Born on this date: Prince Sigvard Bernadotte in 1907; Marion Martin in 1908; Jessica Tandy in 1909; Patricia Roc in 1915; and Dean Martin in 1917.
All links lead to each actor’s IMDb page, set to open in a new tab. I was tempted to add Paul Gauguin in 1848, just so I could link to my review of Lust for Life (1956)—and I guess I just did—but I didn’t want to stretch the birthday list beyond Prince Bernadotte, who at least worked at the studios. Classic Movie Daily subscribers will find an image of the Prince and his wife, Erika Patzek, inside today’s issue with brief explanation of just who they are.
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.
I warned you that I was going to mention these first couple again:
—William Powell and Kay Francis star in For the Defense (1930) at 7:15 am. This movie is one of only two that I covered exclusively in my eBook, 11 Pre-Code Hollywood Movie Histories. While that review is unavailable on the site, the film is the earliest of the William J. Fallon based lawyer films and you can read about another, The Mouthpiece (1932), right here without need of an e-reader device.
—Barbara Stanwyck in Frank Capra’s The Bitter Tea of General Yen (1931) at 8:30 am. Highly recommended.
—My Favorite Wife (1940) at 6:15 pm. Hmm, I picked on film noir the other day, let’s pick on screwball comedies today. No, I’ll go in a more positive direction, as I don’t want to get a rep for being too curmudgeonly. I love the two Irene Dunne-Cary Grant screwballs, this one and The Awful Truth (1937). I don’t care for Dunne’s voice when she sings, but I love her in a good melodrama and I don’t find anybody funnier in these types of movies.
—The Thing From Another World (1951) at 10:30 pm. Yes, I’ve dared stray into the 1950s, thank for my father for that. He grew up on ’50s sci-fi, so they’ve been in my life a long time. And hey, I’ve actually reviewed Them! (1954) and even The Mole People (1956) on the site, so to point to one of the highest quality and most entertaining science fiction movies of all time can’t be too surprising!
—Dive Bomber (1941) at 6:00 am, Monday morning. One of Errol Flynn’s for Michael Curtiz, with Fred MacMurray and Ralph Bellamy. First movie of an Alexis Smith birthday marathon that we’ll get to tomorrow.
Cliff’s Notes
Thanks very much to those of you who took the time to email me or contact me through the various social networks in response to yesterday’s question about how you read the Daily. We had a little family get together on Sunday, so I haven’t gotten back to anyone yet, but I will reply to all within the next day or two.
The next review is announced deeper into this issue of the Daily and between putting that together and trying to steal as many hours as possible to continue work on the Helen Twelvetrees book, I am swamped—I want to give advance notice that I’m going to either skip an issue of the Daily this week (most likely Tuesday, as the TV schedule looks weak) or send a very abbreviated issue: I’m talking a list of birthdays and a quick what’s up, so I can get a little caught up.
I also have some pretty neat collectibles that have arrived over the last few weeks and I’ve got to get a few of them listed for sale on eBay and Amazon ASAP. But I’m getting proud of that little issue count I’ve begun listing down below, so I won’t miss too much time or send too many clunkers your way. Feel free to let me know your preference: skip an issue or send a light issue, and I’ll try to abide by majority rule.
Okey doke, that’s all for this morning. Back tomorrow—
Cliff
PS: Just spotted this—TCM’s August Summer Under the Stars schedule (my favorite month) has trickled out. Laura has posted each day’s selection over at Laura’s Miscellaneous Musings HERE. Looks like this year’s “pre-Code day” is Mae Clarke, though there are possibilities with a few others as well (Adolph Menjou, Joan Crawford, Groucho Marx, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Marlene Dietrich, Virginia Bruce, Greta Garbo, and Gary Cooper come to mind!).
Issue count: Since going Daily on April 6, I’ve mailed posts to subscribers 62 out of 63 days.
Leave a Reply