Welcome to 2021 TCM fans!! It’s a new year and everything will be great…oh, wait.
STAR OF THE MONTH: MIRIAM HOPKINS (THURSDAYS IN JANUARY)
The first Star of the Month for 2021 was an actress who was known more for her rebelliousness and diva temperament. She was the other lady Bette Davis hated-she was number two behind Joan Crawford. I’ve just read her biography and it’s really good.
Ellen Miriam Hopkins was born on in Savannah, Georgia on October 18, 1902. When Miriam was a teenager, her parents split up and Miriam’s mother took Miriam and her older sister Ruby to Syracuse, New York where Hopkins later attended Syracuse University. Hopkins studied dance in New York City and was making a name for herself as a chorus girl when she had the unfortunate luck to break her ankle twice in the same place. Miriam pivoted to acting making her Broadway debut in 1921. By 1930, Miriam signed with Paramount Pictures and after a couple of pictures, she broke through as Princess Anna in The Smiling Lieutenant (January 7 @ 8PM/7PM). It was the first of three films Miriam made with director Ernst Lubitsch: the other two were 1932’s Trouble in Paradise (January 7 @ 10PM/9PM) and the pro-throuple Design for Living (January 7 @ 11:30PM/10:30PM). Hopkins also made a splash playing the doomed prostitute Champagne Ivy in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (January 8 @ 1:15AM/12:15AM). Miriam made two films with rival Bette Davis: 1939’s The Old Maid (January 14 @ 8PM/7PM) and 1943’s Old Acquaintance (January 14 @ 9:45PM/8:45PM). Miriam left Hollywood for the stage in the early 1940s but returned in 1949 for a pivotal supporting role in William Wyler’s The Heiress (January 28 @ 8PM/7PM). She also appeared in Wyler’s These Three (January 21 @ 11PM/10PM) and its remake The Children’s Hour (January 28 @ 10:15PM/9:15PM). One of her final film roles was in the all-star movie The Chase (January 28 @ 12:15AM/11:15PM). Miriam Hopkins died nine days before her 70th birthday on October 9, 1972.
TCM SPOTLIGHT: WHODUNIT WEDNESDAYS
Put on your thinking caps, round up the usual suspects and solve the clues as TCM highlights some of the best whodunits every Wednesday night in January. The fun starts on January 6 with Whodunit Revivals starting with a double dose of Agatha Christie’s famous detective Hercule Poirot as played by Peter Ustinov. First is Death on the Nile (8PM/7PM) followed by Evil Under the Sun (10:30PM/9:30PM).
January 13 starts with two whodunit spoofs-Murder By Death (8PM/7PM) and the TCM premiere of Clue (9:45PM/8:45PM).
On January 20 and 27, TCM takes a look at some of fictional super sleuths beginning with Margaret Rutherford four films as Agatha Christie’s Miss Jane Marple in Murder She Said (January 20 @ 8PM/7PM), Murder at the Gallop (January 20 @ 9:45PM/8:45PM), Murder Most Foul (January 20 @ 11:15PM/10:15PM) and Murder Ahoy (January 21 @ 1AM/midnight). Other detectives include Perry Mason in The Case of Lucky Legs (January 28 @ 2:30AM/1:30AM), Nick and Nora Charles in After the Thin Man (January 27 @ 8PM/7PM) and Sherlock Holmes in The Woman in Green (January 28 @ 1:15AM/12:15AM).
SPECIAL THEME: THE STUDIO SYSTEM (TUESDAYS IN JANUARY)
The studio system, where actors, writers, directors, etc. were under contract to one studio who ruled over them with an iron fist. The studio controlled every aspect of filmmaking including owning their own theaters until 1948 when the government forced the studios to sell their theater chains.
TCM looks back at the era every Tuesday in January with co-hosts Mark Harris and Kim Masters focusing on the “Big Five” (MGM, Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox, Paramount, and RKO) and the “Little Three”(Columbia, Universal, United Artists-whose films will not be shown due to being and independent studio).
First up is Columbia during the day on January 5. Columbia started in 1924 by brothers Harry and Jack Cohn. Everyone knows their logo, the lady with the torch. Some of their top stars included Rita Hayworth (represented by Gilda (10:45AM/9:45AM), also starring fellow contract player Glenn Ford), Jean Arthur (who allegedly ran out screaming “I’m Free! I’m Free!” after completing her contract-her film is Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (12:45PM/11:45AM) which was directed by Frank Capra who brought the studio to prominence, Judy Holliday (It Should Happen to You (3PM/2PM)-also featuring Jack Lemmon in his film debut) and William Holden who also had a contract with Paramount; Holden would alternate between studios. The movie represented is The Bridge on the River Kwai (4:45PM/3:45PM).
