GingerMarch, Week Five: The 40's and 50's

Greetings, all! Hope you have had a great weekend!

Well, the fourth and final week of GingerMarch 2010 on TCM occurs on Wednesday, March 31, and runs well into Thursday, April 1... it starts with her most acclaimed role, "Kitty Foyle", along with her other two films of 1940, "Primrose Path" and "Lucky Partners". the remainder of the movies shown are 'post-Kitty', from the 40's and 50's... a somewhat diverse lot of films, but all quite entertaining and including ample "Gingery Goodness" that we all crave... so, on to the synopses for this weeks offerings:

Kitty Foyle (3/31/10 - 8:00 PM Eastern): Ginger portrayed Kitty Foyle, who works at an upscale fashion cosmetics store in New York. One day after work, she meets up with her current boyfriend, Dr. Mark Eisen (James Craig); he asks her to marry him, and she accepts. He wants to get married ASAP, and tells her to meet him at the hospital at midnight, and they will go to Gretna Green, which must be a good place to get hitched. All things are humming along well until she stops back by her apartment to pick up some things, only to find her old flame, Wyn Stafford (Dennis Morgan) waiting inside. He wants her to run off with him to South America; the trouble is he is still married to someone else, and she is now engaged to Mark. But she has never gotten over Wyn, and tells him she will meet him at midnight to sail away with him. Now, Kitty is great, but she can’t be in two places at once… so she has to make up her mind. In order to do so, she has to have a ‘heart-to-heart with her conscience, which reminds her of her past experience with Wyn. The movie ‘flashes back’ to when they first met; Wyn, who is from the Philadelphia elite ‘Mainliners’, was looking for a secretary for his new magazine start-up, and Kitty just happened to be a grad from typing school; he hires her, and he instantly falls for her… and they become a couple. However, with Kitty being from the ‘common folk’, Wyn takes Kitty to New York to avoid being seen with her… sad, because he truly seems to love her, but is still more worried about his ‘Mainline’ image. They do eventually get married, and Wyn plans to renounce his ‘heritage’ and live a ‘normal’ life with Kitty… but when he brings her home to ‘meet the folks’, they give her the third degree, and of course she gets her Irish up and leaves, while Wyn tries to reason with the family…Kitty sees he will never let go of them, and she leaves alone for New York. After a bit, she discovers she is pregnant, and later that day she finds out Wyn is re-marrying. The remainder of the story will be left for you… Ginger won the 1940 Academy Award for Best Actress for this role, and it is really her most memorable role.

Tom, Dick and Harry (3/31/10 - 10:00 PM Eastern): Ginger portrayed Janie, a telephone operator in a small town, who has aspirations of finding a rich man to marry. In the real world, however, she is courted by a car dealer, Tom (George Murphy). Tom is doing alright, but is obsessed with climbing up the job ladder, thus not connecting with Janie, even though he has proposed to her. Janie has a heavy dream about their possible marriage, and the future routine of being the ‘model housewife’…not her scene. In the meantime, through work, she hears of a rich young millionaire, Dick Hamilton (Alan Marshal), which fuels her dreams… she tempts fate one day at a stoplight by getting in a very nice car which has (supposedly) a wealthy fellow behind the wheel…could it be Hamilton? Nope, it’s only a mechanic working on the car at the time – she doesn’t know this until she agrees to go out with him… this would be Harry (Burgess Meredith). Harry drops the reality on her, and she almost bolts, but he manages to get her to go with him… between frames of bowling, they discuss why ‘average’ girls can’t hook up with rich men… and Harry gives her a reality check…she sets out to prove him wrong, of course… but he is so enamored with her, he proposes to her…and she says ‘sure’… of course, waiting for Mr. Rich Dude… and by dumb luck, she is introduced to the aforementioned Rich Dude named Dick – and promptly sets out on a wild trip with him…of course, he also falls for her, and soon she has her third fiancée, but this last one is the one she has always had her sights set on… it all sorts out from there, as you will see.

