TCM Schedule for Thursday, February 19 -- 31 Days of Oscar -- Speech and Language Development

[Staph]

Today's course work is at TCM University's Department of Education. This morning we begin in Advanced Methods in Secondary Education -- whether in small towns or urban jungles, we'll rock around the clock. This afternoon, we have a serious discussion on Classroom Management, with Miss Bishop, Miss Wright, Miss Moffat, and Mr. Chips. In prime time our subject is Speech and Language Development, including lectures by two different Professors Higgins and two Eliza Doolittles, Don Lockwood and Lina Lamont, and Harry Brock and Billie Dawn. Enjoy!


6:00am -- The Human Comedy (1943)
A small-town telegraph boy deals with the strains of growing up during World War II.
Cast: Mickey Rooney, Frank Morgan, James Craig, Marsha Hunt
Dir: Clarence Brown
BW-117 mins, TV-PG

Won an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Story -- William Saroyan

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Mickey Rooney, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Harry Stradling Sr., Best Director -- Clarence Brown, and Best Picture

Writer William Saroyan wanted desperately to direct the film despite having no experience in directing. Louis B. Mayer told Saroyan that he would consider the request and assigned the writer to direct a one reel short. The short film was a disappointment and studio stalwart Clarence Brown was promptly assigned. Saroyan was so bitter about the experience he wrote a play about Mayer soon after titled "Get Away Old Man".


8:00am -- Blackboard Jungle (1955)
An idealistic teacher confronts the realities of juvenile delinquency.
Cast: Glenn Ford, Anne Francis, Louis Calhern, Margaret Hayes
Dir: Richard Brooks
BW-101 mins, TV-14

Nominated for Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- Cedric Gibbons, Randall Duell, Edwin B. Willis and Henry Grace, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Russell Harlan, Best Film Editing -- Ferris Webster, and Best Writing, Screenplay -- Richard Brooks

The original novel was based on author Evan Hunter's own experiences as a teacher in South Bronx. Hunter, who found fame as crime writer Ed McBain, said "I thought I was going to give these kids who want to be motor mechanics Shakespeare and they were going to appreciate it and they weren't buying it. I went home in tears night after night".

This film launched the Rock and Roll era by using "Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley and the Comets as its theme music. The song was chosen for the theme after it was heard among records owned by Peter Ford, the son of the film's star, 'Glenn Ford'. For years it was thought the producer's daughter had discovered the song, but this has since been proven incorrect. "Rock Around the Clock" went to No. 1 around the world and eventually sold an estimated 25 million copies.


9:51am -- Short Film: One Reel Wonders: Water Trix (1948)
A Pete Smith Specialty short about Charles Trego, a water photographer filming from a helicopter.
Narrator: A Smith named Pete
Dir: Charles T. Trego
BW-9 mins

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Short Subject, One-reel -- Pete Smith

Featured water skier Preston Petersen was also a champion surfer in California in the 1930s and 1940s.


10:00am -- The Bachelor And The Bobby-Soxer (1947)
A teenage girl's crush on a playboy spells trouble, particularly when he falls for her older sister.
Cast: Cary Grant, Myrna Loy, Shirley Temple, Rudy Vallee
Dir: Irving Reis
BW-95 mins, TV-G

Won an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Screenplay -- Sidney Sheldon

Myrna Loy was twenty-three years older than her on-screen sister Shirley Temple.


11:36am -- Short Film: One Reel Wonders: Star In The Night (1945)
A contemporary Christmas story set in the American southwest.
Cast: J. Carroll Naish, Donald Woods, Lynn Bagggett, Anthony Caruso.
Dir: Don Siegel.
BW-22 mins

Won an Oscar for Best Short Subject, Two-reel -- Gordon Hollingshead

This was the directorial debut for Siegel, who went on to direct Clint Eastwood in Two Mules for Sister Sara (1970), Dirty Harry (1971), and Escape from Alcatraz (1979).


12:00pm -- Cheers For Miss Bishop (1941)
On her retirement, students wonder why their favorite teacher never married.
Cast: Martha Scott, William Gargan, Edmund Gwenn, Sterling Holloway
Dir: Tay Garnett
BW-94 mins, TV-PG

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic Picture -- Edward Ward

Film debut of Rosemary DeCamp, who went on to become a television stalwart in The Bob Cummings Show, Petticoat Junction, and That Girl.


1:35pm -- Short Film: One Reel Wonders: Kings Of The Turf (1941)
This entry in "The Sports Parade" series, shows us how Mortimer, a Standardbred horse, is trained for harness racing.
Cast: Knox Manning
Dir: Del Frazier
C-10 mins

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Short Subject, One-reel

Commentator Knox Manning, best known for his work as a narrator, actually has an acting role in our preceding film, Cheers For Miss Bishop (1941).


