[singing] The moment I saw him smileI knew he was just my style.My only regret is we've never met,Though I dream of him all the while.
[singing] How can I ignore the Boy Next Door?I love him more than I can say.Doesn't try to please me, doesn't even tease me.And he never sees me glance his way.And though I'm heartsore, the Boy Next Door,Affection for me won't display.I just adore him, so I can't ignore him,The Boy Next Door.
[to Mr. Smith] Well, Papa, if losing a case depresses you so, why don't you quit practicing law and go into another line of business?
[to Mr. Smith, after he hangs up on a caller] You've just ruined Rose's chance to get married, that's all...That was Warren Sheffield calling long-distance to propose.
Well, I'll bet there isn't another girl in St. Louis who's had a Yale man call her long-distance just to inquire about her health.
[singing] Clang, clang, clang went the trolley,Ding, ding, ding went the bell.Zing, zing, zing went my heartstrings,As we started for Huntingdon dell.
[singing] I went to lose a jolly, hour on the trolley, and lost my heart insteadWith his light brown derby and his bright green tieHe was quite the handsomest of menI started to yen, then I counted to ten, then I counted to ten again.
John Truett. I've come here to ask you something...What do you mean hitting a nine-year-old child?...The next time you want to hit somebody, pick on somebody your own size. If there's anything I hate, loathe, despise, and abominate, it's a bully.
[after finding out that Tootie had lied about John Truett] You're the most deceitful, horrible, sinful creature I ever saw, and I don't ever want to have anything to do with you again.
[to her Grandpa] You're the first human being I've danced with all evening. It's our last dance in St. Louis. I feel like I'm going to cry.
Meet Me in St. Louis is a 1944
musical filmThe musical film is a film genre in which songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, though in some cases they serve merely as breaks in the storyline, often as elaborate...
from
Metro-Goldwyn-MayerMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
which tells the story of an American family living in
St. LouisSt. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
at the time of the
Louisiana Purchase ExpositionThe Louisiana Purchase Exposition, informally known as the Saint Louis World's Fair, was an international exposition held in St. Louis, Missouri, United States in 1904.- Background :...
World's FairWorld's fair, World fair, Universal Exposition, and World Expo are various large public exhibitions held in different parts of the world. The first Expo was held in The Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, London, United Kingdom, in 1851, under the title "Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All...
in 1904. It stars
Judy GarlandJudy Garland was an American actress and singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years and for her renowned contralto voice, she attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage...
,
Margaret O'BrienMargaret O'Brien is an American film and stage actress. Although her film career as a leading character was brief, she was one of the most popular child actors in cinema history...
,
Mary AstorMary Astor was an American actress. Most remembered for her role as Brigid O'Shaughnessy in The Maltese Falcon with Humphrey Bogart, Astor began her long motion picture career as a teenager in the silent movies of the early 1920s.She eventually made a successful transition to talkies, but almost...
,
Lucille BremerLucille Bremer was an American film actress and dancer.Bremer was born in Amsterdam, New York and began her career as a Rockette at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, aged 16. Bremer, along with fellow stars Vera-Ellen and June Allyson, appeared as a 'Pony Girl' in the Broadway musical Panama...
,
Tom DrakeTom Drake , born Alfred Sinclair Alderdice in Brooklyn, New York, was an American actor. Drake made films starting in 1940 and continuing until the mid-1970s, and also made TV acting appearances....
,
Leon AmesLeon Ames was an American film and television actor. He is best remembered for playing fatherly figures in such films as Meet Me in St. Louis , as Judy Garland's father, and in Little Women ....
,
Marjorie MainMarjorie Main was an American character actress, mainly at MGM, perhaps best known for her role as Ma Kettle in a series of ten Ma and Pa Kettle movies.-Early life and career:...
,
June LockhartJune Lockhart is an American actress, primarily in 1950s and 1960s television, but with memorable performances on stage and in film too. She is remembered as the mother in two TV series, Lassie and Lost in Space. She also portrayed Dr...
, and
Joan CarrollJoan Carroll was a successful child star in movies between 1938 and 1948.-Biography:Born as Joan Felt, she became an accomplished child actress, scoring personal successes on Broadway in the hit musical Panama Hattie, and the 1940 film, Primrose Path, as Ginger Rogers's younger sister...
