Monday, November 13 8:00 p.m. (ET)/5:00 p.m. (PT) NOW, VOYAGER (1942) * Requested by Marcia Hunter of Pennsylvania Warner Bros. star Bette Davis, who commanded the female audience of the 1940's like no other star, had her biggest hit of the decade in Now, Voyager (1942), the romantic drama of Charlotte Vale, a repressed, overweight spinster who escapes from the influence of a domineering mother to become a glamorous woman of the world. Oddly, it took Warner Bros. a while to settle on Davis - then the acknowledged "Queen of the Lot" - as star of the property, based on the 1941 novel by Olive Higgins Prouty, who also wrote Stella Dallas. (Prouty took the title Now, Voyager from Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass: "Untold Want, by life and land ne'er granted/Now, Voyager, sail thou forth to seek and find.") The first choice of producer Hal B. Wallis to play Charlotte was Irene Dunne, then Norma Shearer (as a loan-out from MGM), then Ginger Rogers. But once Davis became aware of the role - realizing that Charlotte was, like herself, a New Englander and a plain woman who could transform herself into something much more attractive - she saw to it that it was hers. Over the years, there was controversy over who created one of the most celebrated bits of business in film history - the cigarette ritual performed by Paul Henreid as Jerry, the married man with whom Charlotte falls in love. Henreid puts two cigarettes in his mouth, lights both, then passes one seductively to Davis. The two actors, who became instant and lifelong friends, claimed that they worked the routine out during rehearsals, inspired by a habit Henreid shared with his wife on car trips. But screenwriter Casey Robinson said he had included the business in his original script - something borne out by drafts of his script on file with the Warner Bros. papers at the University of Southern California. In Charlotte's gentle admonition to her lover, Now, Voyager also boasts one of the most famous closing lines in all cinema: "Oh, Jerry, don't let's ask for the moon. We have the stars." Director: Irving Rapper Producer: Hal B. Wallis Screenplay: Casey Robinson, from novel by Olive Higgins Prouty Art Direction: Robert M. Haas Costume Design: Orry-Kelly Cinematography: Sol Polito Editing: Warren Low Original Music: Max Steiner Principal Cast: Bette Davis (Charlotte Vale), Paul Henreid (Jerry Durrance), Claude Rains (Dr. Jaquith), Gladys Cooper (Mrs. Henry Windle Vale), Bonita Granville (June Vale), John Loder (Elliot Livingston), Ilka Chase (Lisa Vale), Lee Patrick ("Deb" McIntyre), Franklin Pangborn (Mr. Thompson). BW-118m. Close captioning. Descriptive video. By Roger Fristoe 10:00 p.m. (ET)/7:00 p.m. (PT) YOUNG MAN WITH A HORN (1950) * Requested by Eldridge Schopper of New York The Warner Bros. musical drama Young Man With a Horn (1950), adapted from the novel by Dorothy Baker, was inspired by the life of Bix Beiderbecke, a cornet player who hit jazz-age heights before sinking into alcoholism and dying in 1931 at age 28. Kirk Douglas stars as Rick Martin, a tormented trumpeter who suffers through a disastrous marriage with neurotic socialite Lauren Bacall before being redeemed by the love of "good girl" Doris Day. Michael Curtiz (Casablanca, 1943) directed a cast that also includes Hoagy Carmichael, who actually knew Beiderbecke, and Juano Hernandez as Rick's jazz mentor. Under the musical direction of Ray Heindorf, the film has an outstanding jazz/pop score. Day warbles standards including "With a Song in My Heart" and "Too Marvelous for Words," while Harry James provides the hot licks mimed by Douglas on trumpet for "The Man I Love," "Ain't She Sweet" and several other tunes. James (again mimed by Douglas) and Day team up for "The Very Thought of You," and Carmichael joins in on some numbers including "Limehouse Blues." Ironically, Douglas and Bacall (friends from their early years in New York City) got on famously, while Day and Douglas would each write later that they found the other remote. Douglas had this to say about Day: "That face that she shows the world - smiling, only talking good, happy, tuned into God - as far as I'm concerned, that's just a mask. I haven't a clue as to what's underneath." Day, in turn, wrote that, "Kirk was civil to me and that's about all. But then Kirk never makes much of an effort toward anyone else. He's pretty wrapped up in himself...Young Man With a Horn was one of the few joyless experiences I had in films." Director: Michael Curtiz Producer: Jerry Wald Screenplay: Carl Foreman, Edmund H. North, from the novel by Dorothy Baker Art Direction: Edward Carrere Costume Design: Milo Anderson Cinematography: Ted McCord Editing: Alan Crosland Jr. Original Music: Max Steiner (uncredited) Principal Cast: Kirk Douglas (Rick Martin), Lauren Bacall (Amy North), Doris Day (Jo Jordan), Hoagy Carmichael (Smoke Willoughby), Juano Hernandez (Art Hazzard), Jerome Cowan (Phil Morrison), Mary Beth Hughes (Marge Martin). BW-112m. By Roger Fristoe 12:00 a.m. (ET)/9:00 p.m. (PT) MRS. MINIVER (1942) * Requested by John Fritz