The Major and The Minor (3/31/10 - 11:30 PM Eastern): Ginger portrayed Susan (Su-Su) Applegate, a lady from Stevenson, Iowa who journeyed to New York City with hopes of making it big…but ends up relegated to various dead-end jobs. After being hit on by one of her clients, she is ready to get back to Iowa. But, after a year of being in NYC, the rates for the train home went up…and she only saved enough money to buy ‘last year’s ticket’. She observes a child get a ticket for half-price; this inspires her to ‘convert’ to a child in order to get on the train. It works… but the train conductors are pretty suspicious of her. When she is caught smoking on the caboose, they chase after her – she eludes them by ducking into a compartment that Major Philip Kirby (Ray Milland) is traveling in. He takes ‘Su-Su’ in, and she convinces him she is not only a child, but also scared of all the train workers…so he puts her up for the night. Philip’s ‘beguiling’ fiancée Pamela (Rita Johnson) meets Su-Su the next morning in a pretty ‘compromising’ manner; Pamela has traveled to pick up Philip after the train has been blocked by flooding, but runs into Su-Su (in more of a ‘Susan’ mode) instead. They all somehow get to the Academy where Philip works, and Pamela’s father is the head honcho; Philip introduces all of them to Su-Su, and the train incident is determined to be a big misunderstanding. Su-Su is stuck there until the train can get rolling again…in the meantime; all of the cadets are assigned specific time frames to escort Miss Applegate. Susan learns of Philip’s desire to be reinstated into the active service, but also of Pamela’s efforts to thwart that, in favor of Philip marrying her and staying put. So Su-Su and Pamela’s kid sister Lucy (Diana Lynn) start to plot and scheme to get Philip what he wants. They are successful, but can Susan ever reveal her ‘true identity’ to Philip?

Primrose Path (4/1/10 - 1:30 AM Eastern): Ginger portrayed Ellie May Adams, who is the unfortunate daughter of a very dysfunctional family; her mother, Mamie Adams (Marjorie Rambeau) is a prostitute and her father, Homer Adams (Miles Mander) is a hopeless drunk. Ellie tries to maintain a reputable life by seeking out ‘respectable’ work where she can find it. One day, she meets Ed Wallace (Joel McCrea) on the beach; he runs a nearby restaurant (well, greasy spoon joint), and is in need of a waitress… so Ellie signs on. Of course, they fall in love in short order, and get hitched; however, she is not totally up front with Ed concerning her family, of course, and when he finds out their ‘story’, he is obviously shocked by them, but is also greatly hurt that Ellie did not explain the situation fully. He leaves Ellie, who must go back to the ‘family’… only to discover that her dad has accidently shot her mom, who subsequently dies… leaving Ellie as the only source of income for the (ungrateful) family. The rest of the story will be left for you. Ginger’s role in this movie was originally considered for the 1940 Best Actress nomination, but was deemed too controversial, such that many areas of the country did not allow it to be shown.

Lucky Partners (4/1/10 - 3:15 AM Eastern): Ginger portrayed Jean Newton, a book store owner in Greenwich Village who bumps into David Grant (Ronald Coleman), who simply wishes her ‘good luck’ in passing. When she arrives in her store, she has received a nice dress unexpectedly, and thus she chalks it up to David, who must be a source of luck. Upon seeing him again, she wants him to go in with her on buying a sweepstakes ticket; he agrees to it, but on the condition that if they win, they must go on a trip together, on a ‘platonic’ basis – an ‘experiment’ of sorts… Jean’s fiancée, Freddie Harder (Jack Carson) strangely enough, agrees to the deal – and of course they win. Jean and David take off for Niagara Falls, and stump the hotel folks as to their relationship. Of course, Freddie trails them, and tries to break up the ‘experiment’…David has taken off by the time Freddie shows up, who finds Jean alone. The plot then has a weird twist from out of left field…