.
The movie was adapted by
Irving BrecherIrving Brecher enjoyed early success as a screenwriter for the Marx Brothers; he was the only writer to get sole credit on a Marx Brothers film including At the Circus in 1939 and Go West in 1940...
and
Fred F. FinklehoffeFred Franklin Finklehoffe was an American film writer and producer. He was educated at Virginia Military Institute where he met his writing partner John Cherry Monks, Jr...
from a series of short stories by
Sally BensonSally Benson was an American screenwriter, who was also a prolific short story author, best known for her semi-autobiographical stories collected in Junior Miss and Meet Me in St...
, originally published in
The New Yorker magazine, and later in the novel
5135 Kensington. The film was directed by
Vincente MinnelliVincente Minnelli was an American stage director and film director, famous for directing such classic movie musicals as Meet Me in St. Louis, The Band Wagon, and An American in Paris. In addition to having directed some of the most famous and well-remembered musicals of his time, Minnelli made...
, who met Garland, on the set, and later married her. It was the second-highest grossing picture of the year, only behind
Going My WayGoing My Way is a 1944 film directed by Leo McCarey. It is a light-hearted musical comedy-drama about a new young priest taking over a parish from an established old veteran . Crosby sings five songs in the film. It was followed the next year by a sequel, The Bells of St. Mary's. This picture was...
.
Garland debuted the
standardsIn music, a standard is a tune or song of established popularity.-See also:* Blues standard* Jazz standard* Pop standard* Great American Songbook-Further reading:* Greatest Rock Standards, published by Hal Leonard ISBN 0793588391...
"
The Trolley Song"The Trolley Song" is a song written by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane and made famous by Judy Garland in the 1944 film Meet Me in St. Louis...
" and "
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" is a song introduced by Judy Garland in the 1944 MGM musical Meet Me in St. Louis. Frank Sinatra later recorded a version with modified lyrics, which has become more common than the original. The song was written by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane...
", which both became hits after the film was released.
Arthur FreedArthur Freed was born Arthur Grossman in Charleston, South Carolina. He was a Jewish American lyricist and a Hollywood film producer.- Biography :Freed began his career as a song-plugger and pianist in Chicago...
, the producer of the film, also wrote and performed one of the songs.
Plot
The backdrop for
Meet Me in St. Louis is St. Louis, Missouri on the brink of the 1904 World's Fair.
The Smith family lead a comfortable middle-class life. Mr. Alonzo Smith (Leon Ames) and Mrs. Anna Smith (Mary Astor) have four daughters: Rose (Lucille Bremer), Esther, Agnes, and Tootie; and a son, Lon Jr. (Henry H. Daniels, Jr.) Esther, the second eldest daughter (Judy Garland), is in love with the boy next door, John Truitt (Tom Drake), although he does not notice her at first. Rose is expecting a phone call in which she hopes to be proposed to by Warren Sheffield (Robert Sully).
Esther finally gets to meet John properly when he is a guest at the Smiths' house party, although her chances of romancing him don't go to plan when, after all the guests are gone and he is helping her turn off the gas lamps throughout the house, he tells her she uses the same perfume as his grandmother and that she has "a mighty strong grip for a girl".
On
HalloweenHallowe'en , also known as Halloween or All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night before All Saints' Day...
, Tootie (Margaret O'Brien) returns home injured, claiming that John Truitt attacked her. Without bothering to investigate, Esther confronts John, physically attacking him and scolding him for being a "bully". When Esther returns home, Tootie confesses that what really happened was that John was trying to protect Tootie and Agnes (Joan Carroll) from the police after a dangerous prank they pulled went wrong. Upon learning the truth, Esther immediately dashes to John's house next door to apologize, and they share their first kiss.
Mr. Smith announces to the family that he is to be sent to New York on business and eventually they will all move. The family is devastated and upset at the news of the move, especially Rose and Esther whose romances, friendships, and educational plans are threatened. Esther is also aghast because they will miss the World's Fair.
