Classic Movie Daily Weekend Edition: August 14-16, 2015

Born on August 14: Donald Hall in 1867; Francis Ford in 1881; Anita King in 1884; Robert Woolsey in 1888; J. Walter Ruben in 1899; Ethelind Terry in 1899; Millard Mitchell in 1903; Andrea Leeds in 1914; Cobina Wright in 1921; and David Holt in 1927.

All links lead to each actor’s IMDb page, set to open in a new tab.

In addition to the “birthday” images found at the bottom of this post, Classic Movie Daily subscribers will find larger images of Robert Woolsey, Anita King, and Andrea Leeds inside today’s mailing. Plus some Ethelind Terry clippings and a Woolsey obituary, Also photo posts featuring each of this weekend’s featured TCM stars.

TCM TV Alerts through Monday, August 17 at 7 am:
These titles play on TCM’s US schedule and all quoted times are for my own local Eastern time zone.

—TCM Friday, Groucho Marx Summer Under the Stars (TCM’s page) – The classic Marx Brothers outings are playing between 4:30 pm – 4:00 am in the following order: The Cocoanuts (1929 – 4:30 pm), Animal Crackers (1930 – 6:15 pm), Monkey Business (1931 – 8:00 pm), Horse Feathers (1932 – 9:30 pm), Duck Soup (1933 – 10:45 pm), A Night at the Opera (1935 – 12:00 am), and A Day at the Races (1937 – 2:00 am).

To go way back with the Marx Brothers revisit this collection of clippings I gathered a few years ago for Groucho’s birthday—they date between 1906 and 1913!

—TCM Saturday, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Summer Under the Stars (TCM’s page) – A great schedule for pre-Code fans, both at the beginning and the end of the day when 4-5 early ’30s films are clustered together in each spot. In between the pre-Codes you’ll find classics like The Prisoner of Zenda (1937 – 8:00 pm) and Gunga Din (1939 – 4:00 pm), but it’s those earlier titles that provide the greater adventure for me!

I was going to put together a Fairbanks Jr. lightning review tonight, but to be completely honest, I just tired out before I could get to it. I may still post it on Monday, or I may have moved on to another title by then. We’ll see.

Anyway, my plan was to cover either Parachute Jumper or Success at Any Price, so I pulled out Fairbanks Jr’s first autobiography, Salad Days, to get a look at what he had to say about these two title. He wasn’t very impressed.

But from there, I decided to have a look at what he had to say about each of the nine pre-Codes that TCM plays on Saturday. And then excerpt them here.

All excerpts from Salad Days by Douglas Fairbanks Jr. (New York: Doubleday, 1988). Page numbers cited in parenthesis. Any linked items go to reviews/articles on my site.

Chances (1931 – 6:00 am) – “It was good, but not good enough” (170).

Union Depot (1932 – 7:15 am) – “… a really good one” (172), [though he only includes a tiny paragraph.]

It’s Tough to Be Famous (1932 – 8:30 am) – “… the picture was not good enough. Today it seems slow-moving and the on-again/off-again love story doesn’t make much sense” (172).

The Narrow Corner (1933 – 10:00 am) – “We patched it up as best we could, and were helped by a fine cast” (202).

Captured! (1933 – 11:15 am) – “One compensation for being maneuvered into a so-so story was being costarred with Leslie Howard again” (207)

And playing later Saturday night

Flight Commander (1930 – 12:00 am) – “[aka] The Dawn Patrol became a spectacular, worldwide success … My part was, glory be, acclaimed to the skies. I admit, actor-proof, very sympathetic, and I made the best of it” (158).

Parachute Jumper (1933 – 2:00 am) “Today I have no more idea of the story of Parachute Jumper than what anyone may guess from its title. I didn’t even appreciate my new young leading lady [Bette Davis], fresh from the stage” (192).

Little Caesar (1930 – 3:15 am) – “I enjoyed every minute of the film … no one could have come close to challenging Eddie’s [Edward G. Robinson] classic performance, mine was still enough enough to be my fourth personal hit in the past twelve months” (165).

Success at Any Price (1934 – 4:45 am) – “the film was hardly more than a fancy Hollywood potboiler” (225); “Neither Colleen [Moore] nor I can any longer recall a single thing about the plot …” (226)

As for recommendations, The Dawn Patrol and Little Caesar are the classics of this bunch, but if I were going to force-feed you any of the others, I’d recommend any of the three linked titles. Okay, especially Union Depot.

—TCM Sunday, Patricia Neal Summer Under the Stars (TCM.com link) – Recommended titles include Bright Leaf (1950 – 8:00 am), The Breaking Point (1950 – 12:00 pm), The Fountainhead (1949 – 4:00 pm), The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951 – 8:00 pm), and A Face in the Crowd (1957 – 12:00 am).

—TCM Monday begins with Men of Boys Town (1941) at 6:00 am which begins, believe it or not, Lee J. Cobb day (TCM.com link).

Have a great weekend—
Cliff