In 1957, when Frank Sinatra was recording his first Christmas album, “A Jolly Christmas from Frank Sinatra,” he wanted to include “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” but felt the lyrics did not fit the mood of the album. Written for the 1944 MGM musical, “Meet Me in St. Louis,” the lyrics in the film are more ambivalent and frankly melancholy. According to the song’s writer, Hugh Martin, “[Sinatra] called to ask if I would rewrite the ‘muddle through somehow’ line. He said, ‘The name of my album is “A Jolly Christmas.” Do you think you could jolly up that line for me?’” The rewrite also changed the tense of the song from a hoped-for future (“Next year…,” “Some day soon…”) to a joyful present (“From now on…,” “Through the years…”). While the Sinatra version has become more familiar for listeners over the past half century, I will always prefer the lyrics as heard in the film. “Meet Me in St. Louis” is one of those films that I knew of but never saw until I was in my twenties. I believe I first saw it in a revival movie theater in New York in the 1980s while I was doing my pediatric residency at Lenox Hill Hospital. I had gotten the soundtrack album when I was in high school (There had been a series of MGM musicals from the 40s and 50s that had had soundtrack albums remastered and released in the 1970s, and I had bought them all. Yes, by this time I did know I was gay.) so I was familiar with these original lyrics. But it wasn’t until I saw the film and heard Judy Garland sing these words in the context of the story that I felt the power of this song. The film, of course, follows the adventures of the Smith family of 5135 Kensington Avenue, St. Louis, Missouri, in the year prior to the opening of the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition, informally known as the St. Louis World’s Fair. The major conflict arc in the film concerns the decision of Father to take a job in New York. The family is scheduled to move just days after Christmas, and the rest of the family is deeply ambivalent about being uprooted from their friends, their lives, their loves in St. Louis. This is particularly acute for Tootie (Margaret O’Brien), the youngest daughter, and Esther (Judy Garland), the second daughter, who has just received a marriage proposal from John Truett (Tom Drake), the boy next door, and wonders how this separation will affect their relationship. When Esther arrives home from the Christmas Ball, she finds Tootie still awake, looking sadly down at her family of snow people in the back yard, wondering what will happen to them when the family leaves for New York. Esther winds up a music box playing a simple melody and sings to Tootie to reassure her, and of course, to reassure herself: Have yourself a merry little Christmas Let your heart be light Next year all our troubles will be out of sight Have yourself a merry little Christmas Make the yuletide gay Next year all our troubles will be miles away Once again as in olden days Happy golden days of yore Faithful friends who were dear to us Will be near to us once more Someday soon we all will be together If the fates allow Until then, well have to muddle through somehow So have yourself a merry little Christmas now Songs in musicals, of course, are meant to be sung by particular characters to advance the story or deepen the character. This song does both brilliantly, expressing the sadness, hope, and yearning of a teenage girl in St. Louis in 1903, especially as sung by Judy Garland at the height of her powers. But songs are also written in a particular time in history. What must it have been like, I wondered, to be sitting in, say, the Fox Theater in St. Louis in 1944, with loved ones fighting a war a continent away, a war the outcome of which was far from certain, and not be profoundly moved by “Next year all our troubles will be out of sight,” “Someday soon we all will be together,” “Until then, well have to muddle through somehow?” And of course, thirty years ago, living in New York, the idea that anyone would not want to live in New York was laughable. The concept that anyone would prefer to live in St. Louis over New York was ludicrous. Yet, I have lived in St. Louis now for 27 years. My home is there. In ways that we all know, especially as we grow older and perhaps a bit wiser, so many people in that broad circle we call family are there. In the parlance of theatre, “Meet Me in St. Louis” was a foreshadowing of what my life would be, who I would become. And this song, with these lyrics, crystalizes all that for me, so much that I have experienced since moving to St. Louis: ambivalence, loss, joy, hope, and finally the courage to go on no matter what. Because I’ve found all that right here where we live - right here in St. Louis. (Meet Me in Saint Louis will be shown on TCM on Christmas Eve at 5:00 PM CST/6:00 PM EST. The song starts in the clip below at 1:40. The entire scene, though, is well worth your time. https://youtube/watch?v=yudgy30Dd68 )
Posted on: Tue, 23 Dec 2014 20:33:01 +0000
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