TCM Schedule for Thursday, June 10, 2021 -- Primetime Theme: Juvenile Delinquents

[Staph]

In the daylight hours, TCM is saying happy birthday to Judy Garland, born France Ethel Gumm on June 10, 1922, in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Her unhappy life has been the subject of books and movies, but I did not know that she was a very active member of the Hollywood Democratic Committee and donated her time and money to many liberal causes (such as the Civil Rights Movement) and political candidates (including Franklin D. Roosevelt, Henry Wallace, Adlai Stevenson, John F. Kennedy, and Robert F. Kennedy) for most of her adult life.

Then in prime time, TCM has their second week of the month-long look at Juvenile Delinquents. Tell us more, Roger!

Spotlight: Juvenile Delinquents - Thursdays in June
By Roger Fristoe
May 25, 2021

This month-long Spotlight examines the “juvenile delinquent” movies of the 1940s, ‘50s and ‘60s, when the subject of youthful alienation and anti-social behavior was a popular one in both exploitation flicks and more serious studies. Movies about youthful crime had been made throughout the 1920s and ‘30s, but it was in the following decades that the issue was presented as a social problem in need of solutions.

. . .

The category Jail Birds has one premiere, No Time to Be Young (1957), a Columbia Pictures production directed by David Lowell Rich. Robert Vaughn stars as a college dropout who plots to rob a supermarket with two fellow delinquents (Roger Smith and Tom Pittman). The film’s ads referred to the “Get Lost” generation, proclaiming that “They were too old to be teenagers and too young to be adults!”

Untamed Youth (1957), an exploitation film directed by Howard W. Koch and released through Warner Bros., stars Mamie Van Doren and Lori Nelson as sisters who are arrested for skinny-dipping and sentenced to labor on a farm run by corrupt owner John Russell. Van Doren, playing a would-be musical star, has some musical numbers in which she reportedly became the first female to perform rock ‘n’ roll songs on film.

Other films with jail or prison settings: Bad Boy (1949), So Young, So Bad (1950), The Shadow on the Window (1957), Riot in Juvenile Prison (1959), So Evil, So Young (1961) and The Hoodlum Priest (1961).

. . .

Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- Presenting Lily Mars (1943)
1h 44m | Musical | TV-PG
A small-town girl fights for her big chance on Broadway.
Director: Norman Taurog
Cast: Judy Garland, Van Heflin, Fay Bainter

Actor Gil Stratton commented "MGM killed her, absolutely. All of us at 'Girl Crazy' (1943) were on layoff for a month - on full salary - while she was doing retakes on 'Presenting Lily Mars' (1943). Two pictures at once. And that wasn't the only time they did that to her."


7:45 AM -- Listen, Darling (1938)
1h 10m | Romance | TV-G
Two children try to find a new husband for their widowed mother.
Director: Edwin L. Marin
Cast: Judy Garland, Freddie Bartholomew, Mary Astor

Mary Astor fondly remembered working on "Listen, Darling" with the the 16 year old Judy Garland. "She was so young and vital - it was no act. Something would strike her as funny, and her face would get red, and 'There goes Judy!' would be the cry. And we just had to wait until she got over it. She was a kid, a real kid. It didn't take long for her to get over that."


9:00 AM -- For Me and My Gal (1942)
1h 44m | Musical | TV-G
An unscrupulous song-and-dance man uses his partner and his best friend to get ahead.
Director: Busby Berkeley
Cast: Judy Garland, George Murphy, Gene Kelly

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- Roger Edens and George Stoll

Gene Kelly's film debut. It is known that Judy Garland got him the job after seeing him in the Broadway musical "Pal Joey".


11:00 AM -- Till the Clouds Roll By (1946)
2h | Musical | TV-G
True story of composer Jerome Kern's rise to the top on Broadway and in Hollywood.
Director: Richard Whorf
Cast: June Allyson, Lucille Bremer, Judy Garland

Judy Garland, who played real-life singer-dancer Marilyn Miller, was pregnant with her first daughter, Liza Minnelli. She was placed behind stacks of dishes while singing "Look For the Silver Lining", but it was not to "hide her belly" as some have thought, because moments before her number, she is shown walking over to the set and even during her song as she is standing behind the dishes, her abdomen is not disguised.


1:15 PM -- The Pirate (1948)
1h 42m | Musical | TV-PG
An actor poses as a notorious pirate to court a romantic Caribbean girl.
Director: Vincente Minnelli
Cast: Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, Walter Slezak

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- Lennie Hayton

After filming Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) for MGM, Vincente Minnelli and Judy Garland vacationed in New York City; enamoured with the play, Minnelli called the studio asking MGM to purchase "The Pirate" filming property rights for him. After investigating, MGM production office responded "we already own it!" Minnelli and Garland repeatedly attended the play's performances during their New York stay; with Minnelli inscribing sketches and notes of the sets, costumes, and production details. Returning to Culver City, Minnelli hired, bringing Barbara Karinska to "Hollywood" to execute and duplicate all the original play's costumes. Not a costume illustrator, Karinska brought with her Tom Keogh, a costume illustrator. In design meetings, the illustrator, with Karinska would discuss and develop Minnelli's costume design concepts. Minnelli had been a scenic designer for the "Radio City Music Hall" during the 1930s, prior to his Hollywood directorial career. Minnelli met with the MGM Art Department art directors designing all the stage sets. With Cole Porter composing the music, Minnelli turned the play into a musical comedy film for Garland and Gene Kelly.


