Television

Rare Musicals on TCM – July 2015

Oops, this is super late! Luckily TCM overloaded the second half of the month with musicals to help me out though…

Saturday, July 4
1:00am / Rosalie (1937)
Eleanor Powell wows, as always, as a European princess who attracts the attention of a West Point cadet, played by Nelson Eddy.

Monday, July 6
4:15pm / Two Tickets to Broadway (1951)
Janet Leigh looks for love and stardom on her way to Broadway.

Lawrence, De Haven, and Miller in Two Tickets to Broadway
Lawrence, De Haven, and Miller in Two Tickets to Broadway

2:00am / The Poor Little Rich Girl (1936)
Poor little rich girl Shirley Temple runs away from home and takes up with vaudevillians Alice Faye and Jack Haley.

Sunday, July 12
8:00am / She’s Working Her Way Through College (1952)
Virginia Mayo plays Hot Garters Gertie, a former burlesque star, who goes back to school to get an education.

Sunday, July 19
8:15am / Flirtation Walk (1934)
West Point cadet Dick Powell falls for (of course) Ruby Keeler, his commanding officer’s daughter.

Glamour on high in The Opposite Sex
Glamour on high in The Opposite Sex

Wednesday, July 22
3:00am / The Opposite Sex (1956)
Musical remake of The Women, featuring June Allyson, Joan Collins, Dolores Gray, Ann Sheridan, Ann Miller, Agnes Moorehead, Joan Blondell, and, in a shocking departure from the original, even a handful of men.

Thursday, July 23 – Day of George Burns and Gracie Allen
8:00pm / The Big Broadcast of 1936 (1935)
Ensemble of performers, including Burns and Allen, the Nicholas Brothers, and Bing Crosby, join together to draw in audiences—er, to “save the radio station.”

12:00am / A Damsel in Distress (1937)
Fred Astaire travels to England and falls for heiress Joan Fontaine. Burns and Allen provide ample comic and dance relief.

1:45am / Honolulu (1939) [my review] Robert Young, in a dual role, plays a movie star who switches places with a Hawaiian plantation owner. One of them falls in love with dancer Eleanor Powell on a boat.

Eleanor Powell in Honolulu
Eleanor Powell in Honolulu

Sunday, July 26
9:30am / Roberta (1935)
Football player Randolph Scott accidentally inherits a swank Parisian fashion house, and falls for Irene Dunne. Features Astaire and Rogers’ third pairing, plus (of course) a fashion show montage!

Tuesday, July 28
11:45am / Summer Holiday (1948)
Technicolor musical remake of Ah, Wilderness! starring Mickey Rooney as the young man coming of age.

1:30pm / In the Good Old Summertime (1949)
Musical remake of the classic The Shop Around the Corner, Judy Garland and Van Johnson feud as coworkers at a music shop but fall in love as pen pals. Appearances by Buster Keaton and a young Liza Minnelli in the finale.

6:30pm / Give a Girl a Break (1953) [my review] Marge Champion, Debbie Reynolds, and Helen Wood compete for a spot on Broadway. Champion’s again paired with husband Gower, who also dances with Bob Fosse.

Costumes and production design worthy of the man himself in The Great Ziegfeld
Costumes and production design worthy of the man himself in The Great Ziegfeld

Wednesday, July 29
11:30am / The Great Ziegfeld (1936)
Musical biography of Broadway producer Flo Ziegfeld, played by William Powell, also featuring frequent co-star Myrna Loy, Luise Rainier (who won an Oscar for her albeit brief performance), and real-life vaudeville star Fanny Brice.

Thursday, July 30
5:30pm / Small Town Girl (1953)
In a distinctly 1930s premise, crafty small-town girl Janet Gaynor tricks a drunken Robert Taylor into marrying her, then has to convince him to fall in love with her sober.

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