Romancefest 2018: Meet Me in St. Louis

As obsessed as I was with THE WIZARD OF OZ growing up, you'd think I would have seen some more of Judy Garland's work over the years, but not really. So now I've finally seen 1944's MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS (directed by Vincente Minnelli), which is a pleasant musical year-in-the-life of one turn-of-the-century St. Louis family on the eve of the world's fair.

Garland stars as the teenage daughter of a lawyer (Leon Ames) and his wife (Mary Astor) who has a crush on the neighbor boy (Tom Drake) and is intent on getting his attention. Lucille Bremer plays her sister, older by one year, hoping to snag a marriage proposal. There's also a memorable performance from Margaret O'Brien as the youngest sister who gets into hijinks on Halloween.

The movie is brimming with famous songs, like the title song and "The Trolley Song," but the show-stopping moment is when Garland sings "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" to O'Brien on Christmas Eve.