Gladys George is now a star

One of the unlikeliest people to get the star treatment in this month's Summer Under the Stars on TCM is Gladys George, for whom I can't think of any starring roles, just a bunch of supporting characters. And even thne, I'd have to stop and think: Oh, Gladys George was in that? Still, it's nice to see one of the supporting characters get a day on TCM, as it also gives TCM a slightly different way to program the vintage movies they've been showing for 20 years. After all, they're not making new old movies these days.

At 11:45 AM, George shows up in a maternity hospital in A Child Is Born, which might be most notable for being a remake of Life Begins, which could be a bit more shocking being a pre-Code film.

This week's Essentials Jr. selection is the 1941 Humphrey Bogart version of The Maltese Falcon, another of those movies that I'd have to ask myself at first whether I would have chosen it to recommend to kids. I mean, it's got some actual violence, some implied violence, definite sexual overtones (although not quite as much as the Ricardo Cortez version), and a fairly complex plot. Ultimately I think it's less the violence and more the plot that might be the problem for the kids. As for Gladys George, she plays Miles Archer's wife Iva.

Finally, I'll mention He Ran All the Way, overnight at 1:15 AM, in which Gladys George plays John Garfield's mother, Garfield being a criminal on the run who takes Shelley Winters and her family hostage.