The Journey Begins August 1st...

Turner Classic Movies' annual hot-weather scheduling block, Summer Under the Stars, starts up next Monday, and I don't mind saying that I'm more excited than any one twenty-six-year-old male has the right to be. For the uninitiated, or simply for those with a life, Summer Under the Stars involves TCM devoting each day during the month of August to a particular old Hollywood star, usually from between the years 1930 and 1960, and usually with one or two actors from the twenties thrown in so the silent movie fans won't riot. It's about as much fun as a white boy can have while sitting inside and wondering why he never gets a tan anymore.

For me, Summer Under the Stars has always been something like a New Year's resolution for television programming: I anticipate it, checking the TCM site all throughout the summer until somebody posts the schedule; I plan ahead for it, picking out which actors I want to watch and which films I want to record; and then, once the big day finally comes, I promptly forget about it until some time in the middle of September. "The best laid plans of mice men," as they say... or, as a I assume they say, because I probably opted out of watching that movie in favor of watching the end of Cool Hand Luke for the fiftieth time.

But this year is going to be different -- different, I tell you! For one thing, they're featuring not one but two of my favorite actresses -- Paulette Goddard (8/2; pictured) and Carole Lombard (8/28) -- and they're also showing a number of films I've wanted to see for some time, including the pre-Code Three on a Match (8/9) and John Huston's The Misfits (8/20). My plan of attack is simple: I'm going to record one movie per each featured actor every day for the entire month of August, for a total of 31 films, plus the few extra I'll probably record for Goddard and Lombard. I'll post my selection for each day on this blog, along with some information about the day's respective star and a short review of the chosen film. And when I inevitably fall behind in this task, I will post some excuse about having been too busy with work and then go on a tirade about the heat, because nothing brings the people together like whining about the weather they so desperately wanted back when their cars were buried under a foot of snow.

In the meantime, check out the TCM page for this year's Summer Under the Stars, which I assume will go interactive in the next few days. At least, I hope it will -- as much as I love a good post-modernist desert sprawl (and really, who doesn't?), I can only watch cars motoring by into oblivion for so long.