Once Upon a Honeymoon (4/1/10 - 5:00 AM Eastern): Ginger portrayed Katie O’Hara Von Luber (a.k.a. Katherine Butt-Smith), a former burlesque dancer-singer from Brooklyn who has snagged a Baron from Austria, Von Luber (Walter Slezak); American reporter Pat O’Toole (Cary Grant) has been assigned to trail the Baron, who is suspected of being a Nazi ‘con-man’, selling defective weapons to surrounding countries in order to allow their easy overtaking by the Nazis. It is the eve of Katie’s wedding to the Baron, but they quickly leave Vienna and end up in Czechoslovakia, where the Baron has been summoned; they do get married there. Pat keeps up with Katie, and has fallen for her… she tries to put on a show that being a Baroness is terrific, but is in reality not what she thought it would be. After continuous travel by the Baron, Katie figures out he is working for the Nazis; at the time they are in Warsaw, where the Germans invade and subsequently blast the hotel Katie is staying in; the Baron has been arrested for suspicion of plotting to assassinate the Polish general (which he did), but later is released, when the Germans take over. Meanwhile, Katie and Pat have struck up a relationship, and she knows she must flee from the Baron – so she gets her name put on the casualties list, thus, is presumed dead by the Germans and the Baron. Katie and Pat proceed to trail the Baron through numerous countries to try to warn the locals about his deception; they meet an American spy in Paris who talks Katie into going back to the Baron to obtain info about his operation. Quite a few more turns from that point; I’ll let you see for yourself.

Tender Comrade (4/1/10 - 7:00 AM Eastern): Ginger portrayed Jo Jones, the wife of Chris Jones (Robert Ryan), who is a U.S. soldier who is leaving to fight overseas during WWII. After he departs, Jo, who works at the Douglas Aircraft Factory, gets together with some of her co-workers and they all decide to rent a house together to save on expenses. The other three ladies, each of which have a man serving in the war, are Doris Dumbrowski (Kim Hunter), Helen Stacy (Patricia Collinge), and Barbara Thomas (Rush Hussey); they also hire a house maid, Manya (Mady Christians), who fled from Germany when the Nazis took over. The general concept of the house is that everyone shares the load and tries to ration for the cause of the war. Jo has flashbacks as to when she met Chris, and their subsequent courtship and marriage… Later, Jo finds out she is with child, which she is happy about, but longs for Chris to get back home so they can start their family. But each time they hear about a battle and the doorbell rings, they know it could be devastating news…

Weekend at the Waldorf (4/1/10 - 8:45 AM Eastern): Ginger portrayed Irene Malvern, a famous actress who has everything except true love… she is in New York for a premiere of her new movie, and is staying at the Waldorf. Meanwhile, newspaper reporter Chip Collyer (Walter Pidgeon) is camped out at the hotel to cover a scheme concerning oil companies and overseas interests; he finds out that Miss Malvern is staying there, and cooks up a plot to meet her, as she is his favorite actress. He succeeds by sneaking in the room hiding under a serving cart; she takes him for a jewel thief, as her assistant told her earlier that the assistant’s boyfriend was plotting to break in Irene’s room late night and steal her jewels. Chip sweet talks his way to the point to where Irene doesn’t call the hotel security…but security is outside her door, thus he cannot leave (well, he could probably sneak out the way he snuck in, but why in the world would he do THAT? :-] ) then one event gets turned into another, and before it is over, Chip and Irene are presumed to be married by the hotel management. After much work, Chip has seemed to win over Irene’s heart… Lana Turner also appears as Bunny Smith, the hotel stenographer who must decide between a rich oil stock promoter named Martin X. Edley (Edward Arnold) (who is in on the aforementioned scheme) and Air Force Captain James Hollis (Van Johnson) who has been injured and has shrapnel requiring removal, but with great risk.

The First Traveling Saleslady (4/1/10 - 11:00 AM Eastern): Ginger portrayed Rose Gillray, a corset saleslady in New York at the ‘Turn of the Century’. She bumps into (literally) Inventor Charlie Masters (Barry Nelson), who is trying to keep his newfangled contraption running, the automobile; he does not impress Rose, and their initial encounter is brief. Rose has problems with her product, as a local singer, Molly Wade (Carol Channing) wants to wear one of Rose’s new designs for her revue; it is deemed too ‘daring’ by locals, which gives Rose more headaches. She has to strike a deal with the steel supplier in town (whom she is in debt to) – if she can go out west to sell his barbed wire fencing, her debt will be cleared. Of course, Rose takes the challenge…but is not aware how barbed wire is vilified out west. On her way out west, she is reunited with Charlie, as well as Molly, and they all team up to try to get the ranchers to go for barbed wire. She soon meets the ‘Kingpin’ cattle man, Joel Kingdom (James Arness); he falls for her, but is anti-barbed wire. He has ‘done away’ with wire salesmen in the past, but he simply tries to discourage Rose’s sales efforts. Of course, Rose is not leaving until she accomplishes what she set out to do… look for a young Clint Eastwood, who plays Molly’s love interest. BTW...this is the LAST film ever made by RKO Radio Pictures.

