STAR OF THE MONTH: SHELLEY WINTERS (MONDAYS IN NOVEMBER)
Shelley Winters. What can you say about Shelley Winters? Well, she wasn’t dull!
That’s probably why TCM selected her to be November’s Star of the Month. The thirty films selected show Winters range and follow her career from sultry sex symbol to unlucky lady in love to scene stealer to character actress.
Shelley Winters was born Shirley Schrift on August 18, 1920 in St. Louis, Missouri and her family moved to Brooklyn, New York when Shirley was nine years old. Winters studied acting at the New School and also modeled to pay the bills. Shelley started working on Broadway in 1941 and within a couple of years received a long-term contract with Columbia. She had bit parts in several films until finally getting her break as a doomed waitress in Universal’s A Double Life which also won her a long-term contract with the studio. Winters received her first acting nomination as the doomed Alice in George Stevens A Place in the Sun (November 9 @ 11PM/10PM). She won her first of two Best Supporting Actress Oscars for her role as Mrs. Van Daan in The Diary of Anne Frank (November 16 @ 8PM/7PM). Shelley Winters died on January 14, 2006.
The first night features some of Winter’s early work starting with a bit part in The Gangster (November 2 @ 8PM/7PM) followed by a small supporting role in Cry of the City (November 2 @ 10PM/9PM) and leading lady roles in the comedy Behave Yourself! (November 2 @ midnight/11PM) and the noir I Died a Thousand Times (November 2 @ 1:30AM/12:30AM).
Night two features Shelley as the woman unlucky in love although why is A Patch of Blue (November 9 @ 1:30AM/12:30AM) featured in this batch of films? Winters plays the bad guy for cripes sake! The other three films are Lolita (November 9 @ 8PM/7PM), A Place in the Sun (November 9 @ 11PM/10PM) and Harper (November 9 @ 3:30AM/2:30AM).
Night three has Winters stealing scenes from her co-stars starting with her Oscar-winning role in The Diary of Anne Frank (November 16 @ 8PM/7PM). She donated her Oscar to the Anne Frank Museum where it still stands today. Next is a small role in one of the final film noirs, 1959’s Odds Against Tomorrow (November 16 @ 11:15PM/10:15PM) then Shelley is part of an ensemble cast in MGM’s Executive Suite (November 16 @ 1AM/midnight) and Tennessee Champ (November 16 @ 3AM/2AM).
Night four features Shelley in notable Westerns including a bit part in Red River (November 23 @ 8PM/7PM) and the leading lady role in Winchester ’73 (November 23 @ 12:30AM/11:30PM).
On the final night we travel to the 1970s when Winters made a lot of “interesting” movies including playing a drug lord named “Mommy” in Cleopatra Jones (November 30 @ 4AM/3AM), a former champion swimmer who plays a critical role in The Poseidon Adventure (November 30 @ 8PM/7PM) and the real-life criminal Kate “Ma” Barker in Bloody Mama (November 30 @ 2:15AM/1:15AM).
WOMEN MAKE FILM (TUESDAYS IN NOVEMBER)
As stated in the September and October on TCM posts, I will create a separate post for November plus the finale on December 1.
TCM SPOTLIGHT: UNDER THE BIG TOP (FRIDAYS IN NOVEMBER)
Remember the circus? TCM celebrates films focusing on life under the big top every Friday night this November. The fun starts with the Oscar-winning Best Picture The Greatest Show on Earth (November 6 @ 8PM/7PM) followed by Charlie Chaplin’s The Circus (November 6 @ 10:45PM/9:45PM). Other films on the docket include the Marx Brothers At the Circus (November 27 @ 12:15AM/11:15PM), Danny Kaye in Merry Andrew (November 20 @ midnight/11PM) and Doris Day in Billy Rose’s Jumbo (November 27 @ 10PM/9PM).
NOIR ALLEY
November’s lineup of noir starts with the snow-covered noir Nightfall (November 7 & 8), one of the last films Anne Bancroft made before returning to Broadway to star as Annie Sullivan in The Miracle Worker; the low-budget noir Fear (November 14 & 15); the apocalyptic Kiss Me Deadly (November 21 & 22) and the ice skating (?!!) show noir Suspense (November 28 & 29).
ANN RUTHERFORD CENTENNIAL (NOVEMBER 2)
Friend of TCM Ann Rutherford would have been 100 years young on this day. TCM celebrates her with a day of her films (minus her turn in Gone With the Wind).
Therese Ann Rutherford was born on November 2, 1920 in Vancouver, British Columbia to a former actress and a former opera singer. Not long after Ann’s birth, the Rutherford’s moved to San Francisco where the marriage eventually broke up. Ann’s mother took her and her sister to Los Angeles. Ann started acting in radio dramas before making her film debut in 1935. She starred in a number of Westerns until she signed with MGM in 1937 where she would stay until 1943. Her most memorable role at MGM was playing Polly Benedict, Andy Hardy’s on-again, off-again girlfriend. After leaving MGM, Ann freelanced until retiring from film work in 1950. She was asked to play Old Rose in Titanic but turned it down. Ann Rutherford died on June 11, 2012.
