Saturday, March 11 - Bringing Up Baby

Bringing Up Baby (1938)

Dr. David Huxley at the Stuyvesant Museum of Natural History is absorbed in his work with skeletons of prehistoric animals, and so is his assistant Alice Swallow, whom he is going to marry the following day. She sees their marriage only as a practical arrangement, and dismisses his thoughts of a honeymoon and of having children. The museum is vying for a one million dollar donation from Mrs. Carleton Random, and David is sent to a meeting with her lawyer, Mr. Peabody. There the introvert and impractical David bumps into the extrovert and energetic heiress Susan Vance. When a psychiatrist explains to Susan, that the love impulse in men often reveals itself in conflict, she interprets David's behavior as an example of this, and falls in love with him. From now on she has only one thought in her mind: to stop David from marrying his assistant, and to win him for herself. Without knowing how it happened, David suddenly finds himself with Susan in a car, transporting her tame leopard Baby to her aunt's farm in Connecticut. Susan's aunt Elizabeth turns up, and she happens to be the prospective donor David has been looking for. Suddenly David is entangled in a hodgepodge of misunderstandings and a nocturnal chase after animals on the run.

Friday, March 10 - Snowfire

Snowfire (1958)

While trying to capture a white stallion, rancher Mike McGowan (Don McGowan) strays onto land owned by feisty Carol Hampton (Claire Kelly), and the two quarrel over who can claim the horse. Mike takes the animal home, and one of his two daughters, Molly (Molly McGowan), is immediately smitten with the horse, who she christens Snowfire. She spends all her time with the horse, and when she refuses to allow Mike to brand him and insists that Snowfire "speaks" to her, Mike contacts a psychiatrist.

...or something like that...

Thursday, March 9 - The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis: The Hunger Strike

The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis (1959–1963): The Hunger Strike (Season 1 Episode 17 - aired 26 January 1960)

Thalia has just started dating Chatsworth Osborne Jr. She admits she is doing so just because he and his family are wealthy. Dobie vows to win her back. From a love poem that he is helping Maynard learn, Dobie comes up with the idea that he will become "wan and pale" to gain Thalia's sympathy. How will he accomplish his physical transformation?: by going on a hunger strike. He believes both the transformation and the hunger strike itself will persuade Thalia to be his steady girl. He vows to stay on the hunger strike until Thalia agrees to his wishes. When Dobie starts getting hungry, he contemplates cheating as he doesn't want anyone but Maynard to know since many people seemed to have a vested interest in whether Dobie eats.

Wednesday, March 8 - The Glass Key

The Glass Key (1935)

Ed Beaumont is the personal friend, advisor and bodyguard to Paul Madvig, the political boss of a large city. When a mysterious murder is committed---the son of a Madvig political opponent (what?)---Madvig's enemies try to pin the crime on him because he is waging a clean-up campaign they oppose. Ed risks his life and his reputation to find the killer and clear his friend.

George Raft as Beaumont is the personal retainer and fixer for political boss Edward Arnold. And Arnold is heading for some trouble. He's decided to join the 'reform' element in his town headed by Senator Charles Richman and that does not please gangster Robert Gleckler who has had a working relationship with Arnold up to this time. But Arnold who has worked his way up from poverty sees a chance at respectability and the thing that makes him interested is Claire Dodd who is Richman's daughter and who plays along with Arnold's interest in her for her father's sake.

At the same time Richman has a wastrel son in Ray Milland who has added Arnold's daughter Rosalind Keith to his list of conquests. He's needing some money real bad to pay off gambling markers to Gleckler. Later on Milland winds up dead and suspicion falls on Arnold. It's up to Raft to investigate and get him out of the jackpot.

Tuesday, March 7 - Thriller: Man in the Cage

Thriller (1960–1962): Man in the Cage (Season 1 Episode 18 - aired 17 January 1961)

An American comes to Tangier to search for his missing brother and becomes embroiled in the search for a missing cache of heroin.

A man comes to Tangiers to find his brother, who has been running guns for an Arab group. We know from the beginning that he has gotten in over his head. When he starts to find out things, danger lurks all around. He has a letter from his brother that seems to be of interest to all the parties. This is his ace in the hole...

And don't forget the cage!

