Hey fellow posters,
For those TCM viewers, I was away when Ben Mankiewicz talked about For Me and My Gal and Girl Crazy before the movies started and after they were over. I would very much like to know the information that was covered, especially on FM&MG.
If anyone recorded these or remembers what Mankiewicz, please feel free to share. I'd really appreciate it!
You have until April 23rd to hear those comments for yourself on tcm.com/watch. Actually, you should watch it by the 22nd as the movie will probably be taken down early on the 23rd. You can also use the app if you prefer to watch it that way. Good luck!
Woman, man! That's the way it should be Tarzan. [Tarzan and his mate]
... I don't have Watch TCM and TWC doesn't carry the app, so that info doesn't really do me much good.
shareOh I see; I hadn't considered that. I assumed since you're on and can access IMDb you must also have access to the internet. I completely forgot I have to sign into my cable provider to watch TCM online; probably because I'm usually already signed on anyway. I'm sorry.
I transcribed the opening comments for you below. There are usually closing comments as well and I thought there were in this case but I don't remember. If there were, they were not included online. Maybe someone who still has the movie on DVR can confirm and/or provide that info.
Hey there I’m Ben Mankiewicz. Welcome to TCM. Judy Garland is our ‘star of the month’ and every Friday in prime time we’re showcasing the movies of this unique and multi-talented performer. For the next several hours, we’re focusing specifically on Garland’s movies in the early 1940s. Up first, we have Garland teamed with Gene Kelly in a movie musical that marks Kelly’s big-screen debut. It’s from MGM in 1942, ‘For me and my gal.’
The movie is set in the heyday of vaudeville, just before World War I. Judy Garland plays an entertainer who decides to team up with Kelly when he promises to take her to the big time. But, things don’t work out as planned – at least, not right away.
Gene Kelly was 30 at the time. He’d just signed with producer David O. Selznick following a successful run on Broadway. But Selznick didn’t quite know what to do with Kelly. Fortunately, MGM knew precisely what to do with both Kelly and Judy Garland, a rising star at the studio.
Garland specifically recommended Kelly for this role and Selznick agreed to sell half of Kelly’s contract to MGM. Gene Kelly’s original plan was to make a movie or two, and then head back to Broadway. But ‘For me and my gal’ turned out to be a pretty big hit. And soon MGM purchased the other half of Gene Kelly’s contract from Selznick and made him a movie star.
From 1942, also with George Murphy, produced by Arthur Freed, directed by Busby Berkeley, here’s our ‘star of the month,’ the great Judy Garland in ‘For me and my gal.’ -- source: TCM.com/watch
Hey, thank you so much for the info!
I think it was mostly the closing comments that I missed because a lot of that information sounds familiar, unless Mankiewicz just really likes to repeat himself, lol. Anyway, I really appreciate the time and effort.
Btw, did you catch the TCM Guest Programmer, Gloria Steinem, last night? I only caught a little bit of her commentary, but what little I heard sounded fascinating. I would really curious to know all of her commentary, particularly for the opening and closing of A Taste of Honey and Breakfast at Tiffany's. I never thought of Steinem as a BAT kind of a fan. Very interesting.
Oh I see; I hadn't considered that. I assumed since you're on and can access IMDb you must also have access to the internet. I completely forgot I have to sign into my cable provider to watch TCM online; probably because I'm usually already signed on anyway. I'm sorry.
You're welcome!
did you catch the TCM Guest Programmer, Gloria Steinem, last night?Yes, but not intentionally. I'm definitely NOT a fan of hers. I watched 'A taste of honey', which I recorded to DVR. Afterwards, which is my habit, I listened to the TCM commentary. That's when I discovered, as guest programmer, Steinam had selected that movie.
Hi I’m Robert Osbourne. It’s time right now for this month’s guest programmer to take over here on TCM and it pleases me very much to be able to welcome the woman in the chair next to me. A much respected activist, writer, and leader of the feminist movement, Gloria Steinam. Welcome Gloria.
GS: Thank you. Thank you.