The night of January 5 focuses on Warner Bros. which leaned toward grit and realism. They were known for their gangster pictures. The studio was started by brothers Harry, Abe, Sam and Jack Warner in 1924. Their biggest stars included Bette Davis (Dark Victory @ 8PM/7PM), Humphrey Bogart (The Maltese Falcon @ 10PM/9PM), Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland (The Adventures of Robin Hood @ midnight/11PM), James Cagney (White Heat @ 2AM/1AM), and the trio of Edward G. Robinson, Ida Lupino, and February’s Star of the Month John Garfield (The Sea Wolf @ 4:15AM/3:15AM).
January 12 features the now defunct studio RKO during the daytime. The studio launched with the help of JFK’s dad Joe Kennedy in 1928. RKO was known for the Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers musicals (Swing Time @ 10AM/9AM), film noirs starring Robert Mitchum co-starring with Jane Russell (His Kind of Woman @ noon/11AM). RKO also made one of the greatest pictures of all time, Citizen Kane (2:15PM/1:15PM).
During the evening of January 12 TCM airs some of the best films from 20th Century Fox, now called 20th Century Studios. The company was formed in 1935 merging the Fox Company with Twentieth Pictures, a production company started by Joseph Schenck and Darryl F. Zanuck who became Vice President in Charge of Production for the new company. They had such stars as Marilyn Monroe (Gentlemen Prefer Blondes @ 8PM/7PM), Tyrone Power (The Mark of Zorro @ 9:45PM/8:45PM), Betty Grable (who was a top-ten box office star for ten years straight) and Don Ameche (Down Argentine Way @ 11:30PM/10:30PM), Gene Tierney and Rex Harrison (The Ghost and Mrs. Muir @ 1:15AM/122:15AM), Will Rogers (A Connecticut Yankee @ 3:15AM/2:15AM), and the little girl who got America through the Great Depression, Shirley Temple (A Little Princess @ 5AM/4AM).
On January 19 its a 24-hour block of films made by MGM. It had to be 24 hours because MGM featured “more stars than there are in the heavens.” The company was formed in 1924 with a merger of Louis B. Mayer’s production studio, the Goldwyn company, and Metro Pictures. Now on to the lengthy list:
- Elizabeth Taylor and Mickey Rooney in National Velvet (11:15AM/10:15AM)
- Clark Gable and Jean Harlow in Red Dust (1:30PM/12:30PM)
- Norma Shearer and Joan Crawford in The Women (3PM/2PM)
- Greta Garbo, Robert Taylor, and Lionel Barrymore in Camille (6PM/5PM)
- Shearer again-in a dual role!-in Smiling Through (8PM/7PM)
- Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn (who started at RKO in the 1930s) in Adam’s Rib (10PM/9PM)
- Judy Garland and Gene Kelly in Summer Stock (midnight/11PM)
- Lana Turner in The Postman Always Rings Twice (2AM/1AM)
- William Powell and Myrna Loy in Love Crazy (4AM/3AM)
Finally on January 26, we end Universal during the daytime. Universal is the oldest operating movie studio beginning in 1912 by Carl Laemmle. They became known for the horror films (Dracula @ 11:30AM/10:30AM), the comedy duo Bud Abbott & Lou Costello (Buck Privates @ 1PM/noon) and the singing sensation Deanna Durbin who walked away from her career before she was 30 (It Started with Eve @ 2:30PM/1:30PM).
TCM ends the tribute on the night of January 26 with Paramount Pictures who also made their debut in 1912. The studio was known for its glamour and sophistication. Paramount had such stars as Mae West and Cary Grant (I’m No Angel @ 8PM/7PM), the trio of Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour (Road to Utopia @ 9:45PM/8:45PM) who made seven pictures together, Jerry Lewis (The Nutty Professor @ 11:30PM/10:30PM) who made film with and without screen partner Dean Martin, the noir team of Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake (The Blue Dahlia @ 1:30AM/12:30AM), and Marlene Dietrich and Gary Cooper (Morocco @ 3:30AM/2:30AM).
