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Funny Ladies Introduction
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Carol Burnett once observed, in a TCM tribute to Lucille Ball, that “In Hollywood,
all the top comics were men.” Even so, the ravishing redhead lauded by
Burnett as the “Empress of Comedy” emerged as one of the funniest performers
of all time in her television sitcoms and such movies as The Long, Long Trailer
(1954).
The dazzling lineup of female talent in our tribute proves that Ball had
plenty of company in demonstrating that femininity and uproarious comedy are
not mutually exclusive. Burnett herself became a case in
point with her scene-stealing film debut in Who’s Been
Sleeping in My Bed? (1963), a TCM premiere.
Sparkling star turns in our lineup include Mae West in My Little Chickadee (1940), with the queen of
double entendres playing Flower Belle Lee, a floozy who tricks con man W.C. Fields into marriage. The Miracle
of Morgan’s Creek (1944) offered the irrepressible Betty Hutton one of her funniest and most daring roles
as Trudy Kockenlocker, a small-town girl who becomes pregnant after a wild night on the town.
Among the
showy supporting performances are Margaret Dumont’s put-upon dowager in A Night at the Opera (1935)
and Rosalind Russell’s sharp-tongued busybody in The Women (1939). Filling out the festival is Captured
on Film: The True Story of Marion Davies (2001), a documentary about the actress whose impressive
comic gifts were overshadowed by her private life.
 
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31 Days of Oscar Highlights for Feb. 27
Kate Winslet & Leonardo DiCaprio star in the TCM premiere of Titanic (1997), winner of 11 Oscars®. Other honored films being shown are Gold Diggers of 1935, Tom Jones (1963) and From Here to Eternity (1953).
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