: 6 mins Genre: Animation Rating: TV-PG CC:


10:08 AM Private Eyes (1953)
The Bowery Boys open a detective agency when one of them develops mind-reading talents.
Dir: Edward Bernds Cast: Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Bernard Gorcey
Runtime: 64 mins Genre: Comedy Rating: TV-PG CC: Y


11:30 AM Short: Swingtime in the Movies (1938)
A director making a western struggles to find a good lead actress.
Dir: Crane Wilbur Cast: Frank Mayo, Katherine Kane, Rosemary Lane
Runtime: 19 mins Genre: Short Rating: TV-G CC: N


12:00 PM Repeat Performance (1947)

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On New Year's Eve 1946, Sheila Page kills her husband Barney. She wishes that she could relive 1946 and avoid the mistakes that she made throughout the year. Her wish comes true but cheating fate proves more difficult than she anticipated.
Dir: Alfred Werker Cast: Louis Hayward, Joan Leslie, Virginia Field
Runtime: 93 mins Genre: Drama Rating: TV-PG CC: Y

Trivia: Preview audience response to Richard Basehart's performance in this was so positive that, despite it being his screen debut, the studio bumped him up to third billing behind Joan Leslie, as though he was an established star.

2:00 PM Five Million Years to Earth (1968)

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Subway excavations unearth a deadly force from beyond space and time.
Dir: Roy Ward Baker Cast: James Donald, Andrew Keir, Barbara Shelley
Runtime: 98 mins Genre: Horror/Science-Fiction Rating: TV-PG CC: Y

Trivia: The film was originally going to be set in Chicago, with the rocket crashing in Lake Michigan. Right before submitting the idea to producer Charles H. Schneer, Ray Harryhausen decided to change the setting to Italy at the last minute, after deciding that he always wanted to go on vacation there.


4:00 PM The Birds (1963)

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An immense flock of birds descends upon a seacoast town, makes it their nesting ground, and begins to attack and kill the townsfolk.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock Cast: Rod Taylor, Tippi Hedren, Jessica Tandy
Runtime: 120 mins Genre: Horror/Science-Fiction Rating: TV-14 CC: Y

Oscar nominations: SPECIAL EFFECTS -- Ub Iwerks

Trivia: Alfred Hitchcock revealed on The Dick Cavett Show (1968) that 3,200 birds were trained for the movie. He said the ravens were the cleverest, and the seagulls were the most vicious.

Trivia: Sir Alfred Hitchcock saw Tippi Hedren in a 1961 commercial aired during the Today (1952) show and put her under contract. In the commercial for a diet drink, she is seen walking down a street and a man whistles at her slim, attractive figure, and she turns her head with an acknowledging smile. In the opening scene of this movie, the same thing happens as she walks toward the bird shop. This was an inside joke by Hitchcock.

Trivia: When audiences left the U.K. premiere at the Odeon, Leicester Square, London, they were greeted by the sound of screeching and flapping birds from loudspeakers hidden in the trees to scare them further.


6:15 PM Viva Las Vegas (1964)

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A race car driver preparing for the Grand Prix whiles his time away in Las Vegas working as a waiter to pay for his new engine. Soon, he strikes up a romance with a beautiful young woman.
Dir: George Sidney Cast: Elvis Presley, Cesare Danova, William Demarest
Runtime: 86 mins Genre: Musical Rating: TV-14 CC: Y

Trivia: Surprisingly, according to Variety, "Viva Las Vegas" earned more in distributors rentals than A Hard Day's Night (1964) despite both films being released in 1964 at the height of Beatlemania. "Viva Las Vegas" grossed $9,442,967 compared to $6,165,000 for The Beatles' debut feature.

Trivia: Some theatres chose to bill Ann-Margret above Elvis Presley due to her popularity at the time.

Trivia: Elvis Presley and Ann-Margret started dating during pre-production and, according to Ann-Margret, dated for one year.


8:00 PM AFI Life Achievement Award: 50th Anniversary Special (2023)
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9:45 PM The Searchers (1956)

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A veteran returning to Texas after the Civil War discovers that Comanche Indians have killed his family and kidnapped his niece, and sets out on a journey to find her.
Dir: John Ford Cast: John Wayne, Jeffrey Hunter, Vera Miles
Runtime: 119 mins Genre: Western Rating: TV-PG CC: Y

Trivia: Beulah Archuletta (Look) was found crying in one of the tipis by John Wayne in between shooting scenes. When Wayne asked her why she was crying, she responded that she was going to miss her son's wedding because she was filming her scenes at the time. Wayne stopped production of the film for a few days and flew her to California so that she could attend the wedding.

Trivia: During filming, a Navajo child became seriously ill with pneumonia and needed urgent medical attention. John Wayne had his own airplane on location and had his pilot take the little girl to a hospital. For his deed, the Navajos named him "The Man With The Big Eagle".


12:00 AM AFI Life Achievement Award: 50th Anniversary Special (2023)
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1:45 AM The Player (1992)

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A frustrated screenwriter menaces a studio executive who eventually kills the writer and gets away with murder.
Dir: Robert Altman Cast: Tim Robbins, Greta Scacchi, Fred Ward
Runtime: 123 mins Genre: Comedy Rating: TV-MA CC: Y

Oscar nominations:
DIRECTING -- Robert Altman
FILM EDITING -- Geraldine Peroni
WRITING (Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published) -- Michael Tolkin

Trivia: The celebrity cameos were not written in the script. Robert Altman added them all in. No scripted dialogue was given to any celebrity with a cameo. According to a contemporary article in the New York Times, director Altman convinced the celebrities who provided cameos for the film to donate their union-scale salary for one day of work to the Motion Picture and Television Country House and Hospital for retired filmmakers. The writer pitching The Graduate: Part II to Griffin Mill is a cameo by Buck Henry (as himself). Buck Henry co-wrote the screenplay for The Graduate (1967).


4:00 AM In a Lonely Place (1950)

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An aspiring actress begins to suspect that her temperamental boyfriend is a murderer.
Dir: Nicholas Ray Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Gloria Grahame, Frank Lovejoy
Runtime: 91 mins Genre: Drama Rating: TV-PG CC: Y

Trivia: Producer Robert Lord was worried about having Nicholas Ray and Gloria Grahame, then husband and wife whose marriage was on the rocks, working together. He made Grahame sign a contract stipulating that "my husband shall be entitled to direct, control, advise, instruct, and even command my actions during the hours from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., every day except Sunday. I acknowledge that in every conceivable situations his will and judgment shall be considered superior to mine, and shall prevail." Grahame was also forbidden to "nag, cajole, tease, or in any other feminine fashion seek to distract or influence him."

Trivia: In her essay "Humphrey and Bogey", Louise Brooks wrote that more than any other role that Humphrey Bogart played, it was the role of Dixon Steele in this movie that came closest to the real Bogart she knew.