This week on... TCM (December 26 - January 1)

Wait, January 1?! That has to be an error! TCM is packed to the gills with great entertainment this last week of the year.

Sunday, December 26 (theme: children's live-action movies)
The Love Bug (1968) 2:15 PM
The Parent Trap (1961) 4:15 PM - Hayley Mills! ... and Hayley Mills!! Let's get together, yeah yeah yeah!
The Age of Believing: The Disney Live Action Classics (2008 documentary) 6:30 PM
Escape To Witch Mountain (1975) 8:00 PM - With Eddie Albert and Ray Milland
Return From Witch Mountain (1978) 10:00 PM - All-star sequel to Escape To Witch Mountain with Bette Davis and Christopher Lee
The Wizard Of Oz (1925) 12:00 AM - That's the 1925 version! Not a thing like the 1939 version.
The Red Balloon (1956) 1:15 AM
The Bicycle Thief (1948) 2:00 AM - Vittorio de Sica classic

Monday, December 27 [note: TCM announced that they would air a Blake Edwards tribute on this date, so check your guide.]
Anatomy Of A Murder (1959) 7:45 AM - I don't know who's watching movies at 7:45 am, but this is a good one. And it has a cool Duke Ellington soundtrack!
Solaris (1972) 1:45 AM - The Tarkovskiy original

Tuesday, December 28
Coma (1978) 4:45 AM
Holiday (1938) 4:00 PM - That other movie with Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant (my favorite screwball comedy pairing!)

Wednesday, December 29
The Lavender Hill Mob (1951) 8:00 PM - Apparently, a remake is in preproduction for next year.
The Man In The White Suit (1951) 10:30 PM
The Ladykillers (1955) 12:00 AM
Kind Hearts And Coronets (1949) 1:45 AM

Thursday, December 30 (theme: Mickey Rooney)
Breakfast At Tiffany's (1961) 11:00 PM
The Comic (1969) 1:00 AM - With Dick Van Dyke, Mickey Rooney, and Cornel Wilde.. directed by Carl Reiner
Pulp (1972) 3:00 AM - With Michael Caine and Mickey Rooney. It's hard to tell them apart!

Friday, December 31 (theme: Madcap comedies -- Cary Grant screwball comedies and Marx Bros)
Bringing Up Baby (1938) 6:00 AM :-( - One of my favorite movies of all-time. 6:00 AM.. That's criminal!
My Favorite Wife (1940) 8:00 AM :-( - Another great Cary Grant comedy with Irene Dunne (also recommended: The Awful Truth)
The Philadelphia Story (1940) 9:30 AM :-(
Arsenic And Old Lace (1944) 1:45 PM
The Bachelor And The Bobby-Soxer (1947) 3:45 PM
North By Northwest (1959) 5:30 PM
Animal Crackers (1930) 8:00 PM
Monkey Business (1931) 9:45 PM
Horse Feathers (1932) 11:15 PM
Duck Soup (1933) 12:30 PM
A Night At The Opera (1935) 1:45 AM
A Day At The Races (1937) 3:30 AM

Saturday, January 1
Having Wonderful Time (1938) 7:00 AM
Swing Time (1936) 8:30 AM
Classic March Of Time newsreels from the 1940s 2:00 PM - 8:00 PM

Holiday Hoedown

Father Christmas, give us some money! Don't mess around with those silly toys! TCM's Movie Morlocks blog puts the M in merry with a holiday post about Peter Lorre. Sure, Peter Lorre is probably not the first actor you think of when you think of wintery movies, but there are some nice seasonal morsels, including a picture of his personal 1937 Christmas card!


And, here is my personal 2010 holiday card to all my friends and readers. Photo is from Things To Make For Christmas (Fawcett Publications, 1965), which I have been highlighting this month at Curly Wurly and has been expertly handcolored by your humble author (and, clearly, design guru). The recipe can be found at the original post, and I want to be contacted immediately if anyone ever recreates this beauty!