2:00pm -- The Children's Hour (1961)
A malicious student tries to destroy the teachers at a girls' school.
Cast: Audrey Hepburn, Shirley MacLaine, James Garner, Miriam Hopkins
Dir: William Wyler
BW-108 mins, TV-PG

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Fay Bainter, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- Fernando Carrere and Edward G. Boyle, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Franz Planer, Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- Dorothy Jeakins, and Best Sound -- Gordon Sawyer (Samuel Goldwyn SSD)

Shirley MacLaine, in the documentary The Celluloid Closet (1995), said that nobody on the set of The Children's Hour (1961) discussed the ramifications of the issues regarding homosexuality that are implied, but never spoken about outright, in the film. She said, "none of us were really aware. We might have been forerunners, but we weren't really, because we didn't do the picture right. We were in the mindset of not understanding what we were basically doing. These days, there would be a tremendous outcry, as well there should be. Why would Martha break down and say, 'Oh my god, what's wrong with me, I'm so polluted, I've ruined you.' She would fight! She would fight for her budding preference. And when you look at it, to have Martha play that scene--and no one questioned it--what that meant, or what the alternatives could have been underneath the dialog, it's mind boggling. The profundity of this subject was not in the lexicon of our rehearsal period. Audrey and I never talked about this. Isn't that amazing. Truly amazing."


4:00pm -- The Corn Is Green (1945)
A dedicated teacher sacrifices everything to send a young miner to Oxford.
Cast: Bette Davis, Nigel Bruce, Rhys Williams, Rosalind Ivan
Dir: Irving Rapper
BW-114 mins, TV-G

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- John Dall, and Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Joan Lorring

Richard Waring, who created the role of Morgan on stage in America was signed by Warner Bros. but he was drafted before shooting began and had to be replaced by John Dall. Veteran actor Gareth Hughes was then living in a monastery. An agreement was found with his religious superior so that he could serve as the Welsh dialect coach.


6:00pm -- Goodbye Mr. Chips (1939)
A cold-hearted teacher becomes the school favorite when he's thawed by a beautiful young woman.
Cast: Robert Donat, Greer Garson, Terry Kilburn, John Mills
Dir: Sam Wood
BW-114 mins, TV-PG

Won an Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Robert Donat

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Greer Garson, Best Director -- Sam Wood, Best Film Editing -- Charles Frend, Best Sound, Recording -- A.W. Watkins (Denham SSD), Best Writing, Screenplay -- Eric Maschwitz, R.C. Sherriff and Claudine West, and Best Picture

34-year-old Donat ages 63 years (1870-1933) over the course of the film. He remarked: "As soon as I put the moustache on, I felt the part, even if I did look like a geat airedale come out of a puddle."


What's On Tonight: 31 DAYS OF OSCAR: SPEECH AND LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT


8:00pm -- Pygmalion (1938)
A linguistics professor bets he can turn a flower girl into a lady by teaching her to speak properly.
Cast: Leslie Howard, Wendy Hiller, Wilfrid Lawson, Marie Lohr
Dir: Anthony Asquith and Leslie Howard
BW-96 mins, TV-G

Won an Oscar for Best Writing, Screenplay -- George Bernard Shaw, Ian Dalrymple, Cecil Lewis and W.P. Lipscomb (George Bernard Shaw was not present at the ceremony. When presenter Lloyd C. Douglas announced that Pygmalion has won the Oscar he joked "Mr. Shaw's story now is as original as it was three thousand years ago". Shaw's reaction to the award was not enthusiastic as he is quoted as saying "It's an insult for them to offer me any honour, as if they had never heard of me before - and it's very likely they never have. They might as well send some honour to George for being King of England". Although popular legend says Shaw never received the Oscar, when Mary Pickford visited him she reported that he was on his mantle. When Shaw died in 1950 his home at Ayot St Lawrence became a museum. By this time his Oscar statuette was so tarnished, the curator believed it had no value and used it as a door stop. It has since been repaired and is now on displayed at the museum.)

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Leslie Howard, Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Wendy Hiller, and Best Picture

Wendy Hiller was personally chosen to play the part of Eliza Doolittle by author George Bernard Shaw.


9:40pm -- Short Film: One Reel Wonders: Prophet Without Honor (1939)
The story of Matthew Fontaine Maury (1806-1873), an American Naval officer, who developed the first maps that charted the oceans' winds and currents.
Cast: Carey Wilson, Tom Neal
Dir: Felix E. Feist
BW-11 mins

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Short Subject, One-reel

Maury's work is largely forgotten today, as he chose to support the South in the Civil War and was branded as a traitor.


10:00pm -- My Fair Lady (1964)
A phonetics instructor bets that he can pass a street urchin off as a lady.
Cast: Audrey Hepburn, Rex Harrison, Stanley Holloway, Wilfrid Hyde-White
Dir: George Cukor
C-172 mins, TV-G

Won Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Rex Harrison, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- Gene Allen, Cecil Beaton and George James Hopkins, Best Cinematography, Color -- Harry Stradling Sr., Best Costume Design, Color -- Cecil Beaton, Best Director -- George Cukor, Best Music, Scoring of Music, Adaptation or Treatment -- André Previn, Best Sound -- George Groves (Warner Bros. SSD), and Best Picture

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Stanley Holloway, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Gladys Cooper, Best Film Editing -- William H. Ziegler, and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Alan Jay Lerner

Jack L. Warner originally didn't want Rex Harrison to reprise his stage role as Higgins for the film version, since he had seen Cleopatra (1963) and thought the actor looked too old to be believable as Audrey Hepburn's love interest. Peter O'Toole was considered for the role of Professor Higgins, but his salary demands were too high. Harrison responded in a letter to Warner that he had only looked old as Julius Caesar because he had been playing an epileptic at the end of his life, and after sending some publicity photographs of himself - minus his toupee - he was eventually cast.


