Inspired by weekend family programming in movie theaters across the country from the 1930s into the 1950s, TCM is offering similar lineups of movies, shorts and cartoons on Saturdays throughout the month of June.

Whether it was Tarzan or cowboy adventures, travelogues or "how to" shorts, Popeye cartoons or adventure serials, in the old days there was something to entertain everyone from the very young to the very old. So gather up your children, grandkids, nieces, nephews and neighborhood kids--not to mention friends and relatives old enough to remember the real thing--and enjoy our "Saturday Morning Matinees"!

Here's a sample rundown showing our programming for Saturday, June 2, with similar lineups to follow on June 9, 16, 23 and 30:

A Day at the Beach (1938) is one of a series of MGM cartoons featuring "The Captain and the Kids," developed from the Rudolph Dirks comic strip The Katzenjammer Kids. In this outing, filmed in sepia tones, the family has misadventures at the beach involving a stubborn umbrella, a sand castle, inebriated sea life and a bottomless boat. Friz Freleng directed, and voice talent includes Billy Bletcher as the Captain and Mel Blanc as John Silver.

Tennis Technique (1932) is an eight-minute short designed to help you improve your style on the court. The MGM travelogue Colorful Bombay (1937), narrated by James FitzPatrick, offers a nine-minute tour of the most populous city of India in the days when it was still under British control. Among the locations visited are the Taj Hotel, a racetrack, a fishing area and a food marketplace.

Scarlet River (1933) is an hour-long RKO Western produced by David O. Selznick and scored by Max Steiner in the days before these two powerhouses collaborated on Gone With the Wind (1939). The film is part of a series of "Poverty Row" Westerns of the 1930s starring Tom Keene. Otto Brower directed this story of a cowboy star (Keene) who shoots a film at a ranch where he discovers the foreman (Lon Chaney, Jr., then billed as Creighton Chaney) is rustling the cattle. Myrna Loy, Joel McCrea and other actors appear as themselves in a scene shot in the RKO commissary.

The Enemy Within (1938) is the penultimate episode (Chapter 12) in the popular "Red Barry" serial produced by Universal Pictures and based on the Will Gould comic strip distributed to newspapers by King Features Syndicated, Inc., known for their popular comic strips throughout the years. Buster Crabbe, who also starred in four other Universal serials, plays Barry, an undercover police detective who is tracking $2 million in stolen bonds. Edna Sedgewick costars as Natacha, and the serial was directed by Ford Beebe and Alan James.

Strong to the Finich (1934) is part of the series of 109 "Popeye the Sailor" cartoons produced from 1933 to 1942 by Fleischer Studios for Paramount Pictures. The studio was founded by Polish-American brothers Max and Dave Fleischer, who adapted Popeye from a comic strip and turned the character into one of the most successful in cartoon history, at times even eclipsing Disney's Mickey Mouse. The title of the cartoon comes from a lyric in Popeye's trademark song, "I'm strong to the finich 'cause I eats my spinach!"

Tarzan and the Mermaids (1948) is the last of 12 Tarzan features to star Johnny Weissmuller as the "Ape Man" who sprang from the imagination of Edgar Rice Burroughs. (Lex Barker would be the next actor in the Tarzan succession, and Weissmuller would move on to playing Jungle Jim.) The plot of this installment has Tarzan and Jane (Brenda Joyce) coming to the aid of a native girl facing a forced marriage to a con man (Fernando Wagner) who poses as a god. The Tarzan series, which began at MGM, had by now settled at RKO Radio Pictures.

What Price Safety! (1938) is a 22-minute dramatic short in the "Crime Does Not Pay" series, this one focusing on a construction company facing ruin because a racketeer is sabotaging its buildings with plans to take over the business. Probably not by coincidence, MGM began its "Crime Does Not Pay" shorts in 1935, as the industry's Production Code was newly in force and a sense of moral responsibility was expected in films. The series encompassed 50 shorts and continued to be produced through 1947.

The remaining Tarzan movies in our "Saturday Morning Matinees," all featuring Lex Barker, are Tarzan's Magic Fountain (1949), Tarzan and the Slave Girl (1950), Tarzan's Peril (1951) and Tarzan's Savage Fury (1952). Other Westerns, each starring Tom Keene, running about an hour and released in 1932, are The Saddle Buster, Beyond the Rockies, Come on Danger! and Freighters of Destiny (1931).

More "Popeye" cartoons in our lineup, all released in 1934, are Shiver Me Timbers!, Axe Me Another, A Dream Walking and The Two-Alarm Fire. Other cartoons include Sleepy-Time Squirrel (1954), Papa Gets the Bird (1940), Three Little Pups (1953) and Cellbound (1955). Short subjects cover a wide range of topics as reflected in such titles as Poetry of Nature (1939), More About Nostradamus (1941), The Monroe Doctrine (1939), How I Play Golf by Bobby Jones No. 8 - The Brassie (1931), So You're Going to Be a Father (1947), Nertsery Rhymes (1933), Color Scales (1932), How to Eat (1939), Mendelssohn's Wedding March (1939) and The Old Grey Mayor (1935).

by Roger Fristoe