An elegant ball takes place on Christmas Eve. Esther is devastated when John cannot take her as his date, due to his leaving his tuxedo at the tailor's and being unable to get it back. But she is relieved when her grandfather (Harry Davenport) offers to take her instead. At the ball, Esther fills up a visiting girl's (Lucille Ballard, played by June Lockhart) dance card with losers because she thinks Lucille is a rival of Rose's. But when Lucille turns out to be interested in Lon, Esther switches her dance card with Lucille's and instead dances herself with the clumsy and awkward partners. After being rescued by Grandpa, she is overwhelmed when John unexpectedly turns up after somehow managing to obtain a tuxedo, and the pair dance together for the rest of the evening. Later on, John proposes to Esther and she accepts.
Esther returns home to an upset Tootie. She sings her "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." Tootie, however, does become more upset at the prospect of the family's move and runs downstairs, out into the cold to destroy the snowmen they have made. Mr. Smith sees his daughter's upsetting outburst from an upstairs window.
Mr. Smith later announces that the family will not leave St. Louis after all when he realises how much the move will affect his family. Warren declares his love for Rose, stating that they will marry at the first possible opportunity. And all of the family finally are able to attend the World's Fair.
The film ends at night with the entire family (including boyfriends-to-turn-into-presumed-husbands and Lon's new love interest) overlooking the fresh new lake at the center of the World's Fair just as the lights come up on the entire fair.
Cast
- Judy Garland
Judy Garland was an American actress and singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years and for her renowned contralto voice, she attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage...
as Esther Smith
- Margaret O'Brien
Margaret O'Brien is an American film and stage actress. Although her film career as a leading character was brief, she was one of the most popular child actors in cinema history...
as "Tootie" Smith
- Mary Astor
Mary Astor was an American actress. Most remembered for her role as Brigid O'Shaughnessy in The Maltese Falcon with Humphrey Bogart, Astor began her long motion picture career as a teenager in the silent movies of the early 1920s.She eventually made a successful transition to talkies, but almost...
as Mrs. Anna Smith
- Lucille Bremer
Lucille Bremer was an American film actress and dancer.Bremer was born in Amsterdam, New York and began her career as a Rockette at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, aged 16. Bremer, along with fellow stars Vera-Ellen and June Allyson, appeared as a 'Pony Girl' in the Broadway musical Panama...
as Rose Smith
- Tom Drake
Tom Drake , born Alfred Sinclair Alderdice in Brooklyn, New York, was an American actor. Drake made films starting in 1940 and continuing until the mid-1970s, and also made TV acting appearances....
as John Truitt
- Marjorie Main
Marjorie Main was an American character actress, mainly at MGM, perhaps best known for her role as Ma Kettle in a series of ten Ma and Pa Kettle movies.-Early life and career:...
as Katie the maid
- Leon Ames
Leon Ames was an American film and television actor. He is best remembered for playing fatherly figures in such films as Meet Me in St. Louis , as Judy Garland's father, and in Little Women ....
as Mr. Alonzo Smith
- Harry Davenport as Grandpa
- June Lockhart
June Lockhart is an American actress, primarily in 1950s and 1960s television, but with memorable performances on stage and in film too. She is remembered as the mother in two TV series, Lassie and Lost in Space. She also portrayed Dr...
as Lucille Ballard
- Henry H. Daniels Jr. as Alonzo "Lon" Smith Jr.
- Joan Carroll
Joan Carroll was a successful child star in movies between 1938 and 1948.-Biography:Born as Joan Felt, she became an accomplished child actress, scoring personal successes on Broadway in the hit musical Panama Hattie, and the 1940 film, Primrose Path, as Ginger Rogers's younger sister...
as Agnes Smith
- Hugh Marlowe
Hugh Marlowe was an American film, television, stage and radio actor.Marlowe was born Hugh Herbert Hipple in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and began his stage career in the 1930s at the Pasadena Playhouse in California. Marlowe was usually a secondary lead or supporting actor in the films he...
as Colonel Darly
- Robert Sully as Warren Sheffield
- Chill Wills
Chill Theodore Wills was an American film actor, and a singer in the Avalon Boys Quartet.-Biography:Wills was born in Seagoville, Texas in 1902. He was a performer from early childhood, forming and leading the Avalon Boys singing group in the 1930s...
as Mr. Neely
Music
The musical score for the film was adapted by
Roger EdensRoger Edens was a Hollywood composer, arranger and associate producer, and is considered one of the major creative figures in Arthur Freed's musical film production unit at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer during the "golden era of Hollywood".-Early career and work with Judy Garland:Edens was born in...
