Featuring one of the happiest holiday classics ever, the Bosque Film Society presents 1944’s MGM Christmas musical “Meet Me In St. Louis” for its monthly members-only 4th Annual Christmas Party at The Cliftex Theatre in Clifton
By BRYAN DAVIS
Bosque Film Society Historian & Founding Board Member
“Meet me in St. Louis, Louis, meet me at the fair. Don’t tell me the lights are shining, any place but there.”
At the 4th Annual Christmas Party, the Bosque Film Society screened the MGM 1944 classic Christmas musical “MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS” December 19 at The Cliftex Theatre in Clifton.
When Rotten Tomatoes picked the 100 best Christmas movies of all time it covered every genre of film, from horror (think Black Christmas), to traditional and nostalgic (think Miracle on 34th Street and It’s A Wonderful Life), to the annual specials on television that many of us came to love as children (think Charlie Brown Christmas and Frosty the Snowman), then there’s comedy (think Elf, Bad Santa, and or National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation) and there’s what I’d call contemporary (think Home Alone and Die Hard). And the selection process wasn’t just a bunch of snooty old film critics, it was the infamous Tomatometer scoring we’re all familiar with.
But only one film scored a perfect 100 percent, and it wasn’t any of those I just mentioned. It’s the movie we’re screening tonight, the MGM Technicolor classic from 1944, Meet Me in St. Louis. And the critics were pretty harsh on these movies, White Christmas, our film from last year at this time, only had a 74 percent rating.
A little surprised? I was. Growing up, “Meet Me in St. Louis” was a movie I remember the women in my family being glued to during its annual holiday showing in TV. But musicals didn’t really appeal to little boys, unless it had Wicked Witch and flying monkeys. So I never paid much it much mind. But I’ve revisited the film again to watch it with a fresh eye and prepare for tonight’s introduction. Friends, this is a beautiful movie, plain and simple.
You know I don’t know about the technical aspects of filmmaking like Brett Voss, Matt Wallace and Will Godby. I’m more about personalities…the actors, directors, and such. So that’s what I’ll concentrate on here. And there are plenty of fascinating facts to share about this timeless classic.
The movie musical was big business in Hollywood for at least three decades. During hard times faced by most Americans during the Great Depression, people were hungry for an escape of the daily grind of living through the big screen, as they did here at the Cliftex. And the movie musical was the ultimate escape. Beautiful people in beautiful places the public could only dream of ever seeing. Then in the 1940s, World War II came along and folks sought escapism again from the dreaded news around the world. It was towards the end of the war in Europe and Japan that Meet Me in St. Louis had its premiere in St. Louis in November 1944. And audiences loved it! It was the hugest hit of the decade for MGM, and second in box office receipts only to another musical in 1945, Going My Way.
The film was based upon a series of short stories by Sally Benson which was originally published in The New Yorker magazine. It was partly based upon Benson’s own memories of growing up in St. Louis. Action revolves around the Smith family, their son and three daughters, over the course of a year leading up to the World’s Fair in St. Louis in the spring of 1904. It isn’t really a Christmas movie any more than it’s a Halloween movie, but most of us remember it for the Christmas sequence of the film.
So, Rotten Tomatoes picked it as the best Christmas movie of all time. But what about the real film historians? We’re all familiar with the American Film Institute. They don’t leave their ranking of films to us common, everyday movie fans. But they did pick the 100 Best Movie Musicals of All Time, and I found the list very interesting. I’m going to just highlight the Top Ten.
Coming in at Number 10 is tonight’s film, Meet Me in St. Louis. Now quickly the rest, number nine An American in Paris, number eight My Fair Lady, number seven A Star Is Born (1954 version), number six Mary Poppins, number five Cabaret, number four The Sound of Music, number three The Wizard of Oz, number two West Side Story (1961 version), and any guesses on Number One? It’s Singing in the Rain, which we have also screened this year.
What I wanted to point out is this…half of these films, five of the 10, have a connection. A very close connection. Meet Me in St. Louis and An American in Paris are both directed by Vincent Minelli. Judy Garland is the star of three of the best movie musicals of all time in three decades, The Wizard of Oz in 1930s, Meet Me in St. Louis in 1940s, and A Star Is Born in 1950s. And the fifth connection to this list, Liza Minelli, the daughter of Vincent Minelli and Judy Garland, was the star of Cabaret, which won more Oscars than The Godfather in 1973.
The film’s music is also wonderful. In fact, two songs from the film are among the American Film Institute’s 100 Best Movie Songs. At Number 76 is “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” and at Number 26, “The Trolley Song.” Judy Garland had three more numbers in the AFI’s best movie songs of all time, they are “Get Happy,” “The Man That Got Away,” and the Number One Movie Song of All Time…“Over the Rainbow” from The Wizard of Oz.
Now about the major players of the film…
Judy Garland: I think we know her story. Her role as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz cemented her place in film history as the most iconic screen role of all time. Judy Garland is in a league of her own in the annals of the movie musical. And her reputation only grows with time. Had she not suffered so from addictions, one can only guess what she might have accomplished. Even so, her legacy is insured from the handful of film classics she starred in, including tonight’s feature. At the time, she was an MGM contract player, 21-years-old, and fought to not be in the film. It had been five years since Dorothy, and she wanted to leave playing a teenager behind and transition into more adult roles. Her character in the film is 17. But Vincent Minelli insisted on having Garland and she was forced to do the movie and was sometimes difficult on set. But in later years, she would say it was one of her favorite films.