This week on... TCM (December 19-25)

Sunday, December 19
Top Hat (1935) 6:30 AM
The Major And The Minor (1942) 4:30 PM - The premise of this Billy Wilder movie (starring Ray Milland and Ginger Rogers) seems pretty bad, but it was surprisingly entertaining.
The Mating Game (1959) 6:15 PM
Grease (1978) 8:00 PM - I know it's the word and all, but it's also on other cable channels every night.
Orpheus (1949) 3:00 AM - Jean Cocteau with Jean Marais

Monday, December 20
A Shot In The Dark (1964) 11:00 AM - Very appropriate considering Blake Edwards' recent passing (apparently TCM will have special programming on December 27 to honor Blake Edwards).
The Odd Couple (1968) 6:00 PM
8 1/2 (1963) 2:00 AM - Marcello!

Tuesday, December 21
Wait Until Dark (1967) 6:30 AM - Bad time, great movie.
Swing Time (1936) 10:00 PM
The Thin Man (1934) 12:00 AM

Friday, December 24
The Man Who Came To Dinner (1942) 2:00 PM
The Bishop's Wife (1947) 8:00 PM
Meet Me In St. Louis (1944) 2:00 AM
Bell, Book And Candle (1959) 4:00 AM

Saturday, December 25
Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? (1966) 10:30 PM
Cat On A Hot Tin Roof (1958) - Interesting choices for Christmas movies! At least, your family might seem normal after tonight.

This week on... TCM (December 12 - 18)

Sunday, December 12
Gigi (1958) 5:30 AM
There Goes My Heart (1938) 8:45 AM
Annie Hall (1977) 6:15 PM
Too Bad She's Bad (1954) 4:15 AM - Too bad this Sophia Loren/Marcello Mastroianni movie is on at 4:00 AM!

Monday, December 13 (Moguls & Movie Stars and complementary films)
Moguls & Movie Stars, A History of Hollywood: The Attack Of The Small Screens (episode 6) 7:00 PM
Moguls & Movie Stars, A History of Hollywood: Fade Out, Fade In (episode 7) 8:00 PM (and again at 11:00 PM) - Last episode already?!
Guess Who's Coming To Dinner (1967) 9:00 PM - I always get this one confused with The Man Who Came To Dinner. Anyway, why would you want to have dinner with anyone besides Wallace Shawn?
What Ever Happened To Baby Jane? (1962) 12:00 AM - I get this one confused with Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? I'm not sure which one is scarier!

Tuesday, December 14 (theme: Liza!)
Sweet Bird Of Youth (1962) 3:00 PM - Paul Newman looking good in this Tennessee Williams adaptation
BUtterfield 8 (1960) 5:15 PM
Private Screenings: Liza Minnelli (interview with Robert Osborne) 8:00 PM (and again at 3:00 AM)
Cabaret (1972) 9:00 PM - Eek. Creepiest Sally Bowles ever. At least Michael York is in this!
A Matter Of Time (1976) 11:15 PM
Stepping Out (1991) 1:00 AM - Finally! Liza Minnelli and Shelley Winters together!

Wednesday, December 15
Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? (1966) 1:15 AM - Clearly, it's a week of painful talkie movies on TCM.

Friday, December 17
Tea For Two (1950) 2:15 PM
By The Light Of The Silvery Moon (1953) 4:00 PM - Another Doris Day/Gordon MacRae musical
Black Christmas (1974) 2:00 AM
Santa Claus Conquers The Martians (1964) 3:45 AM - Who'd want to watch this without a bunch of wise-cracking bots?

Saturday, December 18
Zebra In The Kitchen (1965) 8:30 AM - Before there was Macaulay Culkin, there was Jay North.

This week on... TCM (December 5 - 11)

It looks like TCM is pulling out a lot of oft-shown movies for the last month of 2010. I have to say, it's kind of a disappointing schedule for the end of the year. The best line-up is between December 26 and January 1, including a Marx Bros. marathon and some trusty musicals. Still, the next two weeks sees us through to the end of the inspired Moguls & Movie Stars series.