of New Jersey Winston Churchill is said to have written MGM studio head Louis B. Mayer that Mrs. Miniver(1942), a paean to the courage of British families during the dark days of World War II, was "propaganda worth a hundred battleships." The film, based on the novel by Jan Struther, was started when much of America favored isolationism - but while it was still in production, Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, changing most American minds and turning Mrs. Miniver into the year's hottest property. Audiences around the world were inspired by Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon as the stalwart British couple enduring the London Blitz. MGM's foreign office announced that the film was breaking box-office records formerly held by Gone With the Wind (1939) everywhere from Cairo to Buenos Aires. Norma Shearer had been Mayer's first choice for the all-important title role in Mrs. Miniver, but Shearer, at 39, was not thrilled with the prospect of playing a woman with a grown son. Neither was second choice Ann Harding. Garson, Mayer's protege and a hit in her first MGM film, Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939), had the same reservations since she was only 33 when Mrs. Miniver was being cast. Mayer convinced her to accept the role after performing the entire script, playing all the roles himself and leading Garson to later remark that he played Mrs. Miniver much better than she. During filming, Garson fell in love with nine-years-younger Richard Ney, the actor cast as her grown son. Mayer persuaded the couple to wait until the film had played through its first run before being wed; their marriage lasted four years. Mrs. Miniver racked up 12 Academy Award nominations and won six Oscars including Best Picture, Director (William Wyler), Actress (Garson) and Supporting Actress (Teresa Wright), plus an Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award to the film's producer, Sidney Franklin. Garson, who emerged from the film as MGM's biggest female star, entered Oscar lore with her acceptance speech, which began "I am practically unprepared." She rambled on for several minutes, leaving one wit to observe that her speech was "longer than her performance." As the legend grew, some witnesses with faulty memories claimed that she spoke for over an hour. Director: William Wyler Producers: Sidney Franklin, William Wyler Screenplay: George Froeschel, James Hilton, Claudine West, Arthur Wimperis, from novel by Jan Struther Art Direction: Cedric Gibbons, Urie McCleary Costume Design: Robert Kalloch Cinematography: Joseph Ruttenberg Editing: Harold F. Kress Original Music: Herbert Stothart Principal Cast: Greer Garson (Kay Miniver), Walter Pidgeon (Clem Miniver), Teresa Wright (Carol Beldon), Dame May Whitty (Lady Beldon), Reginald Owen (Foley), Henry Travers (Mr. Ballard), Richard Ney (Vin Miniver), Henry Wilcoxon (Vicar). BW-134m. Close captioning. Descriptive video. By Roger Fristoe 2:30 a.m. (ET)/11:30 p.m. (PT) THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA (1962) * Requested by Barbara Hawk of Oregon A lovely romance with pragmatic undertones, The Light in the Piazza (1962) gracefully handles the complex issues of disability, motherhood, and love. Based on a novella by Elizabeth Spencer that first appeared in New Yorker magazine, Olivia de Havilland stars as an American woman who takes her mentally retarded adult daughter (Yvette Mimieux) on a grand tour of Italy, hoping to enliven her life. Naive, beautiful Mimieux enters a romance with a cultivated Florentine, (George Hamilton), and de Havilland must weigh her feelings against her husband's and decide how to let their grown daughter live her life. Shooting on location in Rome and Florence, director Guy Green and producer Arthur Freed enjoyed exceptional cooperation from Italian authorities. The Light in the Piazza is the first film to shoot in the astounding Uffizi Gallery in Florence, allowing art lovers access to historic treasures such as Michaelangelo's David and Cellini's Perseus that could never be imitated by a studio props department. In addition, the famously snarled motor traffic on Rome's Via Venetto was diverted for three shooting days to accommodate the production schedule. The movie was released on February 9, 1961. One audience member was especially moved by the picture, and made her feelings known in a remarkable, unsolicited gesture. That movie-goer was author Elizabeth Spencer, who sent a letter to Olin Clark, the MGM story editor who initially handled the literary property. Spencer thanked him, Green, Freed and 'everyone responsible' for their deft handling of her story. Director: Guy Green Producer: Arthur Freed Screenplay: Julius J. Epstein Cinematography: Otto Heller Editor: Frank Clarke Art Direction: Frank White Music: Mario Nascimbene Costume Design: Christian Dior Cast: Olivia de Havilland (Mrs. Johnson), Yvette Mimieux (Clara Johnson), George Hamilton (Fabrizio Naccarelli), Rossano Brazzi (Signor Naccarelli), Barry Sullivan (Noel Johnson). C-102m. CC. Letterboxed. By Jessica Handler