TCM Schedule for Saturday, December 4, 2021 -- What's On Tonight: Fireside Favorites with the Hosts

In the daylight hours, TCM has the usual Saturday matinee lineup of films and shorts. Then in prime time, we get a pair of films chosen by our hosts. Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- The Cheyenne Social Club (1970)
1h 42m | Comedy | TV-14
An aging cowboy finds that the successful business he has inherited is actually a house of prostitution.
Director: Gene Kelly
Cast: James Stewart, Henry Fonda, Shirley Jones

The political subtext was a reference to the real-life political differences of James Stewart and Henry Fonda.


8:00 AM -- Dumb-Hounded (1943)
8m | Animation | TV-G
Droopy tracks down a wolf convict who has escaped from prison.
Director: Tex Avery (fred)
Cast: William H. Thompson, Frank Graham

First appearance of "Happy Hound," later (and better) known as Droopy.


8:09 AM -- Personalities (1942)
9m | Short | TV-G
This short film showcases new studio talents for MGM.
Cast: Donna Reed, Carole Gallagher, Esther Williams

Three screen test clips for an Andy Hardy movie are shown, with Mickey Rooney interacting with Esther Williams, Carole Gallagher, and Frances Rafferty.


8:19 AM -- Along the Cactus Trail (1944)
9m | Documentary | TV-G
This takes the viewer from Riverside, California to Phoenix, Arizona.
Director: James A. Fitzpatrick
Cast: James A. Fitzpatrick

One in the "James A. FitzPatrick Travel Talks" series.


8:29 AM -- Come On Danger! (1932)
54m | Western | TV-G
A woman turns outlaw to save her ranch.
Director: Robert Hill
Cast: Tom Keene, Julie Haydon, Rosco Ates

Remake of The Texas Ranger (1931). Remade as The Renegade Ranger (1938), Fugitive Valley (1941), Come on Danger (1942), Oklahoma Raiders (1944), and Alias Billy the Kid (1946).


9:30 AM -- Batman and Robin: Robin Meets the Wizard (1949)
16m | Short | TV-G
A criminal mastermind demands a large ransom to relinquish his control over the nation's railroads.
Director: Spencer Gordon Bennet.
Cast: Robert Lowery, Johnny Duncan, Jane Adams

Robert Lowery (Batman) and George Reeves starred together in Sex Hygiene (1942), put out by the War Department as an educational film for soldiers. Lowery later played a guest role in Adventures of Superman: The Deadly Rock (1956), with Reeves as Superman.


10:00 AM -- Tar with a Star (1949)
6m | Animation | TV-PG
Popeye, his lariat-swinging girl friend, Olive Oyl, and Wild Bill Bluto, a tough cowboy Casanova, tear up plenty of the traditions and landscape of the Old Southwest.
Director: Bill Tytla
Cast: Jack Mercer, Jackson Beck, Mae Questel

Popeye arrives by horseback while sitting in a sailboat. This is a play on the term prairie schooner, which transported thousands across the American continent in wagon trains.


10:08 AM -- Torchy Runs for Mayor (1939)
1h | Comedy | TV-G
After digging up dirt on local politicians, a newswoman decides to run for office.
Director: Ray McCarey
Cast: Glenda Farrell, Barton MacLane, Tom Kennedy

The eighth of nine "Torchy Blane" films from Warner Brothers made from 1937-39.


11:30 AM -- Once Over Lightly (1938)
19m | Short | TV-PG
This short film spoofs college musicals, a genre popular during the 1930s.
Director: Will Jason
Cast: Will Jason, Richard Goldstone, Phillip Terry


12:00 PM -- A Night at the Movies: Merry Christmas! (2011)
58m | Documentary | TV-PG
Star interviews and film clips trace the history of Christmas movies.
Director: Laurent Bouzereau
Cast: Margaret O'Brien, Michael Patrick Hearn, Chevy Chase

Includes: The Right to Be Happy (1916), Little Women (1918), A Christmas Carol (1923) (Short), Little Women (1933), It Happened One Night (1934), Scrooge (1935), Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), A Christmas Carol (1938), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), Remember the Night (1940), The Shop Around the Corner (1940), The Philadelphia Story (1940), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), Christmas in Connecticut (1945), Our Vines Have Tender Grapes (1945), It's a Wonderful Life (1946), Miracle on 34th Street (1947), The Bishop's Wife (1947), Little Women (1949), Holiday Affair (1949), Adam's Rib (1949), A Christmas Carol (1951), White Christmas (1954), Scrooge (1970), Black Christmas (1974), Real People (1979) (TV Series), The Toy (1982), Trading Places (1983), A Christmas Story (1983), Gremlins (1984), Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984), One Magic Christmas (1985), Santa Claus: The Movie (1985), Scrooged (1988), National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989), Home Alone (1990), The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992), The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), The Ref (1994), The Santa Clause (1994), A Flintstones Christmas Carol (1994) (TV Movie), Little Women (1994), How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000), The Family Man (2000), Love Actually (2003), Bad Santa (2003), Elf (2003), The Polar Express (2004), Noel (2004), A Christmas Carol: The Musical (2004) (TV Movie), Fred Claus (2007), and A Christmas Carol (2009)


1:15 PM -- Little Women (1949)
2h 1m | Drama | TV-G
The four daughters of a New England family fight for happiness during and after the Civil War.
Director: Mervyn Leroy
Cast: June Allyson, Peter Lawford, Margaret O'Brien

Winner of an Oscar for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- Cedric Gibbons, Paul Groesse, Edwin B. Willis, and Jack D. Moore

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Cinematography, Color -- Robert H. Planck and Charles Edgar Schoenbaum

In the opening scene where Jo jumps over the fence, the blades of the ice skates that June Allyson had around her neck hit her in the face. It must have really hurt, but she continued the scene without a second thought.


