A few interesting things on TCM

TCM is running a morning and afternoon of films with Mary Astor today, on the anniversary of her birth in 1906. They're doing it with a bunch of her lesser known movies, which is a nice thing. The day concludes at 6:30 PM with A Successful Calamity, which I think is getting its first TCM airing since I blogged about it two years ago, that's how obscure it is. Actually, as I blogged about at the time, this is the sort of movie you watch for its star, George Arliss, who makes the material so entertaining.

In between A Successful Calamity and the prime-time lineup, there's a short, Martin Block's Musical Merry-Go-Round No. 6, at about 7:50 PM. Yes, there was a series of these (IMDb omits the "Martin Block's" from the title). Warner Bros. had been putting out musical shorts for some time, but this was a series put out by MGM, in which radio host/disc jockey Martin Block presents a couple of musical acts, none of which I think I've heard of.

Prime time kicks off with Music in the Air at 8:00 PM. This is another movie that's new to me, directed by an exile from the Nazis I'd never heard of, Joe May. To be fair, he didn't exactly have a successful career in Hollywood like the well-known exiles, based on a stage show by Oscar Hammerstein who was not yet with Richard Rodgers, but with Jerome Kern; Gloria Swanson stars. I think the reason it's new to me is because it's from Fox (before the merger with 20th Century).

In between Music in the Air and the next feature, Fury at 9:45 PM, there's another short, The Music Makers at 9:29 PM. This is an early talkie, from 1929, and doesn't even have any comments over at IMDb, which makes me wonder how well known it is. It's another one I'd never heard of.