RO: We’re so proud to have you here.
GS: I finally get to be the movie fan and movie addict I’ve always been.
RO: Yes, indeed, yes, and… two movie addicts here.
GS: Yeah, alright.
RO: Nice to know you love movies so much.
GS: Yes.
RO: Well, the first film Gloria chose for us is a 1961 British drama from director Tony Richardson. It’s ‘A taste of honey’ and it stars Dora Bryan, Robert Stephens, and Rita Tushingham; based on a very successful play both on England and on Broadway. Gloria’s going to tell us why she picked it out of all the films in the TCM library we have access to. Why this movie?
GS: It’s a very intimate movie; really about three people. Uh, it’s very moving. You know. It has everything you want in a narrative. And I think it also has some deeper things about what happens when women give birth to other people before they are allowed to give birth to themselves. Because the mother in the story is, is not a good mother and the daughter suffers because of that.
RO: um hmm
GS: but she has a taste of honey; you know, an affair with a person of a different race; a different life. I just found it, you know, a very moving piece – like you really care about the people.
RO: uh huh, and it pushed the envelope a bit when it came out in ’61, and
GS: yes, yes it did because it was what then would have been called an ‘interracial romance’
RO: it was just changing
GS: sex without marriage and yes
RO: movies were just changing but they hadn’t changed totally yet by that point.
GS: No, I think it was, uh, path-breaking as a play. I saw it as a play as well.
RO: I did see it as a play. It played in Los Angeles, where I saw it, with Angela Lansbury playing the mother and Joan Plowright playing the girl; and she was great but I think Rita Tushingham was such an interesting actress to begin with.
GS: yes, absolutely; very real all the time; vulnerable and smart at the same time
RO: and we should say it was written by
GS: Shelagh Delaney, who I wrote a fan letter to
RO: oh, you did
GS: and just because I loved the play and the film. I met her later on. I’m sorry to say she’s no longer with us as of a couple of years ago but a wonderful writer. People should know. She was writing about, you know, working class, ordinary folks who are, of course, extraordinary.
RO: so let’s see the movie. Here it is a film chosen by our guest programmer, Gloria Steinam. From 1961, a film made in England, “A taste of honey.’
I just noticed you originally asked about the TCM comments for 'Girl Crazy' as well. It's kind of out of place on this thread but here they are. Again, the closing comments, if there were any, were not including online.
Hey there everybody. Welcome to TCM. I’m Ben Mankiewicz. Judy Garland is our ‘star of the month’ and tonight we’re showcasing Garland’s movies from the early 1940s, when she was one of the biggest stars in the world.
We just saw Garland under the direction of Busby Berkeley in ‘For me and my gal.’ And up next, Berkeley is again calling the shots co-directing with Norman Taurog, in a musical comedy teaming Garland with another former child star, Mickey Rooney. From MGM in 1943, it’s ‘Girl Crazy.’
Rooney plays a spoiled playboy sent to a college out west where, theoretically, there are no women around to distract him. Well, since the title of the movie is ‘Girl crazy,’ we know that plan is doomed. Turns out this college is in serious financial straits, so our two stars hatch a plan to save this institute of higher learning by, naturally, putting on a show.
This is not your typical, run-of-the-mill college fundraiser, featuring maybe a talent show, a local band. No, the songs here are by George and Ira Gershwin, along with performances by the Music Maids, The Stafford sisters, and Tommy Dorsey and his orchestra. They all get together for a big song at the end of the movie and, not surprisingly, it’s a showstopper, in more ways than one.
Garland and Rooney were old friends by the time they made ‘Girl Crazy.’ They appeared together in seven movies prior to this one, but because they had appeared so often together as child stars, the studio was actually hesitant to feature them together as grown-ups, and ‘Girl Crazy’ ended up being their final effort as costars on the big screen.
From 1942, with a top-flight supporting cast that includes June Allyson, Gil Stratton, Nancy Walker, and Guy Kibbee, here’s ‘Girl Crazy.’ -- source: TCM.com/watch
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