, who also served as an uncredited associate producer.
Georgie StollGeorgie Stoll was a musical director, conductor, composer and jazz violinist, associated with the Golden Age of MGM musicals and performers from the 1940s to 1960s. Born George Martin Stoll, he was also later credited as George E...
conducted the orchestrations of
Conrad SalingerConrad Salinger was an American arranger, orchestrator and composer, who studied classical composition at the Paris Conservatoire. He is credited with orchestrating nine productions on Broadway from 1931 to 1938, and over seventy-five motion pictures from 1931 to 1962...
. Some of the songs in the film are from around the time of the St Louis Exposition. Others were written for the movie.
- "Meet Me in St. Louis, Louis
"Meet Me in St. Louis, Louis", better known as just "Meet Me in St. Louis", is a popular song from 1904 which celebrated the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, i.e., the St. Louis World's Fair. The words were by Andrew B. Sterling; the music, by Kerry Mills. The song was published in 1904 in New York...
" Kerry MillsKerry Mills was an American composer of popular music during the Tin Pan Alley era. His stylistically diverse music ranged from ragtime to cakewalk to marches. He was most prolific between 1895 and 1918....
and Andrew B. SterlingAndrew B. Sterling was an American lyricist.Born in New York City, after he graduated from high school, he began writing songs and vaudevilles. An important event was his meeting with the composer Harry Von Tilzer in 1898...
, 1904
- "The Boy Next Door
"The Boy Next Door" is a 1944 popular song by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane.It was first introduced in the musical film Meet Me in St. Louis, where it was performed by Judy Garland....
", Hugh MartinHugh Martin was an American musical theater and film composer, arranger, vocal coach, and playwright. He is best known for his score for the 1944 MGM musical Meet Me In St...
and Ralph BlaneRalph Blane was an American composer, lyricist, and performer.-Life and career:Born Ralph Uriah Hunsecker in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, Blane was the son of grocery store owners. He attended Tulsa Central High School...
, 1944, performed by Judy Garland.
- "Skip to My Lou
"Skip to My Lou" is a popular children's song.Skip to My Lou was a popular partner-stealing dance from America's frontier period.According to :...
", Traditional, with section sung to the tunes of "Yankee Doodle"Yankee Doodle" is a well-known Anglo-American song, the origin of which dates back to the Seven Years' War. It is often sung patriotically in the United States today and is the state anthem of Connecticut...
" arranged by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane, 1944
- "I Was Drunk Last Night," performed by Margaret O'Brien.
- "Under the Bamboo Tree," Words and music by Robert Cole and The Johnson Bros., 1902, performed by Judy Garland and Margaret O'Brien.
- "Over the Banister," 19th-century melody adapted by Conrad Salinger
Conrad Salinger was an American arranger, orchestrator and composer, who studied classical composition at the Paris Conservatoire. He is credited with orchestrating nine productions on Broadway from 1931 to 1938, and over seventy-five motion pictures from 1931 to 1962...
, lyrics from the 1888 poem "Over the Banisters" by Ella Wheeler Wilcox adapted by Roger Edens (1944), performed by Judy Garland.
- "The Trolley Song
"The Trolley Song" is a song written by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane and made famous by Judy Garland in the 1944 film Meet Me in St. Louis...
", Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane, 1944, performed by Chorus and Judy Garland.
- "You and I," Nacio Herb Brown
Nacio Herb Brown was an American writer of popular songs, movie scores, and Broadway theatre music in the 1920s through the early 1950s.-Biography:...
and Arthur FreedArthur Freed was born Arthur Grossman in Charleston, South Carolina. He was a Jewish American lyricist and a Hollywood film producer.- Biography :Freed began his career as a song-plugger and pianist in Chicago...
, sung by Arthur Freed and D. Markas, mimed by the actors.
- "Goodbye, My Lady Love," (Instrumental), Joseph E. Howard, 1904.
- "Little Brown Jug
"Little Brown Jug" is a song written in 1869 by Joseph Winner, originally published credited to "Eastburn" .It was originally a drinking song. It remained well known as a folk song into the early 20th century. Like many songs which make reference to alcoholic beverages, it enjoyed new popularity...
