TCM Schedule for Thurs, Jan 22, 2026: Mysteries (Hildegarde Withers-Miss Marple) / Star of the Month, Jean Arthur
Fictional character Hildegarde Withers is a school teacher and amateur crime-solver in several novels, short stories and films. She was created by American mystery author Stuart Palmer (1905–1968). Miss Marple is a fictional character created by Agatha Christie. An amateur consulting detective, she is one of Christie's best-known characters.
DAYTIME (EST)
6:00 AM Penguin Pool Murder (1932)
A feisty school teacher sets out to solve a murder in an aquarium.
Dir: George Archainbaud Cast: Edna May Oliver, James Gleason, Robert Armstrong
7:15 AM Murder on the Blackboard (1934)
A schoolteacher matches wits with police when they both try to solve a pretty music teacher's murder.
Dir: George Archainbaud Cast: Edna May Oliver, James Gleason, Bruce Cabot
8:30 AM Murder on a Honeymoon (1935)
A schoolteacher jumps into detective mode when a fellow airplane passenger gets sick and dies.
Dir: Lloyd Corrigan Cast: Edna May Oliver, James Gleason, Lola Lane
9:45 AM Murder on a Bridle Path (1936)
A schoolteacher matches wits with police to solve the murder of a society bride in Central Park.
Dir: Edward Killy Cast: James Gleason, Helen Broderick, Louise Latimer
11:00 AM The Plot Thickens (1936)
A schoolteacher suspects a deadly link between two seemingly unrelated murders.
Dir: Ben Holmes Cast: James Gleason, Zasu Pitts, Owen Davis Jr.
12:15 PM Forty Naughty Girls (1938)
A schoolteacher turns detective to solve a theatrical murder.
Dir: Edward Cline Cast: James Gleason, Zasu Pitts, Marjorie Lord
1:30 PM Murder She Said (1961)
When nobody will believe she witnessed a murder, an elderly sleuth takes a job as a maid to find clues.
Dir: George Pollock Cast: Margaret Rutherford, Arthur Kennedy, Muriel Pavlow
3:00 PM Murder at the Gallop (1963)
Elderly sleuth Miss Marple suspects foul play when an old friend is supposedly scared to death by a cat.
Dir: George Pollock Cast: Margaret Rutherford, Robert Morley, Flora Robson
4:30 PM Murder Most Foul (1964)
Elderly sleuth Miss Marple joins a small-town theatre to investigate a murder.
Dir: George Pollock Cast: Margaret Rutherford, Ron Moody, Charles Tingwell
6:15 PM Murder Ahoy (1964)
Elderly sleuth Miss Marple takes to the seas to investigate murder on a naval training ship.
Dir: George Pollock Cast: Margaret Rutherford, Lionel Jeffries, Charles Tingwell
PRIME TIME, LATE NIGHT, EARLY MORNING
8:00 PM The Devil and Miss Jones (1941)
A department store owner goes undercover as an employee to thwart union activists.
Dir: Sam Wood Cast: Jean Arthur, Robert Cummings, Charles Coburn
10:00 PM The More the Merrier (1943)
The World War II housing shortage brings three people together for an unlikely romance.
Dir: George Stevens Cast: Jean Arthur, Joel McCrea, Charles Coburn
12:00 AM A Foreign Affair (1948)
A prim Congresswoman gets caught up in the romantic decadence of post-war Germany.
Dir: Billy Wilder Cast: Jean Arthur, Marlene Dietrich, John Lund
2:15 AM The Impatient Years (1944)
A feuding couple re-creates their courtship in hopes of falling back in love.
Dir: Irving Cummings Cast: Jean Arthur, Lee Bowman, Charles Coburn
4:00 AM Third Finger, Left Hand (1940)
A man-shy fashion editor pretends to be married until a suitor claims to be her husband.
Dir: Robert Z. Leonard Cast: Myrna Loy, Melvyn Douglas, Raymond Walburn
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Edna May Oliver in 1940 (photo credit: László Josef Willinger)
Edna May Oliver! James Gleason! Margaret Rutherford! Jean Arthur!
And there are three Jean Arthur films featuring Charles Coburn tonight. For anyone who hasn't caught The More the Merrier, in which Jean Arthur finds herself sharing a D.C. apartment with wealthy Charles Coburn and hunky Joel McCrea, it's a must-see.
