If you’re a fan of blonde bombshells, this is the month for you! Rather than having just one star of the month, TCM will be spotlighting two classic blondes every Monday and Wednesday this month. All the classic blondes like Marilyn Monroe, Lana Turner, Jean Harlow, and Jayne Mansfield (just to name a few) will be getting their time to shine. And in preparation for the TCM Classic Film Cruise, they’ll be playing a night of movies set on ships every Thursday. Lots of fun stuff to look forward to, so let’s get to my picks for the month:
November 1: Lots of great noir on today with Detour at 6:00 AM, Out of the Past at 9:00 AM, The Lady in the Lake at 12:30 PM, Scarlet Street at 2:15 PM, and The Big Sleep at 6:00 PM. Then it’s a night of movies that were written, directed, and starred in by the same person. There’s Gene Wilder in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes’ Smarter Brother at 8:00 PM, Woody Allen in Sleeper at 9:45 PM, Chaplin in Modern Times at 1:15 AM, and Jacques Tati in Jour de Fete at 3:00 AM.
November 2: Happy birthday to Burt Lancaster! My favorites of his birthday tribute include From Here to Eternity at 10:00 AM, The Killers at 1:45 PM, and Sweet Smell of Success at 3:45 PM. Tonight is the first night of TCM’s Battle of the Blondes, starting with Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield. Marilyn is up first with Niagara at 8:00 PM and Some Like it Hot at 9:45 PM, followed by Jayne in The Girl Can’t Help It at 12:00 AM, and Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter at 2:00 AM.
November 4: Gloria Stuart is the star of tonight’s prime time lineup with The Invisible Man at 8:00 PM, Gold Diggers of 1935 at 9:30 PM, Here Comes the Navy at 11:15 PM, and Maybe It’s Love at 1:00 AM. And if you’re up at 3:45 AM, you can catch What Ever Happened to Baby Jane.
November 6: Stay up late for some Laurel and Hardy with Do Detectives Think? at 12:00 AM, Putting Pants on Phillip at 12:30 AM, You’re Darn Tootin at 1:00 AM, and Two Tars at 1:30 AM.
November 7: Tonight’s blonde bombshells are Veronica Lake and Lana Turner. Up first are This Gun for Hire at 8:00 PM and The Blue Dahlia at 9:30 PM, followed by The Postman Always Rings Twice at 11:15 PM and The Bad and the Beautiful at 1:15 AM. Lana finishes out the night with These Glamour Girls at 3:30 AM and Love Has Many Faces at 5:00 AM.
November 9: I love this day. If you’re a big fan of early 1930s movies or Jean Harlow, you’re in luck! There are lots of early 1930s movies on during the day with The Girl Said No at 6:30 AM, One Romantic Night at 8:15 AM, Let Us Be Gay at 9:30 AM, Min and Bill at 11:00 AM, Reducing at 12:15 PM, Politics at 1:45 PM, Emma at 3:00 PM, Prosperity at 4:30 PM and Dinner at Eight at 6:00 PM. Then it’s blonde bombshell night again with Judy Holliday versus Jean Harlow. Judy starts things out with Born Yesterday at 8:00 PM and The Solid Gold Cadillac at 10:00 PM. Jean closes out the night with Bombshell at 12:00 AM, Platinum Blonde at 1:45 AM, the documentary Harlow: The Blonde Bombshell at 3:30 AM, and The Girl From Missouri at 4:30 AM.
November 10: Happy birthday to Claude Rains! You can see him in Four Daughters at 8:30 AM, Daughters Courageous at 10:15 AM, Four Wives at 12:15 PM, Four Mothers at 2:15 PM, Here Comes Mr. Jordan at 3:45 PM, and Mr. Skeffington at 5:30 PM. Tonight’s ship-related movies include Love Affair at 8:00 PM, One Way Passage at 9:30 PM, Now Voyager at 10:45 PM, and Dodsworth at 3:00 AM.
November 12: The theme for tonight is embezzlers and embezzling has never looked like more fun when you’ve got The Bank Dick at 8:00 PM, Trouble in Paradise at 9:30 PM, and The Producers at 11:00 PM.
November 13: Today has a rather interesting assortment of movies, Forsaking All Others at 7:30 AM, Woman of the Year at 9:00 AM, To Have and Have Not at 11:00 AM, The Way We Were at 12:45 PM, My Fair Lady at 3:00 PM, and Gigi at 6:00 PM. Then it’s another bunch of Laurel and Hardy silents starting with Habeas Corpus at 12:00 AM, Big Business at 12:30 AM, Double Whoopee at 1:00 AM, and Angora Love at 1:30 AM.