1:00am -- Singin' In The Rain (1952)
A silent-screen swashbuckler finds love while trying to adjust to the coming of sound.
Cast: Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds, Jean Hagen
Dir: Stanley Donen
C-103 mins, TV-G

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Jean Hagen, and Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- Lennie Hayton

In the "Would You" number, Kathy Selden (Debbie Reynolds) is dubbing the voice of Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen) because Lina's voice is shrill and screechy. However, it's not Reynolds who is really speaking, it's Jean Hagen herself, who actually had a beautiful deep, rich voice. So you have Jean Hagen dubbing Debbie Reynolds dubbing Jean Hagen. And when Debbie is supposedly dubbing Jean's singing of "Would You", the voice you hear singing actually belongs to Betty Noyes, who had a much richer singing voice than Debbie.


3:00am -- Born Yesterday (1950)
A newspaper reporter takes on the task of educating a crooked businessman's girlfriend.
Cast: Judy Holliday, Broderick Crawford, William Holden, Howard St. John
Dir: George Cukor
BW-102 mins, TV-PG

Won an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Judy Holliday (Judy Holliday was not present at the awards ceremony. Ethel Barrymore accepted on her behalf.)

Nominated for Oscars for Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- Jean Louis, Best Director -- George Cukor, Best Writing, Screenplay -- Albert Mannheimer, and Best Picture

Garson Kanin wrote that Marilyn Monroe made a screen test for this film. Those who saw it thought it was excellent, but Columbia head Harry Cohn did not take the trouble to walk six steps from his desk to his projection room to watch it.



Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939)

MGM invaded England and conquered the hearts of the world when it transferred one of production chief Irving G. Thalberg's last projects to the studio - recently acquired studios in Denham. Although owning a studio in England must have had a special charm for studio head Louis B. Mayer, a renowned Anglophile, the move was purely economic. England operated under a quota system that required a strict balance between British and imported films. By shooting some films in England, MGM could get more of its pictures into the sceptered isle.

Denham had already given MGM two hits in 1938: A Yank at Oxford, starring Robert Taylor as an American student abroad, and The Citadel, with Robert Donat as a young doctor led astray by riches and social prestige. The latter was such a big hit, that Mayer chose Donat over Brian Aherne and Charles Laughton for Goodbye, Mr. Chips. Donat had appeared in American films, but only sporadically, following his international success in Alfred Hitchcock's 1934 The 39 Steps. But ill health had cost him the lead in Captain Blood (1935) while his devotion to the stage led him to refuse other offers. With Goodbye, Mr. Chips, which allowed him to age from 25 to 83, he had the part for which he would always be remembered. It even made him a surprise Oscar® winner in 1939, the year when Gone With the Wind swept the Academy Awards®, and Clark Gable was considered a major contender for Best Actor.

To play Chips' wife, Kathy, MGM needed an actress with just the right combination of gentility and high spirits. Elizabeth Allan, who had played the mother in David Copperfield (1935) was originally considered for the role. Then Rosalind Russell was assigned the female lead in The Citadel, a role first assigned to Allan. The actress sued for breach of contract, effectively ending her Hollywood career.

With no leading lady in mind, director Sam Wood started looking through old screen tests. Then he spotted the test for a beautiful Irish actress Louis B. Mayer had discovered in London. Greer Garson was already on the lot, but had had nothing to do since signing with MGM. She thought she'd soon be headed back to England a total failure, but instead returned as the star of a major motion picture. The film would establish her as MGM's top female star and win her the first of seven Oscar® nominations (she would win in 1942 for another British story, Mrs. Miniver).

Goodbye, Mr. Chips did location shooting at the Repton School, founded in 1557. This was considered such a great honor for the school that students and teachers gave up their summer vacations to appear in crowd scenes and otherwise help out on the production. Their sacrifice was amply rewarded when the film became the biggest hit yet from the Denham studio.

Director: Sam Wood
Producer: Victor Saville
Screenplay: R.C. Sheriff, Claudine West & Eric Maschwitz
Based on the Novel by James Hilton
Cinematography: Freddie A. Young
Art Direction: Alfred Junge
Music: Richard Addinsell
Principle Cast: Robert Donat (Charles Chipping), Greer Garson (Katherine Ellis), Terry Kilburn (John/Peter Colley), John Mills (Peter Colley as a Young Man), Paul Henreid (Max Staefel), Judith Furse (Flora).
BW-115m. Closed captioning. Descriptive video.

by Frank Miller


~for Longhorn~