Musical Madness: Meet Me in St. Louis

For some reason I've had the urge to re-examine some of my favourite Hollywood musicals of yesteryear.  I don't know if it's the summer, or that it seems like a lot of them have been turning up on TCM lately, but I just feel like doing a feature on them.  There are a lot of great musicals from the thirties, but for my money's worth nothing tops the Technicolour masterpieces came out during the forties and fifties.  This era of movie musicals was helmed by some of the greatest singers and dancers of all time, and not co-incidentally most will come up in more than one film.  But, enough about the genre, let's start a look at our first feature... which as the title espouses is Vincente Minnelli's charming musical on family life in turn of the century St. Louis, Meet Me In St. Louis (1944). 

Meet Me in St. Louis is most famous for the song Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, which the incomparable Judy Garland sings towards the end of the film.  As a result it is often unjustly labelled as a Christmas film (much like It's a Wonderful Life), even though only a quarter of the film takes place during the Christmas season.  It could just as easily be labelled a Halloween film or a summer film, or even a turn of the century party film by that assumption.  In truth, the film tells the story of a year in the life of the Smith family as St. Louis gears up for the 1904 World Fair.  We see them first in summer, then in fall (Halloween to be exact), in winter (Christmas), and then in Spring when the fair finally begins. It stars Judy Garland as second born daughter Esther Smith who is trying to win the affections of John Truett (Tom Drake), the cute boy next door.  Older sister Rose ( Lucille Bremer ) is trying to get her long distance beau Warren to propose to her.  Only son Lon (Henry H. Daniels Jr.) is longs to be with Rose's rival .  Second youngest sister Agnes (Joan Carroll) is the picture of a know-it-all kid.  Youngest sister Tootie (Margaret O'Brian in a particularly irritating performance) obsesses about death.  Crotchety father Alonzo (Leon Ames) is trying to get ahead at the office.  Equally crotchety housekeeper Katie (Marjorie Main) is constantly antagonizing Alonzo. Mother Anna (Mary Astor) tries to appease her cranky husband and keep the peace.  Kind-hearted Grandfather (Harry Davenport) is always there with wise words for all. 

Instead of a grand sweeping story involving all the characters we are entertained with several vignettes which show each character's arch throughout.  Towards the end a plot twist arises that involves the entire family, and indeed it is the only real crisis of the film.  But, being a Hollywood musical it is resolved and all is happy again by the end.  As I have previously mentioned both Christmas and Halloween are highlighted in the film.  What a treat it is to get a picture of what those holidays were like back in the "good old days"  when people danced the reel at Christmas balls and Halloween was more about tricks than treats.  Despite the charm and the wholesome family values espoused in this film it has it's eyebrow raising moments.  The most shocking of which being the Halloween sequence, which starts out cute enough but by the end it is revealed that the two youngest Smith girls have committed a serious crime,  which probably resulted in several people getting injured and serious property damage.  What do you think the punishment is?  No ice cream with their cake and Esther scolding them! Whatever happened to the strap?  Or, forcing kids to spend a day in prison?  Esther doesn't even do it because of the people they probably hurt or the thousands of dollars of property damage.  It's because Tootie accused John Truett of trying to kill her.

Like most musical the story is secondary to the musical numbers, and there are definitely some memorable ones in this one.  Other than have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas the standouts in this film with have to be the Trolley Song, Skip-to-my Lou, and Under the Bamboo Tree (probably the only time Margaret O'Brian is partially tolerable on screen).  It also has its share of schmaltzy numbers that kind of throw the momentum off track a bit (there's at least one in the majority of the films I'm about to talk about).  In the case of Meet Me In St. Louis the two offenders are The Boy Next Door (too syrupy for my tastes) and You and I (a duet between Ames and Astor which brings the film's momentum to a screeching halt). 

Please don't let a couple of lacklustre songs and an annoying child star keep you from watching this film.  Even though the quaint wholesome quality of the era portrayed here can be off putting to someone used to modern films, it is well worth the time and effort.  Judy Garland gives one of her greatest performances and is a joy to watch during the musical sequences, and the charms of the film shine through.  I haven't even started on the magnificent Victorian art design, especially the Smith home which is a character in itself.  If you have't seen this film, do yourself a favour and watch it.  It's a family friendly starting point for classic musicals.

Here's a sample of the Trolley Song...