November, 1944
“Meeting him across the lawn for the first time would be so ordinary. I don't want to be just introduced to him. I want it to be something strange and romantic and something I'll always remember.”Meet Me in St. Louis
Vincent Minelli’s “Meet Me In St. Louis” is a movie like no other, a technicolor American dream/love story. Minelli, along with Hollywood starlet and icon Judy Garland, masterfully capture a seemingly perfect Midwestern life.
This film follows the Smith family in the one year leading up to the opening of the World’s Fair in St. Louis, Missouri. The film centers around Garland’s character, Esther, as she falls in love and starts a relationship with “the boy next door” John Pruitt. Alongside the love story, the rest of the family runs into their own shenanigans, like Tootie’s and Agnes’s trickery on Halloween and Mr. Smith's earth shattering job promotion. The Christmas scenes and its musical number “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” are the most memorable parts of the film, capturing the joyful colors of the holiday while grieving the lifestyle the Smith’s will lose when they move to New York City.
From the summer music numbers, the suspense of the fall, the whimsy of Christmas and the hope of the new year makes for the perfect movie for our family.