Meet Me in St. Louis

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This article is about the 1944 film. For other uses, see Meet Me in St. Louis (disambiguation).
Meet Me in St. Louis

Theatrical poster
Directed by Vincente Minnelli
Produced by Arthur Freed
Written by Story:
Sally Benson
Screenplay:
Irving Brecher
Fred F. Finklehoffe
Starring Judy Garland
Margaret O'Brien
Mary Astor
Lucille Bremer
Tom Drake
Marjorie Main
Cinematography George J. Folsey
Editing by Albert Akst
Distributed by MGM
Release date(s) November 28, 1944
Running time 113 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $1,707,561
estimated.

Meet Me in St. Louis is a 1944 romantic musical film from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer which tells the story of four sisters living in St. Louis at the time of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition World's Fair in 1904.

It stars Judy Garland, Margaret O'Brien, Mary Astor, Lucille Bremer, Tom Drake, Leon Ames, Marjorie Main, June Lockhart, and Joan Carroll.

The movie was adapted by Irving Brecher and Fred F. Finklehoffe from a series of short stories by Sally Benson, originally published in The New Yorker magazine and later in the novel 5135 Kensington.

The film was directed by Vincente Minnelli, who met his future wife, Judy Garland, on the set. In the film, Garland debuted the standards "The Trolley Song" and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" which became hits after the film was released.

Arthur Freed, the producer of the film also wrote and performed one of the songs (see below). It was the second-highest grossing picture of the year, only behind Going My Way.

Contents

[edit] 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 and Mrs Smith have have four daughters, 19-year-old Rose, 17-year-old Esther, 12-year-old Agnes and 5-year-old Tootie and a son, 18-year-old Lon. Esther, the second eldest daughter (Judy Garland), is in love with the boy next door, John Truett (Tom Drake), although he does not notice her at first. Rose is expecting to be proposed to by Warren Sheffield (Robert Sully).

At Halloween, Tootie returns home injured, claiming that John Truett 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 what really happened. John was trying to protect Tootie and Agnes from the police after a prank went wrong.

Papa announces he is to be sent to New York on business and eventually they will all move. The family is devastated and upset 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 fills up another girl's dance card with losers because she thinks the girl is a rival of Rose's. But when the girl turns out to be interested in Lon, Esther has to switch dance cards and dance with clumsy and awkward partners. She is relieved to be rescued by her grandfather and then John who eventually turns up after retrieving his suit from the cleaners.

Papa announces that the Smith family will not leave St. Louis after all when he realises how much the move will affect his family. John declares his love for Esther and Warren declares his love for Rose and together they state that they will marry at the first possible opportunity. And all of the family finally are able to attend the World's Fair.

[edit] Music

The musical score for the film was adapted by Roger Edens, who also served as an uncredited associate producer. Georgie Stoll conducted the orchestrations of Conrad Salinger.

Some of the songs in the film are from around the time of the St Louis Exposition. Others were written for the movie.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Awards and nominations

The film was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Cinematography, Color, Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture, Best Music, Song (Ralph Blane and Hugh Martin for "The Trolley Song") and Best Writing, Screenplay. Margaret O'Brien received an Academy Juvenile Award for her work that year, in which she appeared in several movies along with Meet Me in St. Louis.

The film has been deemed "culturally significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. In 2005, Time.com named it one of the 100 best movies of the last 80 years.

In 2004 the AFI ranked "The Trolley Song" and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Songs at #26 and #76, respectively; in 2006 the film was ranked #10 on the American Film Institute's list of best musicals.

[edit] Trivia

  • Judy Garland at first refused to do the film because 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, Judy finally agreed to play the role of Esther Smith. Later, she considered the role her favorite among her films.
  • During the shooting of the large dinner scene (where one of the older sisters receives a long distance call from her beau in New York), Margaret O'Brien caused mischief on the set. She would change the cutlery around and put two napkin rings beside a plate. The prop man would say, "Please, Maggie dear," when he would liked to have shaken her.
  • The lyrics for "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" were originally different. The lyricist, Hugh Martin, wrote different lyrics, which mentioned the Smith family leaving St. Louis and going to live in New York. Judy Garland thought it too mean to sing it to Margaret O'Brien, so the lyrics were changed.

[edit] Adaptations

  • Meet Me in St. Louis was remade again for television in 1966. This was a non-musical version starring Shelley Fabares, Celeste Holm, Larry Merrill, Judy Land, Rita Shaw and Morgan 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 based on the film was produced in 1989, with additional songs.

[edit] Source material

Benson, Sally. The New Yorker

  • "5135 Kensington: January, 1904" Jan 31, 1942 - Tootie and Grandpa visit the fairgrounds
  • "5135 Kensington: February, 1904" Feb 8, 1942 - Mr. and Mrs. Smith go out and the girls have a gay time at home
  • "5135 Kensington: March, 1904" Mar 28, 1942 - The family visits the World's Fair
  • "5135 Kensington: April, 1904" Apr 11, 1942 - Not moving to New York
  • "5135 Kensington: May, 1904" May 23, 1942 - A last look at the Fair

The Benson house at 5135 Kensington Avenue, St. Louis, Mo. [1] no longer exists: after being sold it fell into disrepair, eventually became uninhabitable, and was demolished in 1994 [2].

[edit] Cultural Influences

  • In the movie, Sex and the City, Carrie Bradshaw's assistant buys Carrie a copy of the film.
  • Also featured in the movie "The Family Stone." Suzanna watches the movie and the part where Judy Garland sings "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" is shown

[edit] External links

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