Meet Me in St. Louis

St. James Encyclopedia of Pop Culture, Jan 29, 2002 by Elizabeth Haas

Released in 1944 by Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM) studios, Meet Me in St. Louis became one of Hollywood's most popular musicals. Mixing family melodrama with light comedy and whimsical romance, it features one of the entertainment world's most compelling voices, Judy Garland, and was directed by the man who would become Garland's husband, Vincente Minnelli, who was considered one of Hollywood's finest musical directors. An early example of Technicolor, Meet Me in St. Louis glows with extravagant warmth both visually and thematically, evoking nostalgia in its World War II audience for its depiction of American turn-of-the-twentieth-century domestic tranquility and prewar innocence.

The story centers on a year in the life of the Smith family as they anticipate the opening of the 1904 Exposition in St. Louis. The patriarch, Alonzo Smith, played by Leon Ames, is a hard working lawyer often oblivious to the comings and goings of his own family, even as he sounds the voice of familial authority. His wife, Anna Smith, portrayed by Mary Astor, is a traditional maternal figure, in charge of the home but willing to concede to her husband's wishes. The romantic angst of her two oldest daughters, Rose (Lucille Bremer) and Esther (Judy Garland), concerns her as much as does the quality of catsup the family housekeeper, Katie (Marjorie Main), busily brews in the opening scene. The home constitutes her domain while the public sphere belongs to Alonzo. Rounding out the Smith family are Princeton-bound son Lon (Henry Daniels) and youngest children, Agnes (Joan Carroll) and Tootie, played by child star Margaret O'Brien who won a special Academy Award for her performance, and Grandpa Prophater (Harry Davenport).

The matrimonial state of the eldest sibling, Rose, offers the first hint of anxiety as she rather desperately attempts to prompt a proposal from her beau who is away in New York. Esther develops a crush on new neighbor, John Truett (Tom Drake), but because she is only a teenager the situation is not dire, giving rise only to one of the film's lasting songs, "The Boy Next Door." The little girls play mock-morbid games with dolls they have deemed terminally ill or already dead and collude with a gang of fellow Halloween hooligans to "kill" Mr. Brokauff, a neighbor with ethnic, middle-European physical features. Tootie's mission to throw flour in his face forms a dark xenophobic edge to the film's depiction of a prosperous, mid-western town wanting for nothing. Each family member takes a turn humming or singing the tune "Meet Me in St. Louis" as evidence of the family's contentment with their grounded sense of place and time. The narrative's organization around the passing seasons reflects the apparent naturalness of their lives. A sepia tintype drawing of each one--beginning with summer and ending with spring--introduces every episode and dissolves into live-action color.

With wedding engagements waiting in the wings, little girl plans for dolls, and Grandpa's eccentric collection of old hats and stories arranged just-so in his upstairs room, one evening into their tranquility Alonzo drops a bomb--he plans to move the family with his job to New York. Everyone, including Katie, is devastated by the news. But rallied together by Anna, the family groups around the piano as she and Alonzo sing, "Just You and I," and they all reluctantly accept the decision. On Christmas Eve, however, Alonzo witnesses Tootie in the back yard bludgeoning her snow people because she can not take them with her to New York. With the light of a match for his cigar as he sits alone in a darkened room surrounded by packing boxes and bare walls, Alonzo changes his mind and vows to stay in St. Louis "until we rot." The family remains and the film ends with their attendance at the fair, "right here in our hometown."

Meet Me in St. Louis was Judy Garland's first film shot entirely in color, and it secured her stardom. Providing her with her first smash hit of the time, "The Trolley Song," the film's score arranged that all but two songs either include her or be sung by her as solos. The film offered Garland her first song written especially for her, one that would become one of her most famous: "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas."

The success of Meet Me in St. Louis also gave Garland unprecedented clout at MGM and permanently established Minnelli's career in only his third outing as director. Called "a love letter" from Minnelli to Judy by critic Gerald Kaufman, the picture broke box office records all over the country as not only Judy's greatest hit to date but MGM's top money maker, second only to Gone with the Wind. Its success encouraged other studios to attempt imitations, including Twentieth Century Fox's Centennial Summer, a musical set against the background of the Philadelphia Great Exposition of 1876. Its afterlife included yearly appearances on television at Christmas time and a special video release on its fiftieth anniversary in 1994. It remains one of Judy Garland's best performances and a testament to a bucolic, white Anglo-Saxon Protestant and family-centered view of the United States even as cities expanded, the number of automobiles and roads multiplied, and the ethnic makeup of the population continued to evolve.