NOIR ALLEY
It’s a new year noiristas. Here’s January’s line-up
- The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry (January 2 & 3) TCM premiere with special guest Christina Lane
- The Glass Key (January 9 & 10)
- Witness to Murder (January 16 & 17)
- Born to Kill (January 23 & 24)
- The Killers (January 30 & 31) 1964 version
PRODUCED BY ALEXANDER KORDA (JANUARY 4 & 11)
TCM celebrates the international producer with two nights of his most famous productions and the premiere of the 2019 documentary Churchill and the Movie Mogul (January 4 @ 8PM/7PM & an encore at 12:15AM/11:15PM) which depicts the collaboration with Korda and future Prime Minister Winston Churchill. The festival of films starts with Charles Laughton’s Oscar-winning performance in The Private Life of Henry VII (January 4 @ 9:15PM/8:15PM) also starring previous SOTM Merle Oberon as Anne Boleyn. Oberon became a significant part of Korda’s life ultimately becoming his second wife. Some of the most prominent Alexander Korda discoveries include Laurence Olivier (Conquest of the Air-January 4 @ 11PM/10PM) (That Hamilton Woman-January 5 @ 1:30AM/12:30AM) (The Divorce of Lady X-January 12 @ 6AM/5AM); the aformentioned Oberon (also starring in The Lion Has Wings-January 5 @3:45AM/2:45AM) (The Scarlet Pimpernel-January 5 @ 5:15AM/4:15AM) (Wedding Rehearsal-January 5 @ 7AM/6AM); Deborah Kerr (Vacation From Marriage-January 12 @ 4AM/3AM); and Robert Donat (Marriage and Knight Without Armor (January 12 @ 8AM/7AM) . Other films included are the first live-action adaptation of Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book (January 11 @ 10:15PM/9:15PM), The Four Feathers (January 11 @ 8PM/7PM), and The Thief of Bagdad (January 11@ 12:15AM/11:15PM)
DOCUMENTING THE BLACK EXPERIENCE (JANUARY 18)
On the evening of Martin Luther King Day TCM presents a septet of documentaries which celebrate the black experience. It starts with You Got to Move (8PM/7PM) about people inspired by The Highlander Folk School to fight prejudice. Next is the 1994 Oscar-nominated Freedom on My Mind (9:45PM/8:45PM) about the struggle to register black voters in early 1960s Mississippi, the history of gospel music doc Say Amen Somebody-The Good News Musical (January 18 @ midnight/11PM) plus the concert film Jazz on a Summer’s Day (January 19 @ 2AM/1AM), the jazz dancing No Maps on My Taps (January 19 @ 3:30AM/2:30AM), The Blues According to Lightnin’ Hopkins (January 19 @ 4:45AM/3:45AM), and the JFK doc Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment (January 19 @ 5:30AM/4:30AM).
DONNA REED CENTENNIAL (JANUARY 27)
TCM celebrates the 100th anniversary of the birth of Donna Reed with a day of her films.
Donna Belle Mullenger was born on January 27, 1921 in Denison, Iowa. After graduating high school, Donna wanted to become a teacher but was unable to pay for college. On the advice of her aunt, Donna moved to California to attend Los Angeles City College. Donna was noticed by several talent scouts while performing in a few stage productions and offered to do a screen test from several studios. She eventually signed with MGM after completing her associates degree. Donna Reed made her film debut in the 1941 movie The Get-Away where she was billed as Donna Adams. She had a supporting role in Shadow of the Thin Man (6AM/5AM the fourth film in The Thin Man series. Donna also played one of Andy Hardy’s love interests in The Courtship of Andy Hardy and was in the first Dr. Kildare-less installment Calling Dr. Gillespie. Her first leading lady role was in a little film called It’s a Wonderful Life. She played supporting roles or secondary leading lady roles in The Picture of Dorian Gray (7:45AM/6:45AM) with George Sanders and Green Dolphin Street (11:15AM/10:15AM) with Lana Turner. In search of better roles, Donna signed with Columbia in 1950. She did win the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her atypical role as a hostess/prostitute in From Here to Eternity. Reed wound up coming back to MGM for roles in The Last Time I Saw Paris (3:45PM/2:45PM) and Ransom! (6PM/5PM).
Donna Reed finally hit it big with her television series The Donna Reed Show which ran for eight seasons starting in 1958. One of her final roles before her death in 1986 was playing Miss Ellie Ewing during the 1984-85 season of Dallas.
Mariah's Musings 