Judy Magic in Meet Me in St. Louis

Doing an update with this article!

Synopsis:

The Smith Family loves living in St. Louis and the entire family is looking forward to the World’s Fair. Daughter Esther also falls for the boy next door. Everything is turned upside down when her father announces they will be moving to New York.

While the actual family did move away, the Smith family ends up staying and enjoying the fair. This makes for a much happier ending. It wouldn’t have been the same feel had they moved away at the end, so I definitely understand why this was changed.

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

This iconic Christmas song has been sung by many different artists now, but Judy Garland was the first. She also played a key role in the lyrics. Originally there was a line, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, It May Be Your Last.” Garland refused to sing this to Margaret O’Brien because she thought it would make her into a monster. The second part was then changed to, “let your heart be light.”

Halloween Portion

I enjoy the Christmas sections best while the Halloween scenes kind of freak me out. I have young kids, so I can’t help but wonder why they are letting the children burn furniture in the streets! Was that a thing? What was that about?

Judy Garland and Vincent Minnelli

This film is the one that first introduced Garland and Minnelli. They butted heads at first because Garland balked at playing a teenager again. Minnelli soon won her over and she felt more beautiful in this role than she had in many others. I think she’s beautiful in everything, but apparently she really felt it here.

More Fun Moments

This song is another favorite of mine. Judy did this in just one take. Despite often arriving on set late during this film, she still turned it on when she needed to.

This is a great movie to watch during this time of year {or any time…}. It shows Judy at her best and is a lot of fun to watch.

What if…?

Judy had turned it down

She hadn’t changed the lyrics to “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”?

The timing had been different or they hadn’t fallen in love?

We would have never gotten The Pirate, which was conceived by Minnelli when they went to NY after principal photography was finished. They saw a Broadway comedy of the same name.

Van Johnson had been cast as John?

He was the original front-runner for the role.

or Peter Lawford?

or Robert Walker?

Gloria DeHaven had played Rose?

She was considered early on.

Judy had gotten her way and gotten Bremer fired?

This was an unofficial screen test for her, but Judy thought her acting was subpar and tried to have her removed. Fortunately for Bremer, Judy was unreliable and because of her initial attitude toward her character, her lines were actually problematic since she came off as insincere. So much so that Judy questioned her acting ability and Vincente needed to remind her about how to deliver her lines (as if she believed what she was saying).

This was originally written for Hometown to Hollywood’s Celluloid Road Trip Blogathon.