August in Arkansas can be brutally hot and nasty. Here’s a good excuse to hibernate all month in front of the cool, cool flat-screen TV.
TCM’s annual movie star showcase, Summer Under the Stars, kicks off Aug. 1 and runs through the month. A different star will be celebrated each day - 31 stars in 31 days.
There will be a 24-hour marathon of movies for each star.
For example, the Aug. 1 Humphrey Bogart marathon begins at 5 a.m. with an hour special, Bogart: The Untold Story. At 6 a.m. the film orgy begins and includes (in order) High Sierra, The Maltese Falcon, To Have and Have Not, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Tokyo Joe, Beat the Devil, In a Lonely Place, The Big Sleep, Key Largo, The Caine Mutiny, The Left Hand of God and at 3 a.m. Aug. 2, The Harder They Fall.
That’s just one day in this month-long delight for classic movie lovers. Check out each day’s schedule on the TCM website at summer.tcm.com. I wanted to give you plenty of time to study the lineup so you’d have your DVRs warmed and ready.
Sixteen of this year’s stars are being showcased for the first time. They include Oscar winners Joan Fontaine (Aug. 6), Mickey Rooney (Aug. 13), Wallace Beery (Aug. 17), Hattie McDaniel (Aug. 20) and Downton Abbey star Maggie Smith (Aug. 22).
Also new this summer are Charles Coburn (Aug. 24), Martin Balsam (Aug. 27), Shirley Jones (Aug. 28) and Rex Harrison (Aug. 31).
Also featured for the first time will be silent film heartthrob Ramon Novarro (Aug. 8); French actress Catherine Deneuve (Aug. 12), whose day features six films making their TCM debuts; Ann Blyth (Aug. 16), whose marathon will air on her 85th birthday; and Mary Boland (Aug. 4) and Glenda Farrell (Aug. 29) - two outstanding character actresses who TCM says “never received the recognition they deserved.”
In all, more than 30 films will be making their TCM debuts. Several of the more notable ones are Anatole Litvak’s moving wartime romance This Above All (1942), starring Joan Fontaine on Aug. 6; Luis Bunuel’s erotic Belle de Jour (1967), starring a steamy 24-year-old Deneuve on Aug. 12; Otto Preminger’s clever The Fan (1949), starring Jeanne Crain on Aug. 26; and Burt Kennedy’s The Good Guys and the Bad Guys(1969), starring Martin Balsam on Aug. 27.
In addition to the films, TCM’s The Essentials , co-hosted by Robert Osborne and Drew Barrymore, and The Essentials Jr., hosted by Bill Hader, will continue throughout August.
Both series air a “handpicked” film and “offer commentary on its cultural relevance and what makes it a timeless, must-see movie.”
The Essentials will feature presentations of Lawrence of Arabia (1962) on Aug. 3, The Bad and the Beautiful (1952) on Aug. 10, Grand Hotel (1932) on Aug. 17, The Lady Eve (1941) on Aug. 24 and Anna and the King of Siam (1946) on Aug. 31.
Essentials Jr. will showcase family-friendly Ruggles of Red Gap (1935) on Aug. 4, The Grapes of Wrath (1940) on Aug. 11, The Great Race (1965) on Aug. 18 and It Happened One Night (1934) on Aug. 25.
For your planning convenience, here is the day-by-day roster of featured stars. The ones in bold face are the newcomers this summer.
Aug. 1 - Humphrey Bogart Aug. 2 - Doris Day Aug. 3 - Alec Guinness Aug 4 - Mary Boland Aug. 5 - Charlton Heston Aug. 6 - Joan Fontaine Aug. 7 - Fred MacMurray Aug. 8 - Ramon Novarro Aug. 9 - Steve McQueen Aug. 10 - Lana Turner Aug. 11 - Henry Fonda Aug. 12 - Catherine Deneuve Aug. 13 - Mickey Rooney Aug. 14 - Bette Davis Aug. 15 - Gregory Peck Aug. 16 - Ann Blyth Aug. 17 - Wallace Beery Aug. 18 - Natalie WoodAug. 19 - Randolph Scott Aug. 20 - Hattie McDaniel Aug. 21 - William Holden Aug. 22 - Maggie Smith Aug. 23 - Elizabeth Taylor Aug. 24 - Charles Coburn Aug. 25 - Clark Gable Aug. 26 - Jeanne Crain Aug. 27 - Martin Balsam Aug. 28 - Shirley Jones Aug. 29 - Glenda Farrell Aug. 30 - Kirk Douglas Aug. 31 - Rex Harrison
Web Therapy. Season 3 of Showtime’s Web Therapy arrives at 10 p.m. today. There will be 10 half-hour episodes of the comedy starring former Friends star Lisa Kudrow as the decidedly wacky therapist, Fiona Wallice, who treats her patients online via webcam.
Evidently it’s really hip to guest star on the series. Popping up this season will be Steve Carell, Billy Crystal, Chelsea Handler, Matt LeBlanc, Meg Ryan, Megan Mullally and Sara Gilbert.
Season 3 finds big changes in Fiona’s life. Her husband has run away with his male campaign manager. Her mother has started her own online therapy outfit, and Fiona is being investigated for shady campaign finance dealings.
The TV Column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Email: [email protected]
Style, Pages 26 on 07/23/2013