November 14: If you’ve never seen Louise Brooks in Pandora’s Box, be sure to set your recorders for 6:30 AM. Later that afternoon is a little Veronica Lake with The Glass Key at 3:00 PM and I Married a Witch at 4:30 PM. Tonight’s blonde bombshells are Marlene Dietrich and Ursula Andress. Marlene kicks things off with The Blue Angel at 8:00 PM and Shanghai Express at 10:00 PM, then there’s Ursula in She at 11:30 PM and Clash of the Titans at 1:30 AM.
November 15: Tonight is the premiere of AFI Master Class – The Art of Collaboration: Steven Spielberg and John Williams, which will be airing at 8:00 PM and again at 12:00 AM with Saving Private Ryan in between at 9:30 PM.
November 16: It’s another blonde bombshell bonanza tonight with Carole Lombard and Mae West. Really, it’s a pretty top-notch night of comedy here with Nothing Sacred at 8:00 PM, To Be or Not to Be at 9:30, She Done Him Wrong at 11:30 PM, and I’m No Angel at 12:45 AM.
November 19: In case you missed Trouble in Paradise the other day, you can catch it again at 9:00 AM. Tonight’s prime time line up is all movies that turn 50 this year, starting with Splendor in the Grass at 8:00 PM, The Children’s Hour at 10:15 PM, One Two Three at 12:15 AM, The Misfits at 2:15 AM, and Saturday Night and Sunday Morning at 4:30 AM.
November 20: Tonight’s Silent Sunday Night feature is What Price Glory at 12:00 AM.
November 21: It’s another night of blonde bombshells. Janet Leigh starts it off with My Sister Eileen at 8:00 PM and Houdini at 10:00 PM. Then it’s Brigitte Bardot’s turn with And God Created Woman at 12:00 AM and A Very Private Affair at 1:45 AM.
November 22: This month’s guest programmer is Ron Pearlman who has chosen Sullivan’s Travels at 8:00 PM, Red River at 9:45 PM, Gunga Din at 12:15 AM, and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington at 2:30 AM. You can also catch the documentary 1939: Hollywood’s Greatest Year at 4:45 AM.
November 23: The blonde bombshells of the night are Betty Grable and Doris Day. See Betty in Sweet Rosie O’Grady at 8:00 PM and Down Argentine Way at 9:30 PM and Doris in Tea for Two at 11:15 PM and That Touch of Mink at 1:00 AM.
November 24: Who wouldn’t want to take a boat trip after watching The Lady Eve at 10:00 PM and A Night at the Opera at 11:45 PM?
November 25: First there’s Don’t Bother to Knock at 7:30 AM and just in case you were going into horror film withdrawal from last month, you can get a little Hammer horror with The Mummy at 9:00 AM. And don’t miss Dodsworth at 8:00 PM!
November 26: Some pretty great stuff on today, In a Lonely Place at 8:00 PM, Some Like it Hot at 12:15 PM, and The Maltese Falcon at 6:00 PM. You can see a Ethel Merman double feature of There’s No Business Like Show Business at 8:00 PM and Strike Me Pink at 10:15 PM, then Greta Garbo in The Mysterious Lady at 12:00 AM.
November 27: The blonde bombshells of the night are Julie Christie and Diana Dors. See Julie in Doctor Zhivago at 8:00 PM and Billy Liar at 11:30 PM, then Diana in An Alligator Named Daisy at 1:15 AM and The Unholy Wife at 3:00 AM.
November 28: Happy birthday to Busby Berkeley! Check out She Had to Say Yes at 6:00 AM, Dames at 7:15 AM, Gold Diggers of 1935 at 9:00 AM, Bright Lights at 10:45 AM, I Live for Love at 12:15 PM, Stage Struck at 1:30 PM, The Go-Getter at 3:15 PM, Men are Such Fools at 5:00 PM, and Garden of the Moon at 6:15 PM. Then tonight is a night of Robert Osbourne’s picks, including Mother Wore Tights at 8:00 PM, The Matchmaker at 10:00 PM, and Tea for Two at 12:00 AM.
November 30: Grace Kelly and Kim Novak get to close out TCM’s blonde bombshell bonanza starting with To Catch a Thief at 8:00 PM, Dial M for Murder at 10:00 PM, Pushover at 12:00 AM, and Jeanne Eagels at 1:45 AM.
The Hollywood Revue 