TCM Schedule for Thursday, November 18, 2021 -- What's On Tonight: Mel Brooks Triple Feature

In the daylight hours, TCM is in search of warmer weather. By this weekend, it will be in the 40s, with lows below freezing. I'm in search of some warmer weather myself!

Then in prime time, TCM has a salute to Mel Brooks, with three of his best, Young Frankenstein (1974), High Anxiety (1977), and Blazing Saddles (1974). Enjoy!


6:45 AM -- MGM Parade Show #21 (1955)
25m | Documentary | TV-G
Wallace Beery and Jackie Cooper perform in a clip from "The Champ."


7:15 AM -- You're Only Young Once (1938)
1h 18m | Comedy | TV-G
Andy Hardy and his sister find romance during a family vacation in Catalina.
Director: George B. Seitz
Cast: Lewis Stone, Cecilia Parker, Mickey Rooney

The second of sixteen Andy Hardy films starring Mickey Rooney. The first film that Lewis Stone played Judge Hardy.


8:45 AM -- Green Mansions (1959)
1h 44m | Romance | TV-PG
A young adventurer falls in love with a mystical woman in the South American jungle.
Director: Mel Ferrer
Cast: Audrey Hepburn, Anthony Perkins, Lee J. Cobb

During the film, Rima is shown accompanied by a fawn. In order for the animal to properly bond with the actress, Audrey Hepburn effectively adopted the baby deer in the weeks preceding production.


10:45 AM -- Girl Crazy (1943)
1h 39m | Musical | TV-G
A womanizing playboy finds true love when he's sent to a desert college.
Director: Norman Taurog
Cast: Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland, Gil Stratton

Judy Garland's character's name, Ginger Gray, is a tribute to Ginger Rogers, who played the part on Broadway when the character was named Molly Gray. Rogers wrote that one night onstage in the play, her costar Allen Kearns accidentally said, "Ginger, I love you" instead of "Molly". The mistake got such a huge laugh from the audience that they decided to continue to do that in subsequent performances, pretending it was a mistake.


12:30 PM -- Where the Boys Are (1960)
1h 39m | Comedy | TV-PG
Four college coeds go looking for love during spring break in Fort Lauderdale.
Director: Henry Levin
Cast: Dolores Hart, Yvette Mimieux, Barbara Nichols

Dolores Hart left Hollywood a few years after this movie was released and became a Benedictine nun, and has been a Mother Superior for many years.


2:15 PM -- Millionaire Playboy (1940)
1h 4m | Comedy | TV-G
A young millionaire gets hiccups whenever he kisses a pretty woman.
Director: Leslie Goodwins
Cast: Joe Penner, Linda Hayes, Russ Brown

Mr. Zany's offer of $5,000 to cure Joe would equate to over $90,000 in 2018.


3:30 PM -- A Summer Place (1959)
2h 10m | Drama | TV-PG
An adulterous couple discovers that their children are sexually involved.
Director: Delmer Daves
Cast: Richard Egan, Dorothy Mcguire, Sandra Dee

The house where Ken (Richard Egan) and Sylvia (Dorothy McGuire) live toward the end of the film is an actual private residence that was built by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1948. It is called the Clinton-Walker House, still stands today on Scenic Road in Carmel-by-the-Sea, and is a prime feature in local tours.


6:00 PM -- Palm Springs Weekend (1963)
1h 40m | Comedy | TV-PG
College students on spring break turn Palm Springs into a disaster area.
Director: Norman Taurog
Cast: Troy Donahue, Connie Stevens, Ty Hardin

When Robert Conrad drops Connie Stevens off at her hotel he says "Aloha" to her before she goes inside. She turns around and gives him a funny look. At the time they were both starring on Hawaiian Eye (1959) together. Troy Donahue was also on the show.



WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: PRIMETIME THEME -- MEL BROOKS TRIPLE FEATURE



8:00 PM -- Young Frankenstein (1974)
1h 48m | Comedy | TV-14
A descendant of Dr. Frankenstein sets out to make a man.
Director: Mel Brooks
Cast: Terry Garr, Cloris Leachman, Gene Wilder

Nominee for Oscars for Best Writing, Screenplay Adapted From Other Material -- Gene Wilder and Mel Brooks, and Best Sound -- Richard Portman and Gene S. Cantamessa

When Mel Brooks was preparing for this film, he discovered that Ken Strickfaden, who'd made the elaborate electrical machinery for the lab sequences in the Universal Frankenstein films, was still alive and living in the Los Angeles area. Brooks visited Strickfaden, and found that he had stored all the equipment in his garage. Brooks made a deal to rent the equipment, and gave Strickfaden the screen credit he didn't receive for the original films.


10:00 PM -- High Anxiety (1977)
1h 34m | Comedy | TV-14
A man must come to terms with his own "high anxiety" in this loving parody of the films of Alfred Hitchcock.
Director: Mel Brooks
Cast: Mel Brooks, Madeline Kahn, Cloris Leachman

Alfred Hitchcock films that are homaged in this movie include: Dial M for Murder (1954), Family Plot (1976), Frenzy (1972), North by Northwest (1959), Notorious (1946), Psycho (1960), Rebecca (1940), Shadow of a Doubt (1943), Spellbound (1945), Suspicion (1941), The Birds (1963), The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1927), The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934), The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), The Ring (1927), The 39 Steps (1935), Torn Curtain (1966), Under Capricorn (1949), Vertigo (1958), and The Wrong Man (1956).


12:00 AM -- Blazing Saddles (1974)
1h 33m | Western | TV-MA
A black sheriff takes on a corrupt town boss and a sultry saloon singer.
Director: Mel Brooks
Cast: Cleavon Little, Gene Wilder, Slim Pickens

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Madeline Kahn, Best Film Editing -- John C. Howard and Danford B. Greene, and Best Music, Original Song -- John Morris (music) and Mel Brooks (lyrics) for the song "Blazing Saddles"

Mel Brooks never told Frankie Laine that the theme song "Blazing Saddles" was for a comedy. Laine thought it was a dramatic western. Brooks was worried that Laine wouldn't sing it with conviction if he knew the truth.


2:00 AM -- Way Out West (1937)
1h 5m | Comedy | TV-G
A pair of tenderfeet try to get the deed to a gold mine to its rightful owner.
Director: James W. Horne
Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Sharon Lynne

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Music, Score -- Marvin Hatley

Composer Marvin Hatley recalled that at a studio preview of the film, producer Hal Roach seemed unusually pleased with the score for the scene in which Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy and their mule cross a creek. "I had some 6/8 music in there, keeping in step with them, and it had a lot of eccentric orchestration in it," Hatley said. "And Mr. Roach turned to me and said, 'Cute Music! Cute Music!'" According to Hatley, those were the only words Roach ever spoke to him during the ten years he worked at that studio. He received the first of his three Oscar nominations for the score of this film.


3:15 AM -- The Great Race (1965)
2h 37m | Comedy | TV-PG
A bumbling villain plots to win an early 20th-century auto race.
Director: Blake Edwards
Cast: Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, Natalie Wood

Winner of an Oscar for Best Effects, Sound Effects -- Treg Brown

Nominee for Oscars for Best Cinematography, Color -- Russell Harlan, Best Sound -- George Groves (Warner Bros. SSD), Best Film Editing -- Ralph E. Winters, and Best Music, Original Song -- Henry Mancini (music) and Johnny Mercer (lyrics) for the song "The Sweetheart Tree"

This film was the inspiration for the Saturday morning cartoon show Wacky Races (1968): Dick Dastardly and his sidekick Muttley were based on Professor Fate and Max, Penelope Pitstop was based on Maggie DuBois and Peter Perfect was based on Leslie.