Convinceme2, I'm glad I'm not the only person who feels this way about Judy's 'look' in ST. LOUIS.
I also have never warmed to the way Judy looks in the film - when one compares how breathtakingly gorgeous she is in her previous film, GIRL CRAZY, by contrast she looks somewhat stylized and artificial in ST. LOUIS (Which, remarkably, is her first Technicolor film since OZ - excepting her bit in THOUSDANDS CHEER).
ST. LOUIS is Judy's first film with her personal stylist and friend Dot Ponedel, who very subtly changed her look by removing the gum in the bridge of her nose (good) but also thinning her eyebrows and raising her hairline (IMHO, not so good). It almost verges on Kabuki makeup, but it set the tone for Judy's 'look' for most of the rest of her career.
Technicolor makeup tended to make everyone doll-like anyway, but the tones of 1930s and early 40s Technicolor tended to be most flattering to blonde or red-headed stars rather than dark-haired stars like Judy (she nealy always looks unhealthily pale in Technicolor, but looks perfection in black and white). Then, the role of Esther Smith is that of a teen that 'The Boy Next Door' never notices, so the period costumes and hair (that long red wig---sorry, but I hate it) are intended to make Judy slightly gawky. By the end of the film, she's dressed in more flattering costumes, and she looks at her best when her hair is 'piled high upon' her head.
Her look is a bit improved by the time of THE HARVEY GIRLS, but I really don't think Judy really looks at her best in Technicolor till in TILL THE CLOUDS ROLL BY, IN THE GOOD OLD SUMMERTIME and SUMMER STOCK, where (until "Get Happy") she is pleasingly plump. She looks relaxed and not as stick-thin as she is in EASTER PARADE or tired in WORDS AND MUSIC.
"Christ, Bette Davis?!?!"
Updated On: 7/13/05 at 09:20 AM
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