", (Instrumental), Joseph WinnerJoseph Eastburn Winner was an American composer and music publisher. He is best known for his tune, "The Little Brown Jug" ....
, 1869.
- "Down at the Old Bull and Bush," (Instrumental), Harry von Tilzer
Harry Von Tilzer was a very popular United States songwriter.-Biography:Von Tilzer was born in Goshen, Indiana under the name Aaron Gumbinsky which he shortened to Harry Gumm. He ran away and joined a traveling circus at age 14, where he took his new name by adding 'Von' to his mother's maiden...
, 1903.
- "Home! Sweet Home!
"Home! Sweet Home!" is a song that has remained well-known for over 150 years. Adapted from American actor and dramatist John Howard Payne's 1823 opera Clari, Maid of Milan, the song's melody was composed by Englishman Sir Henry Bishop with lyrics by Payne...
", (Instrumental), Henry Bishop, 1823/1852.
- "Auld Lang Syne
"Auld Lang Syne" is a Scots poem written by Robert Burns in 1788 and set to the tune of a traditional folk song . It is well known in many countries, especially in the English-speaking world; its traditional use being to celebrate the start of the New Year at the stroke of midnight...
", (Instrumental)
- "The First Noel
The First Nowell is a traditional classical English carol, most likely from the 18th century, although possibly earlier...
", (Instrumental)
- "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" is a song introduced by Judy Garland in the 1944 MGM musical Meet Me in St. Louis. Frank Sinatra later recorded a version with modified lyrics, which has become more common than the original. The song was written by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane...
", Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane, 1944, performed by Judy Garland. The lyrics for "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" were originally different. The lyricist, Hugh Martin, wrote lyrics which referred to the soldiers fighting during World War Two. Judy Garland thought the song as written was too mean to sing to Margaret O'Brien, so he changed the lyrics. Further revisions were made when Frank SinatraFrancis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
objected to the generally downbeat tone of the piece. The revised version is the one most commonly performed.
Reception
Upon its 1944 release,
TimeTime is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
called it "one of the year's prettiest pictures"; "
TechnicolorTechnicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...
has seldom been more affectionately used than in its registrations of the sober mahoganies and tender muslins and benign gaslights of the period. Now & then, too, the film gets well beyond the charm of mere tableau for short flights in the empyrean of genuine domestic poetry. These triumphs are creditable mainly to the intensity and grace of Margaret O'Brien and to the ability of Director Minelli & Co. to get the best out of her." The film is a
New York Times Critics' Pick: after seeing it at the
Astor TheatreThe Astor Theatre was a New York City Broadway theatre from 1906 to 1925 in the United States of America. It was located at 1537 Broadway, at W. 45th Street. It was first managed by Wagenhals and Kemper, then by George M. Cohan and Sam Harris, and later by the Shuberts. From 1925 to 1972 it was a...
,
Bosley CrowtherBosley Crowther was a journalist and author who was film critic for The New York Times for 27 years. His reviews and articles helped shape the careers of actors, directors and screenwriters, though his reviews, at times, were unnecessarily mean...
called it a "a warm and beguiling picturization based on Sally Benson's memoirs of her folks." Crowther concludes: "As a comparable screen companion to
Life With FatherLife with Father is the title of a humorous autobiographical book of stories compiled in 1935 by Clarence Day, Jr., which was adapted in 1939 into a long-running Broadway play by Lindsay and Crouse, which was, in turn, made into a 1947 movie and a television series.-The book:Clarence Day wrote...
, we would confidently predict that
Meet Me in St. Louis has a future that is equally bright. In the words of one of the gentlemen, it is a ginger-peachy show."
In 2005,
Richard SchickelRichard Warren Schickel is an American author, journalist, and documentary filmmaker. He is a film critic for Time magazine, having also written for Life magazine and the Los Angeles Times Book Review....
included the film on Time.com's ALL-TIME 100 best films, saying "It had wonderful songs [and] a sweetly unneurotic performance by Judy Garland....Despite its nostalgic charm, Minnelli infused the piece with a dreamy, occasionally surreal, darkness and it remains, for some of us, the greatest of American movie musicals."
Accolades
The film was nominated for
Academy AwardsAn Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
for
Best Cinematography, ColorThe Academy Award for Best Cinematography is an Academy Award awarded each year to a cinematographer for work in one particular motion picture.-History:...