Margaret O’Brien: We’re typically an older crowd, so many of you may be familiar with Margaret O’Brien. She was already a very big star when she played Tootie Smith, the youngest of the films sisters in the film. Only seven years old, she was second-billed to Garland and is still considered one of filmdom’s greatest child actors. She’s often been called “The best crier in Hollywood history.” In fact, she was awarded a non-completive Juvenile Academy Award in 1945 for her role in this film. The award was given only 10 times between 1935 and 1961, and other winners included Shirley Temple, Deanna Durbin, Mickey Rooney, and Judy Garland for The Wizard of Oz. O’Brien was also a notorious scene-stealer. Mary Astor, who plays her mother in the movie, once said, “You never want to do a scene with a dog or with Margaret O’Brien.”
Another remarkable thing about this film is that it will be 80 years old in 2024, and two actors from the film are still living. Margaret O’Brien, now 86, is often referred to as “The Last Star from Hollywood’s Golden Age.” The other surviving cast member you may be familiar with is June Lockhart, who plays Lucille Ballard in the film. Lockhart would go on to great television star fame in the 1950s as the mother on Lassie, and in the 1960s as another famous mom, Dr. Maurine Robinson in Lost in Space. Lockhart, who is still working, will turn 99 next June.
Mary Astor: Who plays the mother in the film, was Hollywood royalty at the time she filmed Meet Me in St. Louis. She had already won an Oscar playing opposite Bette Davis in The Great Lie. Mary Astor was a pro from the old school and quickly put an end to Judy Garland’s unprofessionalism and tardiness on the set when the directors and producers couldn’t control her. Other character actors in the film you may recognize are Chill Wills, and Harry Davenport as the Grandpa. Davenport was one of the most recognized character actors in Hollywood. He appeared in more than 200 films but was immortalized as Dr. Meade in Gone with the Wind. My favorite would be Marjorie Main, who plays the family maid. Miss Main would later become known as Ma Kettle in a popular Ma and Pa Kettle series of films in the late 1940s and 1950s.
Director Vincent Minelli has been called the best director of the American movie musical. In addition to Meet Me in St. Louis, he directed two movie musicals to best picture Academy Awards, the only director to do so. They were for An American in Paris starring Gene Kelly in 1951 and Gigi in 1958, which also won Minelli his only Best Director Oscar. Minelli’s background was in theater, where he worked as a set decorator. His artist’s eye in evident throughout this movie in the stunning costumes, colors, and glorious set design. The Victorian family home in tonight’s film has often been called the “best movie house of all time.” It was built, along with an entire street, to represent St. Louis as the writer remembered it.
Meet Me in St Louis was only Minelli’s third film, but it established him as the premier director of the Hollywood musical for the next two decades. But the remarkable thing about him was just how versatile he was. In addition to his classic musicals, he also directed several classic comedies, including Father of the Bride, and one of my favorite fun films, The Long Trailer with Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. He also directed several classic dramatic films, including Lust for Life, Tea and Sympathy and Some Came Running.
Now, I said I’m not into the technical aspects of film, but I found the “autumn” portion of the movie so unusual and was compelled to research it. First of all, it is very dark. At first, it didn’t seem to fit with the rest of the movie, and I learned this has long been a debate with film critics. I didn’t understand the whole throwing the flour on folks at Halloween, but I learned this was a common practice on Halloween in 1903. Watch closely the scene where Margaret O’Brien, as Tootie, walks slowly along the street to the door of the house on Halloween night. It is really quite brilliant filmmaking and very “Spielbergy” (is that a word) in how it’s filmed from below, looking up at the children. The POV here elevates the child in a beautiful way. Minelli has an obvious love for children, and I have never seen anything like this in a film before. You can’t tell me this scene didn’t inspire the most brilliant director of children, Stephen Spielberg, who would achieve fame 40 years later with his classic, E.T.
Minelli and Garland fell in love during the making of the film, even thought he was 20 years her senior, and the couple married in 1945. Their only child, Liza Minelli, was born the following year, and they divorced in 1951. It is so sad that his last film, A Matter of Time, in 1976, was his only collaboration with his daughter, Liza. But he was so unhappy with the finished movie that he wanted his name removed as director.
Released just before Christmas in 1944, Meet Me In St. Louis was a smash as the second highest grossing movie of the year, made at a cost of $1.8 million it grossed $6.5 million. It was nominated for four Academy Awards…best screenplay, best cinematography, best musical score, and best song “The Trolley Song.” As I noted, it won the Juvenile Award for Outstanding Child Actress for Margaret O’Brien. It became an even bigger hit with the annual showings near Christmastime on television. In 1994, the film was deemed “culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant” by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.
Undiscover Music in 2022 picked the Top 25 Christmas Movie Soundtracks and placed “Meet Me in St. Louis” at Number Three. They wrote in part, “Though this isn’t a holiday movie per se, it produced one of the most popular Christmas songs in modern history. Judy Garland’s character singing “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” remains a bittersweet and enduring favorite.”
In 2019, Screen Rant named the Best Original Movie Christmas Songs and placed “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” at Number One. They cited the song, which was specifically written for Judy Garland in the movie, as one of the “most played most well-known Christmas carols ever written.” The song has been covered hundreds of times by artists ranging from Frank Sinatra to Michael Bublé. But the featured noted that “Judy Garland’s original recording stapled the song into our collective consciousness. Even today, watching her sing this beautiful number has us all enchanted and enraptured by her golden voice.”
So, sit back and enjoy tonight’s special Christmas presentation as it was meant to be seen…on the big screen. The 1944 MGM Technicolor classic, Meet Me in St. Louis.