Monday, March 6 - Perry Mason: The Case of the Dangerous Dowager

Perry Mason (1957–1966): The Case of the Dangerous Dowager (Season 2 Episode 26 - aired 9 May 1959)

Sylvia Oxman is desperate to retrieve the $7,500 in IOUs she signed over at the Clover Club poker room in Gardena. She is convinced that her ex-husband Frank Oxman will try to get his hands on them and use them to have her labeled an unfit mother thereby getting custody of their son Peter. Poker room co-owner Danny Barker isn't going to make it easy for her, however, suggesting that he will sell the IOUs to the highest bidder asking $25,000. Sylvia's grandmother Matilda Benson and her son Robert call on Perry Mason to seek his assistance on Sylvia's behalf and Perry and Paul drake are soon investigating. Perry runs a bluff on Danny Barker to force him to turn over the IOUs at face value. Danny's partner Charles Duncan intervenes to make sure they get their money but nothing untoward takes place. Before long Danny Baker is found dead in his office, killed with Sylvia's gun. Despite the odds, Perry takes on her case and roots out the real killer.

Sunday, March 5 - Lassie Come Home

Lassie Come Home (1943)

In a small Yorkshire village during the Great Depression, financial pressures cause the parents of young Joe Carraclough (Roddy McDowall) to sell his beloved dog, Lassie, to the Duke of Rudling (Nigel Bruce) . After the duke takes the collie to his Scottish estate, his granddaughter (Elizabeth Taylor) recognizes that the dog misses her former owner and allows her to escape. Facing great dangers and small kindnesses on her lengthy journey, the faithful dog sets forth to rejoin her beloved family.

Saturday, March 4 - The Third Man: One Kind Word

The Third Man (1959–1965): One Kind Word (Season 2 Episode 2 - aired 7 September 1959)

It's a flashback.

When Harry rescues a pretty woman from an attempted suicide (wait a minute - that's not right, is it?), he is recognized as a post-war black-marketeer from Vienna. British intelligence asks his assistance to bring to justice another black-marketeer who uses children to explode land mines, thereby enabling him to cross behind the Iron Curtain with contraband.

Friday, March 3 - Step Lively, Jeeves!

Step Lively, Jeeves! (1937)

Jeeves gets used by a pair of conmen, Georges Givot and Alan Dinehart. These two convince Treacher he's the heir to Sir Francis Drake and there's a hidden treasure that is his by right. And of course if folks want to invest in the finding of said treasure why Dinehart and Givot are ready to help. Their con game gets a stroke of luck as a former bootlegger who stashed his loot and is now rich is desperate to crash society take up Treacher's cause.

Thursday, March 2 - Woman Against Woman

Woman Against Woman (1938)

Cynthia is married to Steve and is a selfish hard woman. She decides where they will live, who they will see and even gets rid of Dora, the nanny who raised Steve and is now raising their daughter Ellen. When Steve divorces Cynthia, even his mother is on Cynthia's side. While pleading a case in Washington, Steve meets a woman named Maris and falls for her. Maris does not know if she is going to the altar or the chopping block, but they marry and come back to his hometown. Unfortunately, Maris is the outsider, and being a small town where Cynthia and Steve grew up, everyone is Cynthia's friend and not Maris. Cynthia will use every occasion, every trick, including Ellen, to try to ruin the life that Steve has with Maris.

Wednesday, March 1 - Perry Mason: The Case of the Petulant Partner

Perry Mason (1957–1966): The Case of the Petulant Partner (Season 2 Episode 25 - aired 25 April 1959)

Harry Bright and Chuck Clark have been partners for over 30 years (mining - out in the desert) and have made quite a bit of money. Harry is concerned that Clark's new young wife Margaret and her brother Howard Roper may be cheating him as well as his friend Chuck out of their money. He goes to see Chuck but as Chuck is gone he gets into a dispute with Howard ending with a shot fired by Bright into the ground. Harry consults Perry Mason who suggests he dissolve the partnership which would call for a complete accounting of all assets. Harry doesn't want to do that as he is clearly not angry or upset with his business partner, only the gold digger he married. Harry receives evidence from Salty Sims that Margaret and Howard aren't brother and sister and tells Chuck. When Margaret is found dead in her bedroom, Harry is charged with murder. The bullet in the body came from the same gun that a bullet found in the ground came from.

Tuesday, Feb. 28 - The Rich Are Always with Us

The Rich Are Always with Us (1932)

The ten year marriage of of Caroline Van Dyke and Greg Grannard is falling apart. A young woman, Allison, plots to become his second wife. Caroline's friend, novelist Julian, has long loved her and now sees his chance, but she refuses him and goes to Paris to file for divorce. Julian follows but on hearing that Greg has fallen on financial hardship Caroline returns to help him. Greg tells Caroline that his now-wife Allison is pregnant and Caroline realizes that she loves Julian and to travel to China with him and be married. Allison and Greg have a bitter row in the car, which then smashes into a tree killing Allison and injuring Greg. Caroline tells Julian she will stay with Greg until he is well, but marries Julian in the hospital with a promise to join him as soon as she can.

Whew!