TCM Schedule for Friday, December 23, 2022 -- What's On Tonight: Christmas Marathon

[Staph]

IMore of this week's Christmas Marathon. A couple of my favorites are featured today -- Desk Set (1957) and Bell, Book and Candle (1959). Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- Bundle of Joy (1956)
1h 38m | Musical | TV-PG
A recently fired shop girl is mistaken for a single mother when she finds an abandoned baby.
Director: Norman Taurog
Cast: Eddie Fisher, Debbie Reynolds, Adolphe Menjou

In her autobiography, Carrie Fisher says that her mother, Debbie Reynolds, was pregnant with her whilst making this film. This accounts for several shots where Reynolds is hidden behind a shop display or wearing a cloak-style coat.


8:00 AM -- The Daughter of Rosie O'Grady (1950)
1h 44m | Musical | TV-G
Against her widowed father's wishes, a vaudeville star's daughter takes to the stage.
Director: David Butler
Cast: June Haver, Gordon MacRae, James Barton

Speaking debut of Debbie Reynolds; she had been in June Bride (1948) previously, but without dialogue.


10:00 AM -- On Moonlight Bay (1951)
1h 35m | Musical | TV-G
A small-town tomboy falls for the boy-next-door in the years before World War I.
Director: Roy Del Ruth
Cast: Doris Day, Gordon MacRae, ["smiling"] Jack Smith

The tone and humor of Billy Gray's classroom scenes in this film clearly had an influence on similar sequences in Bob Clark's 1980s holiday classic A Christmas Story.


12:00 PM -- Our Vines Have Tender Grapes (1945)
1h 45m | Drama | TV-PG
A Norwegian farmer tries to raise two children in the Midwest.
Director: Roy Rowland
Cast: Edward G. Robinson, Margaret O'Brien, James Craig

Jerry Maren, a member of the Lollipop Guild from The Wizard of Oz (1939), stood in for Margaret O'Brien in the scene where she is floating down the river in a bathtub.


2:00 PM -- All Mine to Give (1957)
1h 50m | Drama | TV-G
Pioneer children fight to build a new family after their parents die.
Director: Allen Reisner
Cast: Glynis Johns, Cameron Mitchell, Rex Thompson

Based on the true story of author Dale Eunson's father who, as the eldest orphaned son, found homes for his siblings on Christmas.


4:00 PM -- Penny Serenade (1941)
2h 5m | Romance | TV-G
A woman on the verge of divorce recalls her heartbreaking attempts to adopt a child.
Director: George Stevens
Cast: Irene Dunne, Cary Grant, Beulah Bondi

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Cary Grant

In real life, Cary Grant wouldn't become a parent until 1966 when he was 62.


6:15 PM -- Room for One More (1952)
1h 38m | Comedy | TV-G
New Jersey couple Anna and Poppy Rose adopt several kids born into less fortunate circumstances.
Director: Norman Taurog
Cast: Cary Grant, Betsy Drake, Lurene Tuttle

Cary Grant and Betsy Drake were married to each other when they made this film.



WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: DAYTIME & PRIMETIME THEME -- CHRISTMAS MARATHON



8:00 PM -- Remember the Night (1940)
1h 26m | Comedy | TV-G
An assistant D.A. takes a shoplifter home with him for Christmas.
Director: Mitchell Leisen
Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Fred MacMurray, Beulah Bondi

Even though the story takes place in a contemporary Christmas 1939-New Year 1940 setting, the Old Homestead in Indiana seems to be not yet wired for electricity which wasn't unusual for rural areas at the time.


10:00 PM -- Desk Set (1957)
1h 43m | Comedy | TV-G
A computer expert tries to prove his electronic brain can replace a television network's research department.
Director: Walter Lang
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Gig Young

During the Christmas party scene, when Mike enters, he is carrying a giant rabbit for Bunny and Bunny asks, "Aren't you going to introduce me to Harvey?" This is a reference to the 1950 film starring James Stewart titled Harvey (1950) - a film where a man's family tries to commit him into a mental health facility for claiming to be best friends with an invisible 6-foot tall rabbit.


12:00 AM -- Bell, Book and Candle (1959)
1h 46m | Comedy | TV-PG
A beautiful witch puts a love spell on an unknowing publisher.
Director: Richard Quine
Cast: James Stewart, Kim Novak, Jack Lemmon

Nominee for Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White or Color -- Cary Odell and Louis Diage, and Best Costume Design, Black-and-White or Color -- Jean Louis

Virtually all reviews use the original title of the play, "Bell, Book and Candle," instead of the title of the movie, which omits the comma.


2:00 AM -- Susan Slept Here (1954)
1h 38m | Comedy | TV-PG
A Hollywood screenwriter takes in a runaway girl who's more woman than he can handle.
Director: Frank Tashlin
Cast: Dick Powell, Debbie Reynolds, Anne Francis

Nominee for Oscars for Best Sound, Recording -- John Aalberg (RKO Radio), and Best Music, Original Song -- Jack Lawrence and Richard Myers for the song "Hold My Hand"

Mark's unusual-looking car is Dick Powell's very own 1953 Nash-Healey roadster. Only 506 production vehicles were made from 1951 to 1954. MSRP was $6,000 ($55,640 in 2017). This car can also be seen driven by George Reeves in four episodes of Adventures of Superman (1952).


3:45 AM -- The Rocking Horse Winner (1949)
1h 31m | Drama | TV-PG
A young boy's talent for picking winning race horses threatens his life.
Director: Anthony Pelissier
Cast: Valerie Hobson, John Howard Davies, Ronald Squire

Commenting on this movie, John Baxter in his book "Science Fiction in the Cinema" (1970) notes that: "The ability to pick horse-race results is probably British sf's only genuine contribution to the list of sf film elements."


5:30 AM -- Big Business (1929)
18m | Silent | TV-G
A quarrel between two salesmen and a potential customer leads to an orgy of destruction.
Director: Leo McCarey
Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, James Finlayson

The scene at The Homeowner's house was planned to be the second of several stops, but when Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, and James Finlayson began improvising there was no stopping them, and director James W. Horne just let the cameras roll.

[BigmanPigman]

1. Desk Set is a must-watch for me!

[CBHagman]

2. All Mine to Give was inspired by real-life events?!

I'm always hearing what an absolutely heart-wrenching movie All Mine to Give is. I'm going to have to find time to watch it. But it's sort of like The Holly and the Ivy: That one took me a good long while to get to.