TCM Schedule for Thursday, September 22, 2022 -- Star of the Month Humphrey Bogart

In the daylight hours, TCM lets us play with the Big Cats. Then in prime time, it's night four of Star of the Month Humphrey Bogart, with the theme of Bogie in Love! Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- African Treasure (1952)
1h 10m | Adventure | TV-G
Bomba the Jungle Boy takes on diamond smugglers.
Director: Ford Beebe
Cast: Johnny Sheffield, Laurette Luez, Martin Garralaga

The exterior set of the lagoon, which serves here as "Sebastian's Landing," would later be seen as the main setting for Gilligan's Island (1964),


7:15 AM -- Bengal Tiger (1936)
1h 3m | Drama | TV-G
After causing his friend's death, an animal trainer marries the man's daughter to atone.
Director: Louis King
Cast: Barton MacLane, June Travis, Warren Hull

Based on a story by Roy Chanslor and Earl Felton.


8:30 AM -- The Lion Hunters (1951)
1h 15m | Adventure | TV-G
Bomba the Jungle Boy defends his animal friends from a team of unscrupulous hunters.
Director: Ford Beebe
Cast: Johnny Sheffield, Morris Ankrum, Ann Todd

The tall Masai warrior standing behind the tribal chief when he and Bomba discuss the wounded lion is played by Woody Strode, who would later become one of Hollywood's first recognizable African American character actors, with prominent roles in such memorable films as Spartacus, the 1956 remake of The Ten Commandments and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.


10:00 AM -- Fearless Fagan (1952)
1h 19m | Comedy | TV-PG
When a circus clown is drafted, he tries to sneak his pet lion into the service.
Director: Stanley Donen
Cast: Janet Leigh, Carleton Carpenter, Keenan Wynn

According to an article in the 8 September 1952 edition of The Hollywood Citizen-News, after filming was completed, Fagan remained at MGM's own animal compound until Private Floyd Humeston's enlistment ended. Humeston (Hilston in this film) was an animal trainer, as was his mother, when he bought six-day-old Fagan at the World Jungle Compound in Thousand Oaks, California. Fagan was trained to be in a lion act with the Kelly and Moore Bros. Circus. After Humeston was drafted, he could not find a suitable home for Fagan and he initially took him to Fort Ord, California. Fagan was eventually placed with the Monterey County Humane Society before being used for this film.


11:30 AM -- Sequoia (1934)
1h 11m | Adventure | TV-G
A wilderness girl raises a deer and a mountain lion to be friends.
Director: Chester M. Franklin
Cast: Jean Parker, Russell Hardie, Samuel S. Hinds

Prologue: "Out of the majestic forests of California, comes a document of the wilderness--vivid proof that mankind has no exclusive claim upon the drama involved in the struggle for existence, whether that drama be comedy or tragedy. Our story begins with the dawn of a new day in the high Sierras, where whispering giants of ten thousand years keep benign vigil over all the creatures of the wild."


12:45 PM -- Zebra in the Kitchen (1965)
1h 32m | Comedy | TV-G
A young boy tries to liberate animals from the city zoo.
Director: Ivan Tors
Cast: Jay North, Martin Milner, Andy Devine

Marshall Thompson makes an uncredited cameo here as a man getting licked by a bear while shaving. That same year he will star as African veterinarian Marsh Tracey in "Clarence, the Cross-Eyed Lion", which will lead to his starring role as the same character in the hit TV series "Daktari".


2:30 PM -- The Reformer and the Redhead (1950)
1h 30m | Comedy | TV-G
A small-town politician falls for an idealistic zookeeper.
Director: Norman Panama
Cast: June Allyson, Dick Powell, David Wayne

One of three films June Allyson and Dick Powell appeared in together. They were married from 1945 until his death in 1963.


4:15 PM -- Lions on the Loose (1941)
8m | Short | TV-G
In this short film, two lion cubs escape from the zoo and go on an adventure.
Director: Marjorie Freeman
Cast: Marjorie Freeman, Pete Smith


4:30 PM -- Clarence, the Cross-Eyed Lion (1965)
1h 38m | Comedy | TV-G
Animal doctors fight to protect the wildlife of Africa.
Director: Andrew Marton
Cast: Marshall Thompson, Betsy Drake, Richard Haydn

Ivan Tors first discovered Clarence at Africa, U.S.A., an affection training compound located in Soledad Canyon near Los Angeles. Born cross-eyed, Clarence's strange physical condition inspired Ivan Tors to create the MGM feature film Clarence the Cross-Eyed Lion and the spin-off series Daktari (1966). When the audience saw what Clarence saw, it was in double vision. Reportedly, Clarence was very good with children. Another not so friendly lion named Leo doubled for Clarence in some scenes. He was used only for the snarling scenes and general scenes which didn't involve close proximity with humans. Leo had come to Africa, U.S.A. from a family in Utah. His ferocity was due in part to the mistreatment he received from former owners who reportedly beat him with a stick


6:15 PM -- Who's That Girl? (1987)
1h 34m | Adventure
A hapless New Yorker's rich future father-in-law orders him to escort a bleached blonde out of town.
Director: James Foley
Cast: Madonna, Griffin Dunne, Haviland Morris

At one point when the crew was shooting in front of Trump Plaza, Donald Trump came down from his penthouse for a major photo op with the paparazzi, ensuring he'd be seen with Madonna in the New York Post the following day.



WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: PRIMETIME THEME -- STAR OF THE MONTH: HUMPHREY BOGART



8:00 PM -- Sabrina (1954)
1h 53m | Comedy | TV-G
Two wealthy brothers fall for the chauffeur's daughter.
Director: Billy Wilder
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Audrey Hepburn, William Holden

Winner of an Oscar for Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- Edith Head

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Audrey Hepburn, Best Director -- Billy Wilder, Best Writing, Screenplay -- Billy Wilder, Samuel A. Taylor and Ernest Lehman, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Charles Lang, and Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- Hal Pereira, Walter H. Tyler, Sam Comer and Ray Moyer

Humphrey Bogart was a last minute replacement for Cary Grant (supposedly, Grant rejected the part because he did not want to carry an umbrella onscreen). Bogart and William Holden couldn't stand each other. Bogart disapproved of Audrey Hepburn (he wanted his wife Lauren Bacall in the role), while Holden fell in love with her. Bogart got $300,000, Holden got $150,000, and Hepburn only $15,000. Asked how he liked working with Hepburn, Bogart replied: "It's OK, if you don't mind to make a dozen takes."


10:15 PM -- Casablanca (1942)
1h 42m | Romance | TV-PG
An American saloon owner in North Africa is drawn into World War II when his lost love turns up.
Director: Michael Curtiz
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid

Winner of Oscars for Best Director -- Michael Curtiz, Best Writing, Screenplay -- Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein and Howard Koch, and Best Picture

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Humphrey Bogart, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Claude Rains, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Arthur Edeson, Best Film Editing -- Owen Marks, and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Max Steiner

During production, Humphrey Bogart was called to the studio to stand in the middle of the Rick's Cafe set and nod. He had no idea what the nod meant in the story--that he was giving his O.K. for the band in the cafe to play the "Marseillaise."


12:15 AM -- Dark Victory (1939)
1h 46m | Romance | TV-PG
A flighty heiress discovers inner strength when she develops a brain tumor.
Director: Edmund Goulding
Cast: Bette Davis, George Brent, Humphrey Bogart

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Bette Davis, Best Music, Original Score -- Max Steiner, and Best Picture

During the filming of the emotionally-charged scene when Bette Davis's character needs to find her way upstairs to her room after the brain tumor has caused her blindness, the cast and crew and several visitors were watching as Davis grasped the banister and began to feel her way up the steps, one by one. Halfway to the top of the staircase Davis paused, stopped the scene, briskly walked back downstairs and addressed director Edmund Goulding. "Ed," Davis said, "is Max Steiner going to be composing the music score to this picture?" Goulding, surprised by the question, replied that he didn't know, and asked Davis why the matter was important enough to stop the filming of the scene. "Well, either I'm going to climb those stairs or Max Steiner is going to climb those stairs," Davis responded, "but I'll be God-DAMNED if Max Steiner and I are going to climb those stairs together!"


2:15 AM -- In a Lonely Place (1950)
1h 31m | Drama | TV-PG
An aspiring actress begins to suspect that her temperamental boyfriend is a murderer.
Director: Nicholas Ray
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Gloria Grahame, Frank Lovejoy

In her essay "Humphrey and Bogey", Louise Brooks wrote that more than any other role that Humphrey Bogart played, it was the role of Dixon Steele in this movie that came closest to the real Bogart she knew.


4:00 AM -- The Two Mrs. Carrolls (1947)
1h 39m | Suspense/Mystery | TV-G
A woman slowly discovers that her artist husband is a deranged killer.
Director: Peter Godfrey
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Barbara Stanwyck, Alexis Smith

Humphrey Bogart and Barbara Stanwyck had a friendly relationship on set. Producer Mark Hellinger, whom Bogart liked very much, announced that Bogart would not be seen in any painter's wardrobe which would appear less than the tough guy image he had cultivated. When a painter's smock and beret with a tassel showed up on his wardrobe clothes rack one day, the actor was furious. The smock and beret were a joke perpetrated by Stanwyck, and the two performers had a good laugh afterward.


5:45 AM -- The Wagons Roll at Night (1941)
1h 24m | Drama | TV-G
A circus manager turns a young farm boy into a star lion tamer.
Director: Ray Enright
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Sylvia Sidney, Eddie Albert

This was the first time Bogart was top billed in an "A" picture. (He had been top billed previously in a couple of B pictures.) Ironically, this movie is a semi-remake of Kid Galahad, with Bogart playing a character who is a combination of his own character and Edward G. Robinson's character in the earlier movie.