TCM Schedule for Thursday, May 23, 2024: Frank Sinatra / Betty Garrett B-Day Tribute / George Miller Guest Programmer

[Auggie]

Betty Garrett (May 23, 1919 – February 12, 2011) was an American actress, comedian, singer and dancer.

Garrett's career began in the Borscht Belt, where she had the opportunity to work with Danny Kaye, Jerome Robbins, Carol Channing, Imogene Coca, and Jules Munshin. A variety of stage performances that included Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre and Martha Graham's dance company led to Broadway, where she made her debut in the 1942 revue Of V We Sing.

Her performance in the mid-40s Broadway play Call Me Mister won critical acclaim, and attracted the attention of Louis B. Mayer. Mayer signed Garrett to a one-year contract with MGM.

She made her film debut portraying nightclub performer Shoo Shoo O'Grady in Big City (1947). Mayer renewed the contract and Garrett appeared in the musicals Words and Music, On the Town, Take Me Out To The Ball Game, and Neptune's Daughter.

All five MGM films are airing on TCM today.

Garrett later became known for the roles she played in two prominent 1970s sitcoms: Archie Bunker's politically liberal neighbor Irene Lorenzo in All in the Family and landlady Edna Babish in Laverne & Shirley. In later years, she appeared in television series such as The Golden Girls, Grey's Anatomy, Boston Public and Becker, as well as in several Broadway plays and revivals.

Full bio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betty_Garrett




Tonight's guest programmer, George Miller, is an Australian filmmaker best known for creating the Mad Max franchise.

Miller is diverse in genre and style, having directed the biographical medical drama Lorenzo's Oil, the dark fantasy The Witches of Eastwick, and the Academy Award-winning animated film Happy Feet. He produced the family-friendly fantasy adventure Babe, and directed the sequel Babe: Pig in the City.


----------------- EARLY MORNING: FRANK SINATRA -----------------

6:00 AM | Marriage on the Rocks (1965)
A couple divorces by mistake during a madcap Mexican vacation.
Dir: Jack Donohue | Cast: Frank Sinatra, Deborah Kerr, Dean Martin

8:00 AM | The Tender Trap (1955)
A swinging bachelor finds love when he meets a girl immune to his line.
Dir: Charles Walters | Cast: Frank Sinatra, Debbie Reynolds, David Wayne


----------- DAYTIME: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BETTY GARRETT -----------

10:00 AM | Big City (1948)
Three bachelors adopt an orphan, then fight over custody when each falls in love.
Dir: Norman Taurog | Cast: Margaret O'Brien, Robert Preston, Danny Thomas, Betty Garrett

12:00 PM | Neptune's Daughter (1949)
Mistaken identity complicates a polo player's romance with a bathing suit designer.
Dir: Edward Buzzell | Cast: Esther Williams, Red Skelton, Ricardo Montalban, Betty Garrett

2:00 PM | On the Town (1949)
Three sailors wreak havoc as they search for love during a whirlwind 24-hour leave in New York City.
Dir: Gene Kelly | Cast: Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Betty Garrett, Ann Miller

4:00 PM | Take Me Out to the Ball Game (1949)
Vaudeville, baseball, and gangsters come together in an MGM musical romp.
Dir: Busby Berkeley | Cast: Frank Sinatra, Esther Williams, Gene Kelly, Betty Garrett

5:45 PM | Words and Music (1948)
Songwriters Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart search for love while rising to the top.
Dir: Norman Taurog | Cast: June Allyson, Perry Como, Judy Garland, Betty Garrett


----------- GUEST PROGRAMMER: GEORGE MILLER -----------

8:00 PM | How Green Was My Valley (1941)
Turn-of-the-century Welsh parents raise coal-mining sons, hoping their youngest will find a better life.
Dir: John Ford | Cast: Walter Pidgeon, Maureen O'Hara, Anna Lee

Trivia: 1942 Best Picture Oscar

10:15 PM | The Seven Samurai (1956)
Japanese villagers hire a team of traveling samurai to defend them against a bandit attack.
Dir: Akira Kurosawa | Cast: Toshiro Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Kuninori Kodo

2:00 AM | The Battle of Algiers (1966)
Algiers revolts against the French Foreign Legion.
Dir: Gillo Pontecorvo | Cast: Jean Martin, Yacef Saadi, Brahim Haggiag


---------------- TCM LATE NIGHT: KIRK DOUGLAS ----------------

4:15 AM | Lust for Life (1956)
The life of brilliant but tortured artist Vincent van Gogh.
Dir: Vincente Minnelli | Cast: Kirk Douglas, Anthony Quinn, James Donald