,
Best Music, Scoring of a Musical PictureThe Academy Award for Original Score is presented to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by the submitting composer.-Superlatives:...
, Best Music, Song (Ralph Blane and
Hugh MartinHugh Martin was an American musical theater and film composer, arranger, vocal coach, and playwright. He is best known for his score for the 1944 MGM musical Meet Me In St...
for "The Trolley Song") and
Best Writing, ScreenplayThe Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay is one of the Academy Awards, the most prominent film awards in the United States. It is awarded each year to the writer of a screenplay adapted from another source...
.
Margaret O'BrienMargaret O'Brien is an American film and stage actress. Although her film career as a leading character was brief, she was one of the most popular child actors in cinema history...
received an
Academy Juvenile AwardThe Academy Juvenile Award, also known as the Juvenile Oscar, was a Special Honorary Academy Award bestowed at the discretion of the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to specifically recognize juvenile performers under the age of eighteen for their "outstanding...
for her work that year, in which she appeared in several movies along with
Meet Me in St. Louis.
In 1994, the film has been deemed "culturally significant" by the
Library of CongressThe Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
and selected for preservation in the United States
National Film RegistryThe National Film Registry is the United States National Film Preservation Board's selection of films for preservation in the Library of Congress. The Board, established by the National Film Preservation Act of 1988, was reauthorized by acts of Congress in 1992, 1996, 2005, and again in October 2008...
.
The
American Film InstituteThe American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
ranked the film 10th on AFI's Greatest Movie Musicals; two songs from the film made AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs ("The Trolley Song" at #26 and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" at #76).
Trivia
- Judy Garland at first refused to appear in the film because she felt she had played too many childish roles and wanted to play an adult. She was also afraid that Margaret O'Brien would steal the film. After a talk with Vincente Minnelli, Garland finally agreed to play the role of Esther Smith. Later, she considered the role her favorite among her films.
- Producer Arthur Freed, fearing the movie was running too long, originally wanted to delete the Halloween sequence during the second act of the film. His reasoning for cutting the scene was based on the fact that it was an entity in itself and could be excised from the film without much difficulty. However, after showing the film to test audience reaction in previews, it was found that audiences loved the scene. So Freed was forced to look elsewhere for a scene to cut, ultimately deciding to cut one of Judy Garland's musical numbers.
- The musical number deleted from the film was a song called Boys and Girls Like You and Me, which was sung by Judy Garland's character (Esther Smith) to Tom Drake's character (John Truitt), just after the trolley number, as Esther and John tour the grounds of the World's Fair, still under construction. The cut scene has supposedly been lost, except for a glimpse of it during the film's theatrical trailer. In the final act of the film, as the Smith family attends the opening of the World's Fair, John makes a joking and seemingly out-of-place comment to Esther about preferring the fair ground "when it was still a swamp". This line is a reference to their earlier encounter in the cut scene. The song was originally planned to appear in the stage musical Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
before being cut from this. It was then planned for Meet Me in St. Louis before being cut. Next, the song was planned for Take me out to the Ball Game"Take Me Out to the Ball Game" is a 1908 Tin Pan Alley song by Jack Norworth and Albert Von Tilzer which has become the unofficial anthem of baseball, although neither of its authors had attended a game prior to writing the song. The song is traditionally sung during the seventh-inning stretch of...
, however it was once more cut. The song was eventually used in the musical Cinderella, although it was not included in any of the broadcast versions. Garland's daughter, Liza Minelli, performed the song on the Tonight Show.
- Hugh Marlowe's character of Colonel Darby was originally given a larger role in early drafts of the script. More scenes involving Esther and Rose Smith's pursuit of the older Darby were written, including one scene involving the sisters breaking into his hotel suite only to discover that he is married. Nevertheless, Arthur Freed felt the character was not necessary to the plot and his role was reduced to a small casual scene in which he innocently flirts with Rose Smith.
- The success of the film encouraged MGM to begin a sequel and make tentative plans for a series of technicolor films about the Smith family, much like the popular Andy Hardy
Andy Hardy was a fictional character played by Mickey Rooney in an MGM film series from 1937 to 1958. Spanning over 20 years, the 16 movies were based on characters in the play Skidding by Aurania Rouverol....
series. The sequel, called Meet Me in Manhattan, was apparently written chronicling the Smith family's eventual move to New York, which happened to Sally Benson's family in real life. The film was abandoned in its early stages.
