Meet Me in St. Louis is a 1944 American Christmas musical film made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Divided into a series of seasonal vignettes, starting with Summer 1903, it relates the story of a year in the life of the Smith family in St. Louis leading up to the opening of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in the spring of 1904. The film stars Judy Garland, Margaret O'Brien, Mary Astor, Lucille Bremer, Tom Drake, Leon Ames, Marjorie Main, June Lockhart and Joan Carroll.
Arthur Freed was an American lyricist and a Hollywood film producer. He won the Academy Award for Best Picture twice, in 1951 for An American in Paris and in 1958 for Gigi. Both films were musicals, and both were directed by Vincente Minnelli. In addition, he produced the film Singin' in the Rain, the soundtrack for which primarily consisted of songs he co-wrote earlier in his career.
"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" is a song written in 1943 by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane and introduced by Judy Garland in the 1944 MGM musical Meet Me in St. Louis. Frank Sinatra later recorded a version with modified lyrics. In 2007, ASCAP ranked it the third most performed Christmas song during the preceding five years that had been written by ASCAP members. In 2004 it finished at No. 76 in AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs rankings of the top tunes in North American cinema.
Hugh Martin was an American musical theater and film composer, arranger, vocal coach, and playwright. He was best known for his score for the 1944 MGM musical Meet Me in St. Louis, in which Judy Garland sang three Martin songs, "The Boy Next Door", "The Trolley Song", and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas". The last of these has become a Christmas season standard in the United States and around the English-speaking world. Martin became a close friend of Garland and was her accompanist at many of her concert performances in the 1950s, including her appearances at the Palace Theater.
"Meet Me in St. Louis, Louis", better known as just "Meet Me in St. Louis", is a popular song from 1904 on the occurrence of the St. Louis World's Fair which celebrated the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. The words were by Andrew B. Sterling; the music by Kerry Mills. The song was published in 1904 in New York by Mills's firm, F. A. Mills. It was recorded that year by many artists, including William F. Denny, Billy Murray and Arthur Collins.
Roger Edens was a Hollywood composer, arranger and associate producer, and is considered one of the major creative figures in Arthur Freed's musical film production unit at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer during the "golden era of Hollywood".
Ralph Blane was an American composer, lyricist, and performer.
Conrad Salinger was an American arranger, orchestrator and composer, who studied classical composition at the Paris Conservatoire. He is credited with orchestrating nine productions on Broadway from 1931 to 1938, and over seventy-five motion pictures from 1931 to 1962. Film scholar Clive Hirschhorn considers him the finest orchestrator ever to work in the movies. Early in his career, film composer John Williams spent much time around Salinger.
Herb Alpert's Ninth is a 1967 album by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. It reached No. 4 on the Billboard 200 chart and spent 18 weeks in the Top 40. Its cover, in addition to containing some still photos from Brass concerts, includes a pop-culture joke: it shows Ludwig van Beethoven appearing to wear a T-shirt bearing Alpert's face at a time when T-shirts bearing Beethoven's face were popular. The title was also a play on Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, though no part of Beethoven's work actually appears in the album tracks. However, the album contains a medley of music from the opera Carmen, centering on "Habanera" and also including portions of some of the group's earlier hits: "Spanish Flea", "A Taste of Honey", "Whipped Cream", "What Now My Love", "Zorba the Greek" and "Tijuana Taxi".
"Pennies from Heaven" is a 1936 American popular song with music by Arthur Johnston and lyrics by Johnny Burke. It was introduced by Bing Crosby with Georgie Stoll and his Orchestra in the 1936 film of the same name.
For Me and My Gal is a 1942 American musical film directed by Busby Berkeley, and starring Judy Garland, George Murphy, Martha Eggerth, Ben Blue and Gene Kelly in his film debut. The film was written by Richard Sherman, Fred F. Finklehoffe and Sid Silvers, based on a story by Howard Emmett Rogers inspired by a true story about vaudeville actors Harry Palmer and Jo Hayden, when Palmer was drafted into World War I. The film was a production of the Arthur Freed unit at MGM.
John Fricke is a historian and author focusing on The Wizard of Oz and Judy Garland.
"The Boy Next Door" is a 1944 popular song by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane. It was introduced in the musical film Meet Me in St. Louis, where it was performed by Judy Garland to an arrangement of Conrad Salinger conducted by Georgie Stoll. It has been praised as a perfect example of how to advance story and reveal a character’s emotions efficiently on screen.
Judy Garland signed her first recording contract at age 13 with Decca Records in late 1935. Garland began recording albums for Capitol Records in the 1950s. Her greatest success, Judy at Carnegie Hall (1961), was listed for 73 weeks on the Billboard 200 chart, was certified Gold, and took home five Grammy Awards.
Rufus! Rufus! Rufus! Does Judy! Judy! Judy!: Live from the London Palladium is a DVD by the Canadian-American singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright, released under Geffen Records in December 2007. The film consists of live recordings from his sold-out February 25, 2007, tribute concert at the London Palladium to the legendary American actress and singer Judy Garland. The DVD complements the release of Wainwright's Grammy Award-nominated double album, Rufus Does Judy at Carnegie Hall, which contains the same songs from Garland's well-known 1961 album, Judy at Carnegie Hall. The DVD also includes several songs not included on Wainwright's album release.
Georgie Stoll was a musical director, conductor, Academy Award-winning composer, and jazz violinist, associated with the Golden Age of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musicals and performers from the 1940s to 1960s. He was also later credited as George E. Stoll.
Garland at the Grove is a 1959 live album by American vocalist Judy Garland accompanied by Freddy Martin and his Orchestra. The album was recorded at the Cocoanut Grove nightclub at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.
Judy Garland at Home at the Palace: Opening Night is a concert album by Judy Garland, released in 1967 through ABC Records. The album peaked at number 174 on the Billboard 200.
Minnelli on Minnelli: Live at the Palace was a concert presented by Liza Minnelli at the Palace Theatre on Broadway from December 8, 1999 through January 2, 2000. The show consisted of songs featured in films directed by her father, Vincente Minnelli (1903–1986).
Meet Me In St. Louis is a studio album of phonograph records by Judy Garland with Georgie Stoll's Orchestra, released by Decca Records in 1944 featuring songs presented in the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer eponymous motion picture.