3:30 PM -- Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)
1h 53m | Musical | TV-G
Young love and childish fears highlight a year in the life of a turn-of-the-century family.
Director: Vincente Minnelli
Cast: Judy Garland, Margaret O'Brien, Mary Astor

Winner of a Juvenile Oscar Award for Margaret O'Brien for outstanding child actress of 1944

Nominee for Oscars for Best Writing, Screenplay -- Irving Brecher and Fred F. Finklehoffe, Best Cinematography, Color -- George J. Folsey, Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- George Stoll, and Best Music, Original Song -- Ralph Blane and Hugh Martin for the song "The Trolley Song"

According to Mary Astor, Margaret O'Brien liked to have fun with the prop master. For instance, when shooting a scene at the Smith family dinner table, all of the dishes and utensils had been laid out meticulously. "It was Maggie's favorite form of mischief, when his back was turned," said Astor, "to put things in disorder again, to reverse knives and forks, to put two napkin rings beside a plate. It would drive him nuts. And remember the strong caste system on the sets: she was a star and he was just a lowly property man, so all he could do was to smile and say, 'Please, Maggie dear!' when he'd have liked to have shaken her."


5:45 PM -- It Happened on 5th Avenue (1947)
1h 55m | Comedy | TV-G
Two homeless men move into a mansion while its owners are wintering in the South.
Director: Roy Del Ruth
Cast: Don Defore, Ann Harding, Charles Ruggles

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Story -- Herbert Clyde Lewis and Frederick Stephani

Originally planned to be directed by Frank Capra, he chose to do It's a Wonderful Life (1946) instead.



WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: PRIMETIME THEME -- SPECIAL THEME: FIRESIDE FAVORITES WITH THE HOSTS



8:00 PM -- Leave Her to Heaven (1945)
1h 50m | Drama | TV-PG
A beautiful neurotic will stop at nothing to hold onto her husband's love.
Director: John M. Stahl
Cast: Gene Tierney, Cornel Wilde, Jeanne Crain

Winner of an Oscar for Best Cinematography, Color -- Leon Shamroy

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Gene Tierney, Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Color -- Lyle R. Wheeler, Maurice Ransford and Thomas Little, and Best Sound, Recording -- Thomas T. Moulton (20th Century-Fox SSD)

For the proposal scene, Cornel Wilde had trouble reacting convincingly to Gene Tierney's advances, but each time they did a take the crew was so impressed, they whistled at her. Finally, John M. Stahl said to Wilde, "They all seem to understand how the scene should be played. Why can't you?"


10:00 PM -- Dance, Girl, Dance (1940)
1h 30m | Musical | TV-G
A ballet dancer and a burlesque queen compete for a wealthy suitor.
Director: Dorothy Arzner
Cast: Maureen O'Hara, Louis Hayward, Lucille Ball

Lucille Ball and Maureen O'Hara became inseparable friends while shooting this film, and remained lifelong friends until Ball's death in 1989. O'Hara was having lunch with her when Ball first saw her future husband Desi Arnaz.


12:00 AM -- The Unsuspected (1947)
1h 43m | Suspense/Mystery | TV-PG
The producer of a radio crime series commits the perfect crime, then has to put the case on the air.
Director: Michael Curtiz
Cast: Joan Caulfield, Claude Rains, Audrey Totter

There is an apparent in-joke when Hurd Hatfield compares Joan Caulfield's Mathilda character to her portrait, saying that she hasn't changed, but her portrait has. This is a clear reference to his signature film, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945).


2:00 AM -- A Bridge Too Far (1977)
2h 55m | War | TV-MA
The story of the Allied defeat at Arnhem in 1944.
Director: Richard Attenborough
Cast: Sean Connery, Robert Redford, Laurence Olivier

Sir Dirk Bogarde's portrayal of General Browning was highly controversial, and several friends of the late General suggested that, had Browning still been alive in 1977, he would have sued director Sir Richard Attenborough and screenwriter William Goldman for libel. Bogarde took issue with the portrayal during filming, having known Browning personally, as he was a member of Field Marshal Bernard L. Montgomery's staff during the war. Although Attenborough publicly took responsibility for the controversy, his relationship with Bogarde was never the same again.


5:15 AM -- MGM Parade Show #22 (1955)
25m | Documentary | TV-G
Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald perform in a clip from "Maytime".