Adaptations
- Meet Me in St. Louis was remade
A remake is a piece of media based primarily on an earlier work of the same medium.-Film:The term "remake" is generally used in reference to a movie which uses an earlier movie as the main source material, rather than in reference to a second, later movie based on the same source...
in 1959 for television, starring Jane PowellJane Powell is an American singer, dancer and actress.After rising to fame as a singer in her home state of Oregon, Powell was signed to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer while still in her teens...
, Jeanne CrainJeanne Elizabeth Crain was an American actress.-Early life:Crain was born in Barstow, California, to George A. Crain, a school teacher, and Loretta Carr; she was of Irish heritage on her mother's side, and of English and distant French descent on her father's...
, Patty DukeAnna Marie "Patty" Duke is an American actress of stage, film, and television. First becoming famous as a child star, winning an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress at age 16, and later starring in her eponymous sitcom for three years, she progressed to more mature roles upon playing Neely...
, Walter PidgeonWalter Davis Pidgeon was a Canadian actor, who starred in many motion pictures, including Mrs...
, Ed WynnEd Wynn was a popular American comedian and actor noted for his Perfect Fool comedy character, his pioneering radio show of the 1930s, and his later career as a dramatic actor....
, Tab HunterTab Hunter is an American actor, singer, former teen idol and author who has starred in over forty major films.-Background:...
and Myrna LoyMyrna Loy was an American actress. Trained as a dancer, she devoted herself fully to an acting career following a few minor roles in silent films. Originally typecast in exotic roles, often as a vamp or a woman of Asian descent, her career prospects improved following her portrayal of Nora Charles...
. It was directed by George SchaeferGeorge Louis Schaefer was a director of television and Broadway theatre from the 1950s to the 1990s.-Life and career:...
from the original Brecher and Finklehoffe screenplay.
- Meet Me in St. Louis was remade
A remake is a piece of media based primarily on an earlier work of the same medium.-Film:The term "remake" is generally used in reference to a movie which uses an earlier movie as the main source material, rather than in reference to a second, later movie based on the same source...
again for television in 1966. This was a non-musical version starring Shelley FabaresMichele Ann Marie "Shelley" Fabares is an American actress and singer. Fabares is known for her roles as Donna Reed's oldest child, Mary Stone, on The Donna Reed Show , and as Craig T. Nelson's love interest and eventual wife, Christine Armstrong Fox, on the sitcom Coach. She also was Elvis...
, Celeste HolmCeleste Holm is an American stage, film, and television actress, known for her Academy Award-winning performance in Gentleman's Agreement , as well as for her Oscar-nominated performances in Come to the Stable and All About Eve...
, Larry Merrill, Judy Land, Rita Shaw and Morgan BrittanyMorgan Brittany is an American film and television actress. She is possibly best known for her role in the 1980s primetime soap opera Dallas, where she portrayed Katherine Wentworth, the scheming younger half-sister of Pamela Ewing and Cliff Barnes.-Early career:Under her birth name, Brittany...
. It was directed by Alan D. Courtney from a script written by Sally Benson herself. This was to be a pilot for a TV series, but no network picked it up.
- A Broadway musical
Meet Me in St. Louis is a musical based on the 1944 film of the same title, about a family living in St. Louis, Missouri on the eve of the 1904 World's Fair....
based on the film was produced in 1989, with additional songs.
The late-19th century vintage carousel in this movie could be found at Bob-Lo Amusement Park in
Amherstburg, OntarioAmherstburg is a Canadian town near the mouth of the Detroit River in Essex County, Ontario. It is approximately south of the U.S...
until the park closed in September 1993. It was dismantled and sold to private collectors.
External links
- Meet Me in St. Louis from TheJudyRoom.com
- Meet Me in St. Louis at Filmsite.org
FilmSite.org is a website operated by Tim Dirks since 1996, and owned by AMC since 2008. It contains over 300 reviews of what Dirks judges to be the "greatest films" of all time. In some cases, the review is scene-by-scene. It also contains many other pages offering an introduction to cinema...
.
- Meet Me in St. Louis at the Museum of Modern Art.