Born on this date: W.K.L. Dickson in 1860; Hans Joby in 1884; Dolores Del Rio in 1904; Adrienne Ames in 1907; Louise Platt in 1915; Marilyn Maxwell in 1920; Jean Hagen in 1923; and Gordon Scott in 1926.
All links lead to each actor’s IMDb page, set to open in a new tab.
Classic Movie Daily subscribers will find images of Dolores Del Rio and Marilyn Maxwell inside today’s issue, plus a couple of additional “birthday” images at the bottom of this page.
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.
—TCM Summer Under the Stars, Adolphe Menjou (TCM.com link) – Picking up after those first couple of silent films that play early this morning, here is Monday’s remaining Adolphe Menjou schedule:
- 9:00 am – The Easiest Way (1931) starring Constance Bennett – Subscribers will find a Lightning Review of this title in today’s mailing.
- 10:15 am – Men Call It Love (1931) with Leila Hyams, Norman Foster. Doesn’t sound familiar. I’ll be DVRing just to make sure.
- 11:45 am – The Great Lover (1931) with Irene Dunne. Didn’t do much for me. May try again.
- 1:00 pm – The Milky Way (1936) starring Harold Lloyd. The first of two films that Menjou appeared in with his wife, Verree Teasdale. Some Menjou-Teasdale clippings are included in today’s issue. Helen Mack delightful as always here as Lloyd’s sister.
- 2:45 pm – Turnabout (1940) with Carole Landis and John Hubbard. The second movie with Menjou and Teasdale.
- 4:15 pm – Broadway Gondolier (1935) starring Dick Powell and Joan Blondell, not yet married themselves.
- 6:00 pm – A Star Is Born (1937) starring Janet Gaynor and Fredric March. Quality showcase for Menjou in support as studio head in this classic.
- 8:00 pm – Father Takes a Wife (1941) screwball comedy featuring newlyweds played by Menjou and Gloria Swanson, whose marriage is tested after (young!) Desi Arnaz joins them on their honeymoon and beyond.
- 9:30 pm – Gold Diggers of 1935 (1935) Menjou is the best thing about most of this gold diggers entry. That is, until Wini Shaw begins “Lullaby of Broadway,” which is simply amazing.
- 11:15 pm – Stage Door (1937) starring Katharine Hepburn and Ginger Rogers. One of the two or three best titles playing today.
- 1:00 am – The Hucksters (1947) Clark Gable stars in excellent post-war peek at the advertising game, but it drags to a snail’s pace whenever Deborah Kerr is injected for romance.
- 3:00 am – The Tall Target (1951) starring Dick Powell on board a train watching over President Lincoln. This is the other top entry of the day alongside Stage Door and A Star Is Born.
- 4:30 am – New Moon (1930) starring Lawrence Tibbett and Grace Moore. I haven’t seen this but the synopsis teases me towards it, despite the opera.
For more Adolphe Menjou see my review of his 1948 autobiography It Took Nine Tailors.
Also, my Facebook page is scheduled to post Adolphe Menjou images and links throughout the day. A couple of items from today’s mailing will post to Facebook, as are another seven Menjou images that didn’t fit into the Daily.
6:00 am – Tuesday’s Teresa Wright Summer Under the Stars schedule (TCM.com link) takes over with California Conquest (1952) leading the way. Wright with Cornel Wilde. Terrible IMDb rating, but I’m willing to give anything directed by Lew Landers a shot based on unexpected past rewards.
Cliff’s Notes
—I mentioned this before (without knowing I was jumping the gun in doing so), but I spent the greater part of the weekend working on my article about Red-Headed Woman for the first issue of Danny Reid’s Pre-Code Companion. Read all about that project here, at Pre-Code.com.
—In between multiple Lil Andrews viewings I squeezed in a few Adolphe Menjou movies this weekend. You can probably spot them by the extra detail provided in the schedule above.
—Here are some images, clippings, and quotes from Bruce Cabot and (born on this date) Adrienne Ames from one of the first few issues of Classic Movie Daily.
—Finally picked up a copy of Tallulah Bankhead’s autobiography. Tough to put down. Great voice, much more personable than I had expected. I never realized how much she was into baseball. Love her mention of obscure 1940s and ’50s New York Giants, even if the names were more or less contemporary to the time the book was published.
Back tomorrow,
Cliff
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