3:00 PM -- Summer Stock (1950)
1h 49m | Musical | TV-G
A farmer gets sucked into show business when a theatrical troupe invades her farm.
Director: Charles Walters
Cast: Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, Eddie Bracken

By 1950, with On the Town (1949) in release and An American in Paris (1951) in pre-production, Gene Kelly could essentially write his own ticket at MGM. The slender thread of Summer Stock (1950) held no creative appeal to him, but he accepted the assignment out of devotion to Judy Garland, realizing that this was her last chance to save her flailing film career. However, despite its anemic plot, a throwback to Garland's barnyard vehicles with Mickey Rooney, Kelly managed to concoct one of his most fondly remembered routines, the dance with the newspaper and squeaky floor board set to "You Wonderful You."


5:00 PM -- A Star Is Born (1954)
2h 56m | Musical | TV-PG
A falling star marries the newcomer he's helping reach the top.
Director: George Cukor
Cast: Judy Garland, James Mason, Jack Carson

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- James Mason, Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Judy Garland (Judy Garland couldn't attend the ceremony because she was giving birth to her third child and only son, Joey Luft. Even though she did not win the Academy Award she always stated that Joey was the best "Academy Award" she ever received that night.), Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- Malcolm C. Bert, Gene Allen, Irene Sharaff and George James Hopkins, Best Costume Design, Color -- Jean Louis, Mary Ann Nyberg and Irene Sharaff, Best Music, Original Song -- Harold Arlen (music) and Ira Gershwin (lyrics) for the song "The Man that Got Away", and Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- Ray Heindorf

Groucho Marx called Judy Garland's not winning an Oscar for A Star Is Born (1954) "the biggest robbery since Brink's." Hedda Hopper later reported that her loss to Grace Kelly for The Country Girl (1954) was the result of the closest Oscar vote up till that time that didn't end in a tie, with just six votes separating the two. In any event, it was a heartbreak from which she never really recovered and which has remained a matter of some controversy ever since.



WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: PRIMETIME THEME -- JUVENILE DELINQUENTS



8:00 PM -- Riot in Juvenile Prison (1959)
1h 11m | Drama | TV-PG
A psychologist tries to reform a juvenile prison run by a sadistic warden.
Director: Edward L Cahn
Cast: Jerome Thor, Marcia Henderson, Scott Marlowe


9:30 PM -- So Young, So Bad (1950)
1h 31m | Drama | TV-PG
A crusading psychiatrist tries to help troubled reform school girls.
Director: Bernard Vorhaus
Cast: Catherine McLeod, Grace Coppin, Paul Henreid

Film debut of Rita Moreno and Anne Jackson.


11:15 PM -- So Evil So Young (1961)
1h 17m | Drama | TV-PG
A young girl is sent to reform school where she becomes the target of a vicious warden.
Director: Godfrey Grayson
Cast: Jill Ireland, John Charlesworth, Ellen Pollock

Released after the death of actor John Charlesworth, who committed suicide by gassing himself shortly after filming ended.


12:45 AM -- Untamed Youth (1957)
1h 20m | Drama | TV-PG
When they're put in a small-town jail, two sisters fight to expose prison corruption.
Director: Howard W. Koch
Cast: Mamie Van Doren, Lori Nelson, John Russell

In this film, Mamie Van Doren became the first actress to sing rock and roll in an American musical film.


2:15 AM -- The Hoodlum Priest (1961)
1h 41m | Drama | TV-PG
A priest tries to straighten out juvenile delinquents.
Director: Irvin Kershner
Cast: Don Murray, Larry Gates, Cindi Wood

Film debut of Keir Dullea.


4:15 AM -- The Shadow on the Window (1957)
1h 16m | Crime | TV-PG
Three delinquents murder a prosperous farm owner and hold his secretary hostage.
Director: William Asher
Cast: Phil Carey, Betty Garrett, John Drew Barrymore

This was Betty Garrett's first and last dramatic role. Aside from this film, she appeared only in lighthearted musicals. By the time The Shadow on the Window (1957) was made, Garrett's career had been severely impacted by the McCarthy hearings blacklist, purely by association -- her husband was Larry Parks, one of the hardest hit of McCarthy's sacrificial lambs.


5:45 AM -- No Time to Be Young (1957)
1h 22m | Crime
Three teenager boys attempt to rob a supermarket resulting in the death of the store manager.
Director: David Lowell Rich
Cast: Robert Vaughn, Roger Smith, Tom Pittman

David Lowell Rich's big-screen directorial debut.