Time to clear out your DVRs, it’s almost time for this year’s round of TCM Summer Under the Stars!
Every year, TCM does a good job of balancing days of crowdpleasing stars (Katharine Hepburn, Joan Crawford, and John Wayne are all no strangers to Summer Under the Stars viewers) with some lesser known stars and I’m pretty excited about this year’s schedule. There are quite a few stars this year I wasn’t expecting to see! Although I’m disappointed to see there isn’t day dedicated to a star mostly known for foreign films this year, I’m very happy to see Mae Clarke, Virginia Bruce, Monty Woolley, and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. included! Mae Clarke day is the day I’m most looking forward to this month, which is on August 20. I’ve always thought she was vastly under appreciated so I’m hoping her day will help introduce her to some people who weren’t familiar with her or only know her for getting the grapefruit in the face from James Cagney. If you only know her from The Public Enemy, see how great she could really be in Waterloo Bridge.
So, without further ado, let’s take a look at the schedule…
August 1: Gene Tierney kicks off the month with Black Widow at 12:15 PM, Whirlpool at 2:00 PM, Laura at 3:45 PM, The Razor’s Edge at 5:15 PM, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir at 8:00 PM, and Heaven Can Wait at 10:00 PM.
August 2: It’s Olivia de Havilland day. If you’ve never seen it before, I very highly recommend watching It’s Love I’m After at 8:45 AM. It also stars Leslie Howard and Bette Davis and is an absolutely delightful comedy.
August 3: Adolphe Menjou day is another day I’m really looking forward to. There’s A Woman of Paris at 7:30 AM, A Star is Born at 6:00 PM, Gold Diggers of 1935 at 9:30 PM, Stage Door at 11:15 PM, and The Hucksters at 12:45 AM.
August 4: Teresa Wright day brings us Mrs. Miniver at 2:30 PM, The Best Years of Our Lives at 5:00 PM, The Little Foxes at 8:00 PM, and Shadow of a Doubt at 10:15 PM.
August 5: It’s Fred Astaire day, so of course you can count on a ton of his movies with Ginger Rogers, including Flying Down to Rio at 6:00 AM, The Gay Divorcee at 7:30 AM, Roberta at 9:30 PM, Top Hat at 11:00 AM, Follow the Fleet at 1:00 PM, Swing Time at 3:00 PM, Carefree at 4:45 PM, The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle at 6:15 PM, and Shall We Dance at 8:00 PM. Then there’s You Were Never Lovelier at 10:15 PM, The Band Wagon at 12:00 AM, Silk Stockings at 2:00 AM, and Royal Wedding at 4:00 AM.
August 7: Katharine Hepburn day includes Bringing Up Baby at 11:30 AM, Pat and Mike at 1:15 PM, Adam’s Rib at 3:00 PM, Woman of the Year at 4:45 PM.
August 10: Even though there’s nothing here I haven’t seen before, I’ll always get excited about a Joan Crawford day. The Unknown at 6:00 AM, West Point at 7:15 AM, Our Dancing Daughters at 9:00 AM, Dancing Lady at 10:30 AM, Sadie McKee at 12:15 PM, Forsaking All Others at 2:00 PM, The Women at 3:30 PM, Strange Cargo at 6:00 PM, Possessed (1947) at 8:00 PM, Flamingo Road at 10:00 PM, The Damned Don’t Cry at 11:45 PM, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane at 1:45 AM, and Trog at 4:15 AM.
August 13: Ann-Margaret day means we get Viva Las Vegas at 8:30 AM, Bye Bye Birdie at 8:00 PM, The Cincinnati Kid at 10:00 PM, Tommy at 12:00 AM, and Carnal Knowledge at 2:00 AM.
August 14: It may be Groucho Marx day, but there are plenty of the other Marxes to be seen today in Room Service at 9:30 AM, At the Circus at 11:00 AM, Go West at 12:30 PM, The Big Store at 2:00 PM, The Cocoanauts at 4:30 PM, Animal Crackers at 6:15 PM, Monkey Business at 8:00 PM, Horse Feathers at 9:30 PM, Duck Soup at 10:45 PM, A Night at the Opera at 12:00 AM, and A Day at the Races at 2:00 AM.
August 15: Whoo, Doug Fairbanks Jr. day! Of course that means lots of pre-codes! Chances at 6:00 AM, Union Depot at 7:15 AM (which is one I highly recommend if you’ve never seen it), It’s Tough to be Famous at 8:30 AM, The Narrow Corner at 10:00 AM, Captured! at 11:15 AM, Flight Commander at 12:00 AM, Parachute Jumper at 2:00 AM, and Little Caesar at 3:15 AM.
August 18: For Vivien Leigh, there are the big ones like Waterloo Bridge at 10:00 AM, Gone With the Wind at 10:15 PM, and A Streetcar Named Desire at 3:45 AM, but of the things I’ve never seen before, I’m really intrigued by 21 Days Together.
August 20: It’s Mae Clarke day, another great day for pre-code fans! The Fall Guy at 11:00 AM, Turn Back the Clock at 12:15 PM, Penthouse at 1:45 PM, Parole Girl at 3:30 PM, This Side of Heaven at 5:00 PM, The Man With Two Faces at 6:30 PM, Waterloo Bridge at 8:00 PM, Frankenstein at 9:30 PM, Fast Workers at 11:00 PM, The Penguin Pool Murder at 12:15 AM, Lady Killer at 1:30 AM, The Public Enemy at 3:00 AM, and Operator 13 at 4:30 AM.
August 22: For Marlene Dietrich day, there’s The Blue Angel at 9:15 AM, A Foreign Affair at 12:30 PM, Witness for the Prosecution at 8:00 PM, Shanghai Express at 10:15 PM.
August 23: Debbie Reynolds day brings us The Gazebo at 10:30 AM, The Mating Game at 2:15 PM, Singin’ in the Rain at 8:00 PM, The Catered Affair at 12:00 AM, and The Unsinkable Molly Brown at 2:00 AM.
August 25: With Virginia Bruce, we get to see Shadow of a Doubt at 6:00 AM (not to be confused with the Hitchcock movie), Kongo at 6:30 PM, Downstairs at 8:00 PM (another one I highly recommend), Born to Dance at 11:00 PM, and The Great Ziegfeld at 1:00 AM.
August 26: I’m always down for a day of Garbo! The Temptress at 6:00 AM, Flesh and the Devil at 8:00 AM, Romance at 10:00 AM, Susan Lenox at 11:30 AM, Mata Hari at 1:00 PM, The Painted Veil at 2:30 PM, Conquest at 4:00 PM, Ninotchka at 6:00 PM, A Woman of Affairs at 8:00 PM, Wild Orchids at 9:45 PM, Grand Hotel at 11:45 PM, Camille at 1:45 AM, and The Kiss at 4:45 AM.
August 27: For Monty Woolley day, I’m really excited to see Dancing Co-Ed at 2:00 PM. And no Monty Woolley day would be complete without The Man Who Came to Dinner at 11:45 PM.
August 28: Of course, there’s Casablanca at 8:00 PM and Gaslight at 10:00 PM for Ingrid Bergman day!
August 31: Summer Under the Stars draws to a close with a day of Shelley Winters movies, including Harper at 6:00 AM, Executive Suite at 12:30 PM, A Patch of Blue at 8:00 PM, Lolita at 10:00 PM.