It Had to Be You (4/1/10 - 12:45 PM Eastern): Ginger portrayed Victoria Stafford, a young debutante daughter of wealthy businessman Ned Stafford (Percy Waram) and his wife, played by Spring Byington. Victoria has had cold feet quite often as of late, as she has left not one, not two, but THREE different guys standing at the altar. She is engaged yet again, this time to Oliver H.P. Harrington (Ron Randall); she agrees to go to the family vacation home in Cape Cod and thoroughly review all the issues prior to the marriage, and if she is TRULY ready this time. On the train back, she is awakened rudely by an Indian (Cornel Wilde) within her compartment, who says he is her only true love… This ‘dreamed up’ entity does not go away, and ultimately shows up at Victoria’s house…she introduces him to her parents, using the name George McKesson; her excuse for his presence is that he is a model she has been working with, and is finishing up a statue of him – so he must stay at the Stafford mansion until completion. George tries to convince Victoria that Ollie is not the one for her… but she grows frustrated by George’s antics, and defies his advice. One day while out shopping, she runs into George…or so she thinks. She is so mad at him that she ‘sics the police’ on him. She did not know that the man she got tossed from the store was in reality fireman Johnny Blaine, who is her ‘man of destiny’, as George described to her. After she realizes this, she does get acquainted with Johnny, and they fall in love. However, when Victoria’s folks meet Johnny, they think it is just George, who has earned a reputation as being a practical joker in the Stafford mansion at this point, thus is dismissed as such. Johnny takes their behavior as insulting, and he walks out; Victoria catches him and tries to explain the situation, which of course makes it worse. Of course, there are other roads they go down, but do Victoria and Johnny end up together at the end? Hmmm…

Tight Spot (4/1/10 - 2:30 PM Eastern): Ginger portrayed Sherry Conley, a prisoner who is pulled out of jail by the local police after their ‘star witness’ against Mafia kingpin Ben Costain (Lorne Greene), Pete Tonelli, has been killed while entering the courthouse. Sherry was Pete’s girl for awhile, and observed many of Ben’s misdeeds in the process. Of course, she does not want to get involved, since Ben has already dusted off Pete, and would do the same to her. The lieutenant assigned to her is Vince Striker (Brian Keith), who is pretty hard-boiled, and does not trust Sherry at all or believe what she has to say. Meanwhile, the D.A. on the case, Lloyd Hallett (Edward G. Robinson), tries the ‘warm and fuzzy’ approach to get Sherry to cooperate. He arranges to have the remainder of her sentence dropped, but she is still not budging. After a few days of being cooped up in a hotel room together (with other officers, of course), Sherry and Vince warm up to each other, and eventually fall in love. After an attempt on Sherry’s life by a mob gunman who reached her hotel window via fire escape, Vince sees after her, and the relationship starts to bloom. A weird twist occurs in that Vince is actually working for the mob, and meets with Ben to discuss the matter; Vince is convinced that Sherry will not testify, and pleads with Ben to lay off of her… to no avail. The rest of the story is left for you…

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Well, thus endeth GingerMarch 2010...I hope it has been a fruitful time for you, in terms of 'beefing up' your Ginger collection... not enough accolades can be thrown TCM's way for their extensive airing of the bulk of Ginger's films...certainly all of the ones they have access to, I sincerely believe... Great work, Y'all!!! (hope someone over there reads this...)

Regualrly scheduled Gingerology posting will resume in earnest over the next few days...I have basically just posted these synopses each week for general info, and have tried to leave them as the only posts for the week... hope they have helped out as to at least getting a general idea of each movie which aired.

This is also a good time to thank YOU for making Gingerology successful...hopefully you see it as your "source for all things Ginger"...and to that end, I will hopefully be adding some of the features I have been rambling on about the last 3-4 months, such as a 'Ginger Jukebox', the daily feature 'This Day in Gingerology', and more polls, pics, reviews, and other interesting stuff... please stay tuned...

And, as always...

Keep It Gingery, Y'all!!!

VKMfan

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