Sunday, December 5
The Last Time I Saw Paris (1954) 10:30 PM

Monday, December 6 (Moguls & Movie Stars and complementary films)
Moguls & Movie Stars, A History of Hollywood: Warriors & Peace Makers (episode 5) 7:00 PM
Moguls & Movie Stars, A History of Hollywood: The Attack Of The Small Screens (episode 6) 8:00 PM (and again at 11:00 PM)
A Face In The Crowd (1957) 12:00 AM
Sweet Smell Of Success (1957) 2:15 AM

Tuesday, December 7
A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) 4:00 AM

Wednesday, December 8
The Heiress (1949) 10:45 AM
West Side Story (1961) 2:30 PM
Moguls & Movie Stars, A History of Hollywood: The Attack Of The Small Screens (episode 6) 10:00 PM
Singin' In The Rain (1952) 11:15 PM
North By Northwest (1959) 1:15 AM

Thursday, December 9 (theme: Mickey Rooney)
Babes In Arms (1939) 9:30 PM
Strike Up The Band (1940) 11:15 PM
Babes On Broadway (1941) 1:30 AM
Girl Crazy (1943) 3:45 AM

Friday, December 10
Words And Music (1948) 5:30 AM - Rodgers and Hart musical biopic
The Talk Of The Town (1942) 10:00 AM
Operation Petticoat (1959) 12:00 PM
The Man Who Came To Dinner (1942) 11:30 PM
The 5,000 Fingers Of Dr. T (1953) 3:45 AM - This is a really neat family-friendly movie

Saturday, December 11 (theme: Judy Garland and Vincente Minnelli movies hosted by Liza!)
Bells Are Ringing (1960) 6:00 AM - It has the Midas Touch, the Mighty Midas Touch!
Meet Me In St. Louis (1944) 8:00 PM
Private Screenings: Liza Minnelli (interview with Robert Osborne) 10:00 PM (and again at 2:30 AM)
The Clock (1945) 11:00 PM
The Pirate (1948) 12:45 AM
An American In Paris (1951) 3:30 AM

On The Television Auction Block

Auction and collectible shows are the hottest thing on cable right now. While hit shows like Antiques Roadshow [2] and the British series Bargain Hunt [2] and Cash In The Attic have been delighting arm chair collectors and art aficionados for over a decade, they have often appealed more to people with an eye for rococo antiques of the 'don't touch' variety. Not to suggest that all Antiques Roadshow fans are stodgy snobs who prefer ugly paintings, overly ornate porcelainware, and early American furnishings gushed over by the hunky Keno brothers! But this new breed of collectible show showcases more in the way of ooooh-inspiring pop culture and historical artifacts than its antecedents.

This new spate of collectible series is as much reality tv (as in: you can't believe what you're seeing is actually real) as it is about antiques and collectibles. And, who knows, when the credits begin to roll, a newly rich couple might strike up a pitch-perfect rendition of 'We're In The Money' to an approving panel of celebrity judges, landing the couple on Broadway starring in Andrew Lloyd Webber's latest smash called...

Okay, okay I'm getting ahead of myself here. Still, I suppose the moral of the story is that you are undoubtedly sitting on a priceless treasure trove, so why not wrench apart old family photos to double-check if there's an extra copy of the Declaration of Independence or a real Van Gogh under there (or, maybe just Abraham Lincoln's grocery shopping list)? And, when you inevitably find the Fabargé egg hidden in the last dimple of the egg carton, rush it on over to your friendly neighborhood auction house where you will get top dollar for your accidental find. Before you quit your job and move to your own private island, however, you may want to watch one or two of these super-hot auction shows for inspiration, but.. they're on every channel, they're all on at the same time, and they all have similar generic-sounding names. There are no less than half a dozen them, so it's impossible to remember if the one you liked last week was Auction Kings, Auction Hunters, or Auction Circus. How will you know which one is the real diamond? Let me root out my loupe, and I'll tell you!

* Pop Culture Gift Guide 2010 *

The joys of the holiday season are suddenly upon us, and, if you, too, have been taken off guard by the closeness of those dreaded gift-giving holidays, you might be turning to the plethora of online gift guides that many websites are compiling. I thought I would try my hand at a very short, concise gift guide this year. Unfortunately, I was having too much fun doing my research, and I missed Cyber Monday. Also, this list doesn't appear to be short or concise, but it's my hope that it might help clueless pop culture enthusiasts find something of interest. My guide is a bit messy, but it can be divided into one of two ways: recommendations for online stores and specific products OR the classic trio of standard go-tos (DVDs, CDs, and books) and everything else. I've decided to go with the latter as far as a dividing feature. You'll be able to read my DVD/CD/book selections before the fold, and, if you're interested in the rest of the cluttered guide, you can click on the title to access the full post. Onwards!