Meet Me In St. Louis

[Gothampc]

Posted: 12/16/07 at 8:57pm

On TCM right now.

Why did they allow children to start huge fires in the middle of the street on Halloween?

[Dollypop]

Posted: 12/16/07 at 9:03pm

They were Klansmen.

[DAME]

Posted: 12/16/07 at 9:06pm

I just saw this on the big screen last weekend at the Historic Los Angeles Theater movie palace in downtown Los Angeles. Gorgeous. And we made it out of downtown alive.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 12/16/07 at 9:11pm

Why didn't the boy next door become a bigger star?

[tazber]

Posted: 12/16/07 at 9:13pm

He got sidetracked in the porno industry.

[Mamie]

Posted: 12/16/07 at 9:14pm

Bonfires were common in the old days. I even remember them when I was little. Every time people would get together for an evening - no matter the occasion - they'd often build a big bonfire. It was a source of light, heat, and cooking fuel for hotdogs and marshmallows.

My cousin was just 1 when he accidentally fell into a bonfire. He was terribly burnt and spent the next year and a half in a hospital. He survived but he was never able to grow hair on his head or face until he was almost in his 30's. My mom used to have the newspaper clippings about it.

[StageManager2]

Posted: 12/17/07 at 7:35am

We had bonfires in Guatemala all the time in the '80s. I don't recall the specific occasions (I was a wee kid), but they were literally on every street corner. One time this drunken fool attempted to throw himself in one. He only slightly succeeded.

[colleen_lee]

Posted: 12/17/07 at 7:57am

Bonfires aren't just "olden day" things, they're still pretty commonplace in a lot of areas like the upper midwest. Almost much any time you're outside at night in Minnesota there is a bonfire.

I can't even begin to count the number of times I got drunk around a bonfire throughout high school and college.

[StageManager2]

Posted: 12/17/07 at 8:02am

I vaguely know someone who holds a beach bonfire once every summer.

[best12bars]

Posted: 12/17/07 at 8:29am

I like the way they celebrated Halloween in that movie. Very different than the way we do now, but still a lot of fun.

No candy though... which is probably a good thing.


EDIT: Although today, the pranks and tricks they would pull on the neighbors would probably be horrifying. And instead of throwing a handful of flour into their faces, it would probably be acid, or something that would REALLY kill them.

We've lost that kind of innocence, which is probably why we've lost that kind of Halloween celebration.

Updated On: 12/17/07 at 08:29 AM

Posted: 12/17/07 at 8:37am

I agree, Besty.

I was just at a bonfire this weekend! We have them all the time here.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 12/17/07 at 9:11am

Tom Drake was the boy next door and he was a DREAMBOAT! And apparently gay, too!

Yes, the savagery of the Halloween sequence always amused me. Back then it was just good old wholesome fun, these days it would be "Oh dear GOD! What's haaappening to our chillldrun??? They're running WILD!"

Posted: 12/17/07 at 11:18am

Oh and let's hear it for the inimitable Marjorie Main as Katie the Housekeeper! She gets all the best lines:

"Personally, I wouldn't marry a man who proposed to me over an invention."

"She's having trouble with her husband. Him bein' a man."

"A lie's a lie. Dressin' it in white don't help it."

[best12bars]

Posted: 12/17/07 at 11:33am

I love Marjorie in that movie! You're right, she has some of the best lines in the film.

And that's saying a lot. She's in good company.

Incidentally, I saw it a while back in a packed movie house in Santa Monica... and with a live audience reacting with laughs you realize how much Margaret O'Brien steals every scene she's in! She almost took the picture right away from Judy Garland (a virtually impossible feat). She rightfully was given that special Juvenile Oscar for her performance.

[mateo]

Posted: 12/17/07 at 11:42am

I am watching this right now!


Katie's been with us for 10 years she never asks favors, we dont wanna risk losing her.

No, nowadays you can't get a maid for less than $12 a month.

Lon, count three.

1...2...3... I DON'T CARE IF WE HAVE TO PAY A MAID $15 DOLLARS A MONTH. DINNER WILL BE AT 6:30! And If Katie wants to hand in her notice, she can reach me in the bathtub!

Updated On: 12/17/07 at 11:42 AM

Posted: 12/17/07 at 12:26pm

This is a great film to see in an actual Movie theater. The Music Box in Chicago shows this every Christmas and it's magical- a full theater laughing, crying and singing along...

[D2]

Posted: 12/17/07 at 12:33pm

Rose: Money. I hate, loathe, despise and abominate money.
Alonzo: You also spend it.

[mateo]

Posted: 12/17/07 at 12:43pm

I want to see it in a theatre!

How wonderful would that be.

[best12bars]

Posted: 12/17/07 at 12:53pm

This is such a great film, and it's amazing to me how nervous everyone was when it was first green-lit for production.

The only people who seemed to "get" it were Minnelli and Freed. And they had to sell it big-time to both Louis B. Mayer and Judy Garland, who both felt that the film was "about nothing."

Mayer felt, "there's no drama here, no conflict. No villain in the movie! It's just a sweet little, mid-west, turn-of-the-century family."

So they decided that the "big conflict" would be whether or not to move the family to New York. They made "New York" the villain of the story. The break-up of the small town, solid mid-American family.

Judy didn't want to go back to playing teenagers again, after FINALLY breaking out of it with For Me and My Gal, and The Clock. Minnelli finally convinced her to play it, and told her he would make her look more beautiful in this film than any she had made before. She agreed to do some tests, and was completely won over.

Once they started filming, everything "worked." Garland considered it one of the happiest (if not THE happiest) film-making experiences of her life. It was a perfect movie set, perfect cast, perfect story, and perfect creative process.

Can't get any better than that.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 12/17/07 at 12:59pm

And she had to put little metal thingys up her nose to make it straighter.

AND Tom Drake was gay!!! Oh, for a time machine!


Bump, bump, bump went the brake indeed.

Updated On: 12/17/07 at 12:59 PM

[mateo]

Posted: 12/17/07 at 1:00pm

"Can't get any better than that."

If we had a John Truett basketball scene, it could.

Updated On: 12/17/07 at 01:00 PM