Newsletter: Classic Hollywood: Saucy Oscar fare. Bob Elliott, R.I.P.

This is Susan King, veteran movie writer for the Los Angeles Times and guardian of the Golden Age of Hollywood galaxy. Every Friday in my Classic Hollywood newsletter, I talk about notable births and deaths, famous denizens of Tinseltown, fun vintage events around town, milestones, TV must-sees and the latest in DVDs.

If you love movies as much as I do, you’ll want to check out TCM’s annual “31 Days of Oscar” programming this month. Friday’s prime-time lineup is a real corker, so get your DVRs ready. First up are two of my favorite Ernst Lubitsch musicals, 1929’s “The Love Parade,” which marked the first pairing of Jeanette MacDonald and Maurice Chevalier, and the delectable 1931 “The Smiling Lieutenant,” with Chevalier, Miriam Hopkins and Claudette Colbert. Both are pre-Code, Oscar-nominated and deliciously saucy.

Frank Capra’s flawlessly funny 1934 romantic comedy “It Happened One Night,” which earned Oscars for film, director, actor (Clark Gable), actress (Colbert) and adapted screenplay (Robert Riskin) follows. Next up, Gable plays a ruthless mobster in 1931’s “A Free Soul.” His famous line is “You’re mine, and I want you.” Lionel Barrymore won the Oscar as an alcoholic attorney in the melodrama that also stars Norma Shearer as his out-of-control daughter and Leslie Howard as the steadfast man who loves her.

Howard earned an Oscar nomination for the rarely seen 1933 fantasy “Berkeley Square,” in which he plays a young man who is transported back in time to England, where he encounters his ancestors. Rounding out the programming is the wacky 1938 comedy “Merrily We Live,” for which Billie Burke earned a supporting actress nomination.

Master of the offbeat

I was saddened to learn of the death Tuesday night at age 92 of the brilliant comedian Bob Elliott, who with his partner Ray Goulding made audiences laugh for more than 40 years as the innovative comedy team of Bob and Ray. Elliott is the father of equally quirky funnyman Chris Elliott and grandfather of former “Saturday Night Live” regular Abby Elliott.

I first watched the dynamic duo on various talk shows beginning in the 1960s and loved their offbeat, gentle humor. Two years ago, I had the opportunity to chat with Bob Elliott on the phone from his home in Cundys Harbor, Maine. He was sweet and hadn’t lost one bit of his comedic timing. Here is my interview with Elliott.

Kid friendly

Do you remember the old kiddie matinees that would feature westerns and other family-friendly films on Saturday and Sunday afternoons? Well, the New Beverly Cinema has resurrected what it calls the “Kiddee Matinees” every Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m. This month, the New Bev is presenting westerns, beginning this weekend with the 1974 “The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams,” starring Dan Haggerty, who died last month.

Next weekend is a real rarity: 1975’s “Against a Crooked Sky,” starring Richard Boone and Stewart Petersen. The 1978 Disney comedy “Hot Lead and Cold Feet,” starring Jim Dale and Don Knotts, screens Feb. 20-21; the laid-back 1974 Disney comedy “The Castaway Cowboy,” starring James Garner, Vera Miles and Robert Culp, is scheduled Feb. 27-28.

From the vault

Warner Archive has been slowly releasing titles from the Samuel Goldwyn library. This Tuesday, the archive is bringing out on DVD five films produced by Goldwyn. William Wyler’s 1936 “These Three,” starring Merle Oberon, Miriam Hopkins, Joel McCrea and an Oscar-nominated Bonita Granville, is a compelling drama — even though, to satisfy the Production Code, playwright Lilian Hellman had to change her controversial Broadway play “The Children’s Hour” from a drama about two lesbian teachers into a romantic triangle for the film.

Gary Cooper, Andrea Leeds and David Niven star in the stirring 1939 action-drama “The Real Glory,” which is set during the Moro Rebellion in the American-occupied Philippines. Coop also stars with Oberon in the lightweight 1938 comedy “The Cowboy and the Lady.”

The 1949 romantic melodrama “My Foolish Heart,” starring Susan Hayward and Dana Andrews, is one of those movies I love watching every time it’s on TV, even though the reviews weren’t very kind. But it’s a wonderful guilty pleasure. Hayward earned a lead actress Oscar nomination as a young woman who becomes pregnant and then marries her best friend’s fiancee. The title song was also nominated for an Oscar.

Andrews and Farley Granger star in the 1950 film noir crime thriller “Edge of Doom,” which features the haunting black-and-white cinematography of Harry Stradling and crisp direction by Mark Robson.

From the Hollywood Star Walk

Notable births this week include John Carradine (Feb. 5); Fabian (Feb. 6); Natalie Cole (Feb. 6); Zsa Zsa Gabor (Feb. 6); Elmo Lincoln (Feb. 6); Bob Marley (Feb. 6); Ramon Navarro (Feb. 7); Garth Brooks (Feb. 7); Chris Rock (Feb. 7); Jack Lemmon (Feb. 8); Audrey Meadows (Feb. 8); Lana Turner (Feb. 8); Ronald Colman (Feb. 9); Kathryn Grayson (Feb. 9); Carole King (Feb. 9); Carmen Miranda (Feb. 9); Stella Adler (Feb. 10); Jimmy Durante (Feb. 10); Alan Hale (Feb. 10); and Robert Wagner (Feb. 10).

The British gentleman

British actor Brian Aherne was handsome, dashing and debonair and made feminine hearts flutter in such films as 1933’s “Song of Songs,” 1936’s “Beloved Enemy,” 1940’s “Vigil in the Night” and the 1942 classic comedy “My Sister Eileen.” He earned an Oscar nomination for supporting actress as Emperor Maximilian in 1939’s “Juarez” and was married for six years to Oscar winner Joan Fontaine.

He aged gracefully into a popular character actor and retired after the dreadful 1967 Rosalind Russell comedy “Rosie.”

Aherne died in Venice, Fla., on Feb. 10, 1986. Here is the L.A. Times obit as it appeared in the paper on Feb. 11.