It’s almost time for TCM’s annual DVR-busting Summer Under the Stars feature. August has always been my favorite month on TCM, a schedule packed each year with several can’t miss 24-hour movie marathons with the occasional day of rest tossed in to recharge us for our next favorite on the schedule.
I find these marathons are better thought out than the shorter collections of movies you find on the channel at other times of the year. Selected titles often offer representative samples from across a movie star’s entire career.
The day is absolute murder on your DVR if one of your favorite stars is featured, but who doesn’t love that challenge!
Sticking with past practice, I’ll post the full lineup of star selections here and then later link back to anybody I cover as the month progresses. A few comments about just who that will be follow the list.
The August 2015 TCM Summer Under the Stars Lineup:
1 – Gene Tierney
2 – Olivia de Havilland
3 – Adolphe Menjou
4 – Teresa Wright
5 – Fred Astaire
6 – Michael Caine
7 – Katharine Hepburn
8 – Raymond Massey
9 – Robert Walker
10 – Joan Crawford
11 – Rex Ingram
12 – Robert Mitchum
13 – Ann-Margret
14 – Groucho Marx
15 – Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
16 – Patricia Neal
17 – Lee J. Cobb
18 – Vivien Leigh
19 – John Wayne
20 – Mae Clarke
21 – Alan Arkin
22 – Marlene Dietrich
23 – Debbie Reynolds
24 – Warren Oates
25 – Virginia Bruce
26 – Greta Garbo
27 – Monty Woolley
28 – Ingrid Bergman
29 – George C. Scott
30 – Gary Cooper
31 – Shelley Winters
You’ll find TCM’s own Summer Under the Stars 2015 microsite here.
This year, in keeping with the current Monday-Friday “Classic Movie Daily” format, my plan it to follow along with TCM’s Summer Under the Stars lineup and provide some sort of coverage for every Golden Age star who is featured during the weekdays.
Here’s who should get coverage, assuming I don’t skip any weekdays along the way (date in parenthesis): Adolphe Menjou (3), Teresa Wright (4), Fred Astaire (5), Katharine Hepburn (7), Joan Crawford (10), Rex Ingram (11), Robert Mitchum (12), Groucho Marx (14), Vivien Leigh (18), John Wayne (19), Mae Clarke (20), Virginia Bruce (25), Greta Garbo (26), Monty Woolley (27), Ingrid Bergman (28), Shelley Winters (31).
When I say coverage it might mean a review of a title that TCM is playing, something biographical, or a clippings post—likely including the return of Picto-Sked.
By the way, my favorite selections for 2015 include Mae Clarke, Adolphe Menjou, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., and Virginia Bruce.
I hope they picked out a few that you’re really looking forward to!
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