Best of the Big
Screen!
Tuesday, December 20th
at 7:00 PM
Judy Garland Centennial
Celebration!
MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS
Introduction by
Philip Harwood
Members $10 | Public
$15
Join us for a very special big screen celebration of the
100th anniversary of the birth of legendary star Judy Garland,
featuring a screening of one of her most beloved movies! In the world
of classic Hollywood, few studio runs are as legendary as the string of
musicals (including On the Town, The Band Wagon, Singin’
in the Rain) former Tin Pan Alley songwriter Arthur Freed produced
at M-G-M. It was Freed who was responsible for casting Judy Garland in The
Wizard of Oz and bringing director Vincente Minnelli to
Hollywood and it was Freed who paired the two future spouses in one of our
favorite movies, an unlikely musical adaptation of Sally Benson’s
naturalistic short story collection Meet Me in St. Louis.
Beginning in the summer of 1903 and ending in the following spring, Meet
Me in St. Louis chronicles a very busy year in the lives of the
Smith family amidst the excitement leading up to the 1904 World’s Fair. Oldest
daughter Rose (Lucille Bremer) waits in vain for a marriage proposal
from her flakey beau, youngest daughter Tootie (Margaret O’Brien,
delivering the best child screen performance ever!) runs afoul of the whole
neighborhood, their sister Esther (Garland) awkwardly woos the boy next
door while working overtime as her family’s emotional rock, and Grandpa Joe
does his best to be an anchor for her. A treasure trove of iconic musical
numbers, unforgettable supporting performances, wistfully beautiful images,
gently disquieting nostalgia, and all manner of other things sweet and
bitter, Meet Me in St. Louis is one of the great movie
masterpieces! (USA, 1944, 113 min., color, DCP / Director: Vincente
Minnelli / Cast: Judy Garland, Margaret O’Brien, Mary Astor,
Lucille Bremer, June Lockhart, Hugh Marlowe)
