Busby Berkeley in 1933

Tonight's lineup on TCM is movies made in 1933 for which Busby Berkeley choreographed the dance sequences. I was going to do a full-length post on Footlight Parade, but a search of the blog reveals I alread did that back in November 2010. Footlight Parade is airing at 10:00 PM.

The Essential for this week is not Footlight Parade, but Gold Diggers of 1933 at 8:00 PM. Unsurprisingly, that's another movie I've done a full-length post on, all the way back in March of 2008.

Even earlier than that was my February 2008 post on 42nd Street, which concludes the evening's proceedings at midnight.

Following each of these movies are some shorts, which seem just as interesting in their own right. Gold Diggers of 1933 is followed at 9:46 PM by something called Impression of the Merriest Musical of 1938. It's not listed in IMDb, and TCMDb doesn't have anything about it either, so I'd guess it's more of a promotional trailer for... well, I'm not certain which was the merriest musical of 1938. Alexander's Ragtime Band was probably the best musical that year, but I don't know if I'd call it merry, and I don't know if TCM would have a short from Fox.

After Footlight Parade, at 11:47 PM, is another promo, called Anthony Adverse: The Making of a Great Motion Picture. At least wiht this one, it's obvious what movie is the subject of the short. Finally, at 1:33 AM, after 42nd Street, is Kissing Time, which stars Jane Froman. Froman, a singer, is known for having been in a severe plane crash, surviving it, and having that experience be the story of another film, With a Song in My Heart, in which Froman was played by Susan Hayward. Kissing Time is one of Warner Bros. Vitaphone-labeled "Broadway Brevities" two-reelers they made throughout the 1930s; this one is from 1933.