Blondell talks to James Cagney in Blonde Crazy (tonight at 11:00 PM)
Now that we're in the first full week of a new month, it's time for a new Star of the Month on TCM. This time, it's Joan Blondell, who was a delight opposite James Cagney in the early 1930s, and continued to work through the 1970s. (I remember seeing her in an old episode of Starsky and Hutch on one of the vintage TV digital subchannels.) Blondell's movies will be airing every Thursday in prime time, into Friday morning.
Blondell worked a lot in the first half of the 1930s, so it's not surprising that a good half of the movies TCM is showing in their tribute to her are from this era. It also means that there's a surprising number of movies from this time that aren't part of the salute:
I love Night Nurse, but Blondell has a smaller part in this, and it's really Barbara Stanwyck's movie. So I'm not surprised that if TCM felt they could only show so many Blondell movies, this one didn't make the cut
Lady for a Day has Blondell in another supporting role, and since it's from Columbia and Blondell's selection as Star of the Month was made by the Backlot voters, I'm not surprised that TCM made certain they'd have enough stuff from the old Turner library for whichever star was selected.
The final night of Blondell's turn as Star of the Month on the 26th features movies from the 1950s and 1960s, including The Cincinnati Kid which I haven't blogged about before:
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2 comments:
LOVE Joan Blondell! Always a vibrant onscreen performer and the self described Warnes Workhorse in her early days and from the number of her films I believe it.
However quantity doesn't usually translate to quality and that is often the case with those early films. There were a few good films mixed in with junk like Miss Pacific Fleet and Broadway Gondolier but until the 40's they were few and far between. Still the fluff goes down easy thanks to her especially when she was paired with the equally underappreciated Glenda Farrell.
Yeah, I realize Glenda Farrell wasn't in Lady for a Day. I was trying to get a post out early on Thursday since I knew I was going to do the Movie Picks after work. A search of the blog yielded that picture on a search of Blondell -- I think it came up with Guy Kibbee's birthday, since they were in movies together.
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