The day starts with Dancing Co-Ed (6AM/5AM); Ann is not the co-ed, Lana Turner is. Next Ann is one of the Four Girls in White (7:30AM/6:30AM) then Ann co-stars with the Wizard of Oz Frank Morgan in three films: the dramas Keeping Company (9AM/8AM) and Washington Melodrama (noon/11AM), plus the comedy The Ghost Comes Home (10:30AM/9:30AM) in between. Then it’s the comedic mystery trilogy Rutherford made with Red Skelton: Whistling in the Dark (1:30PM/12:30PM), Whistling in Dixie (3PM/2PM) and Whistling in Brooklyn (4:30PM/3:30PM). The tribute ends with two shorts Carnival in Paris (6PM/5PM) and Rutherford playing the title role in Annie Laurie (7:45PM/6:45PM), also a 1945 noir called Two O’Clock Courage (6:30PM/5:30PM).
THE ESSENTIALS VOL. 2 ( NOVEMBER 5)
Writer Jeremy Arnold co-hosts a night of films featured in his new book The Essentials Vol. 2: 52 More Must-See Movies and Why They Matter. The films selected from the book are the ghostly romance The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (8PM/7PM) followed by the creepy Vertigo (10PM/9PM) the screwball comedy Twentieth Century (12:15AM/11:15PM) and the suspenseful Cat People (2AM/1AM).
VETERANS DAY (NOVEMBER 11)
TCM celebrates those who have fought for our country with seven films starting with I have never even heard of; the 1956 film Screaming Eagles (noon/11AM). Now the rest of the movies on the docket I know very well including The Best Years of Our Lives (5PM/4PM), Sergeant York (8PM/7PM), The Dirty Dozen (2PM/1PM) and From Here to Eternity (1:15AM/12:15AM).
LEONARD MALTIN’S NEGLECTED CLASSICS (NOVEMBER 12)
Film critic and friend of TCM Leonard Maltin returns to take a look at five films which are not on anyone’s top 10 or best of list. First up is The Gilded Lily (8PM/7PM), a 1935 romantic comedy starring Claudette Colbert and in his film debut, Fred MacMurray. Colbert and MacMurray would make an additional six films together. Next is the TCM premiere of Come Next Spring (9:30PM/8:30PM), a drama about a single mother whose estranged husband comes back into her life. Then it’s the mystery-comedy Blind Adventure (11:15PM/10:15PM) followed by the film noir The Mob (12:30AM/11:30PM) and the pre-code movie Penthouse (2:15AM/1:15AM).
MESSAGE PICTURES IN 1949 (NOVEMBER 19)
The year 1949 was a banner year for the “message picture” a subgenre where a film communicates a message about modern society. TCM takes a look at four films released during the pivotal year. Two films tell stories about a nurse (Pinky @ 11:45PM/10:45PM) and an entire family (Lost Boundaries @ 8PM/7PM) who pass for white and what happens when their true identities are revealed. The other two films focus on black men who try to navigate the experiences of being the only black soldier in your unit (Home of the Brave (10PM/9PM) and being accused of murder (Intruder in the Dust (1:45AM/12:45AM).
24 HOURS OF HITCHCOCK (NOVEMBER 26 & 27)
While your eating Thanksgiving leftovers or ordering pizza because you don’t want to eat any more turkey, TCM has your back with a 24-hour festival of Hitchcock starting on Thanksgiving night with Rear Window (8PM/7PM) and ending with Hitch’s personal favorite Shadow of a Doubt (November 27 @ 6PM/5PM).
VIRGINIA MAYO CENTENNIAL (NOVEMBER 30)
The Sultan of Morocco once saw actress Virginia Mayo and stated that seeing her was “tangible proof of the existence of God.” What a compliment.
Virginia Mayo was born Virginia Jones on November 30, 1920 in St. Louis, Missouri. She was the daughter of a newspaper reporter. Virginia’s aunt ran an acting school in the area where Virginia started taking lessons at the age of six. Her aunt also hired instructors to teach Virginia how to dance. After graduating high school, Virginia started landing acting and dancing jobs with the St. Louis Municipal Opera Theatre aka “The Muny.” A local performer named Andy Mayo recruited Virginia to appear in his act Morton and Mayo. She toured the vaudeville circuit and was noticed by independent producer Samuel Goldwyn. The mogul was astounded by her beauty and signed her to a Hollywood contract. She made film with comedian Danny Kaye and received rave reviews for her performance in Goldwyn’s The Best Years of Our Lives. Her film contract was taken over by Warner Bros. She continued working on films and television until the 1990s. Virginia Mayo died in 2005 at the age of 84.
TCM celebrates the 100th anniversary of her birth with seven films airing during the daytime hours. The tribute starts with the 1949 comedy The Girl From Jones Beach (7AM/6AM) co-starring the 40th president, Ronald Reagan. Then its the similar musical comedies She’s Back on Broadway (8:30AM/7:30AM) and She’s Working Her Way Through College (10:15AM/9:15AM); the latter also co-starring Reagan. Mayo worked with James Cagney on two films: the musical The West Point Story (12:15PM/11:15AM) and the vicious film noir White Heat (5:45PM/4:45PM). The other two movies are film noirs: 1949’s Red Light (2:15PM/1:15PM) and 1950’s Backfire (4PM/3PM).
Mariah's Musings 