Born on this date: Clara Blandick in 1876; Richard Tucker in 1884; Gabriel Pascal in 1894; Russell Hicks in 1895; Lane Chandler in 1899; Richard Whorf in 1906; Rosalind Russell in 1907.
All links lead to each actor’s IMDb page, set to open in a new tab. I’ve included some Rosalind Russell images in today’s photo stream for Classic Movie Daily subscribers and there’s a brief post with a couple of Clara Blandick clippings. I also slipped a Lane Chandler photo in there.
TCM TV Alerts through tomorrow at 7 am:
These titles play on TCM’s US schedule and all quoted times are for my own local Eastern time zone.
—Bulldog Drummond, 8-movie marathon, 8:00 pm – 6:00 am.
Of the eight that TCM is playing, Ray Milland and John Lodge each get a turn at playing the title character in the first two entries, followed by six starring John Howard.
The Scotland Yard Inspector Neilson is played by John Barrymore in three of the entries showing tonight, beginning with Bulldog Drummond Comes Back (1937) at 10:45 pm, before being taken over by H.B. Warner for the final three, beginning with Bulldog Drummond in Africa (1938) at 2:30 am. Sir Guy Standing plays the role in the first film showing, Bulldog Drummond Escapes (1937) at 8 pm.
That title also features Heather Angel as Drummond’s fiance, Phyllis Clavering, and she returns to the role in the final three films playing tonight—those ones with H.B. Warner. In the three with Barrymore, Phyllis is played by Louise Campbell.
Seven of the 8 Bulldog Drummond entries playing on TCM were Hollywood films released out of Paramount, with Bulldog Drummond at Bay (1937) the exception. That British-made feature was released in the U.S. through Republic Pictures.
The only one of these I’ve seen is that odd duck, the second title that TCM plays at 9:15 pm, Bulldog Drummond at Bay (1937). It stars Lodge with Victor Jory featured, but I watched it when I was researching leading lady Dorothy Mackaill. I recall it as fast, fun, and cheap. I’ll put it this way, I watched it online at my desktop and afterwards was upset I couldn’t find it on a Roku channel to stream to my TV; but not upset enough to spend $5 or $6 to pick it up on DVD. Then again, maybe it’s me who’s cheap.
—Friday morning begins by switching gears in a major way: Peter Lorre stars in Fritz Lang’s M (1931) at 6:00 am.
We leave TCM there until tomorrow, but I’ll give some of you (myself not included) a chance to change the channel on Thursday night with my first:
GetTV TV Alert:
Frankly, I resent GetTV because it’s one of the few channels out there that my cable provider (Optimum) does not provide. But the GetTV folks are very active in the social sphere and their publicist reached out to add me to their list of bloggers receiving press releases. So I can’t watch them, but maybe you can!
Direct from GetTV’s release, with relevant Immortal Ephemera links added, here’s how they begin their month-long Rosalind Russell birthday celebration:
The month-long event kicks off June 4—what would have been Russell’s 108th birthday—with the WWII drama THE GUILT OF JANET AMES [at 7:00 pm ET], starring Russell as a grieving war widow who meets one of the men her husband died to save, played by Melvyn Douglas. Next, at 9 p.m. ET, Russell stars as Harriet Craig, a conniving housewife who uses her marriage as a means of attaining money and power in CRAIG’S WIFE, with John Boles and Billie Burke. And at 10:45 p.m. ET, Russell’s icy college dean falls for a charming British professor in A WOMAN OF DISTINCTION, with Ray Milland and Edmund Gwenn.
—A couple of days ago I said there was a 50/50 shot my review of The Wedding Night would be published the next day. Well, I missed on that 50, and I guess I missed on the other 50 too, because it’s not up yet. See, I have a 7:00 am deadline to finish up any posts that I want to mail out to you the next morning. Just the other day I pressed publish on a post around 6:58 am and there it was, top of the newsletter, for everyone two minutes later. I know I don’t have a shot at finishing up The Wedding Night by 7:00 am, so I’m going to hold it back another day.
But that doesn’t mean I can’t spit out another “Lightning Review.” TCM played this one a couple of months ago, though I just recorded it off of my DVR the other day:
Full Confession (1939)
Lightning review later moved to its own page HERE.
Have a great day!
Cliff
Issue count: Since going Daily on April 6, I’ve mailed posts to subscribers 59 out of 60 days.
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