Plot
A group of "Harvey Girls", new waitresses for Fred Harvey's pioneering chain of Harvey House restaurants, travels on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad to the western town of Sandrock. On the trip, they meet Susan Bradley (Judy Garland) who is traveling to the same town to marry the man whose beautiful letters she received when she answered a "lonely hearts" ad. Unfortunately, when she gets there, the man turns out to be an "old coot" who doesn't match up at all to her expectations – but he also doesn't want to get married as much as she doesn't want to marry him, so they agree to call it off. When she learns that the letters were written as a joke by someone else, the owner of the local saloon, Ned Trent (John Hodiak), she confronts him and tells him off, in the process endearing herself to him.
Susan joins the Harvey Girls, and is soon their leader in fighting against the attempts by Trent's business partner, Judge Sam Purvis (Preston Foster), to scare them off and the animosity of the dance hall girls/prostitutes, led by Em (Angela Lansbury), who is in love with Trent and sees Susan as a rival. Trent comes to see the value of the Harvey House and other trappings of civilization, and tells Purvis to leave them alone, but Purvis continues with his campaign of intimidation, finally burning down the restaurant. Trent offers his saloon as a replacement, and Em and the dance hall girls leave town. Susan, thinking that Trent is leaving too, gets on the train, but Em, seeing that Susan loves Trent so much she's willing to give up everything for him, stops the train and points out Trent riding towards them on his horse. The film ends with their wedding in the desert, surrounded by the Harvey Girls.
Production
The Harvey Girls was originally conceived by MGM as a dramatic vehicle for Lana Turner, but Roger Edens of the Arthur Freed unit decided after seeing the musical Oklahoma that the story should be reworked as MGM's western musical with Judy Garland as its star. Unfortunately, Garland wanted to work with Fred Astaire on Yolanda and the Thief, which was being directed by her husband at the time, Vincente Minelli, and was not interested in the part. Edens managed to convince her that the part in Yolanda wasn't big enough for her, and promised that Harvey Girls would be specifically created to showcase her talents.[1]
Ann Sothern and Lucille Ball were supposed to have parts in the film at one point, and Edward Arnold was scheduled to play Judge Purvis.[2]
The Harvey Girls filmed from 12 January through 4 June 1945,[3] a rather long production period. Studio filming was at MGM's Culver City studios, and location shooting took place at the Iverson Ranch in Victorville, at Chatsworth near Los Angeles, in Las Vegas, New Mexico at the Castaneda Harvey House (a National and State Historic Landmark of New Mexico), and in Monument Valley.[4]
Although Angela Lansbury was a fine singer in her own right, her voice was considered unsuitable for the character she played, a low-down saloon singer, and as a result all of her singing in the film was dubbed by Virginia Rees. Cyd Charisse, who had her first speaking role in the film, also had her singing dubbed, by Marion Doenges.[5]
Virginia O'Brien, a comic actress known for her deadpan style of singing, was pregnant at the time The Harvey Girls was filmed, and as a result some of her scripted scenes with Ray Bolger were never filmed, because her condition was becoming difficult to hide, while others that were filmed were cut from the final print. This accounts for O'Brien's and Bolger's characters more or less disappearing from the film after O'Brien sings "Wild Wild West".[2] Bolger was burnt by steam during the filming of "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Sante Fe".
The Harvey Girls had its American release on 18 January 1946.
Production Credits
Songs
The songs in The Harvey Girls were all written by Harry Warren (music) and Johnny Mercer:
- "In the Valley (Where the Evening Sun Goes Down)"
- "Wait and See"
- "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe"
- "Oh, You Kid"
- "It's a Great Big World"
- "Swing Your Partner Round and Round"
- "The Wild, Wild West"
- "The Train Must Be Fed"
By far the biggest hit from the score of The Harvey Girls was "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe". MGM released the song to record companies even before shooting was finished on the film, and it became an instant hit dominating the airwaves through the summer and fall of 1945, with versions by Bing Crosby with Six Hits and a Miss, Judy Garland and the Merry Macs, the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra with the Sentimentalists, and, the most popular, Johnny Mercer and the Pied Pipers. Mercer's version entered the Billboard charts on 5 July 1945, and stayed on it for 16 weeks, including seven straight weeks as #1 between 28 July and 8 September. Crosby's entered the charts on 19 July and stayed ten weeks, going as high as #4, while Dorsey's came on on 2 August and stayed for six weeks, peaking at #6. Garland's hit the Billboard #10 position on 20 September. The song was also number 1 on Your Hit Parade for eight weeks running.[1]
In shooting the number for the film, Garland reportedly did the entire song up to the tempo change in one take, twice.
Cut from the film were three other songs written by Harry Warren and Johnny Mercer for it: "March of the Doagies," "Hayride" and "My Intuition."[2] "Doagies" was a production number featuring Judy Garland, and "My Intuition" was a duet for Garland and John Hodiak. Both of those number were filmed, while "Hayride", a duet for Garland and Ray Bolger was prerecorded but not filmed.
Reception
The New York Herald Tribune ; " A great big animated picture postcard. Judy Garland is the film's bright [-] star. Miss Garland is effectively glamorized in get-ups of the (18)90's and sings her songs pleasantly. The Harvey Girls is a perfect demonstration of what Hollywood can do with its vast resources when it wants to be really showy [-] pretty girls - period sets and costumes - lilting tunes - super-speedy dance shuffles. "(Howard Barnes).
The New York Daily News ; " a nostalgic whiff of the old west. Judy sings several sentimental ballads, as well as On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe number. Her chief support in the way of real entertainment comes from Ray Bolger. "
Time; " a technicolored musical celebrating the coming of chastity, clean silverware, and crumbless tablecloths to the pioneer Southwest. The bearers of this culture, according to evidence presented here, were waitresses. The Harvey Girls is good fun in spots. Miss Garland doesn't seem as recklessly happy as she was in St. Louis but she still appears to be having a pretty fine time. " [6]
Awards
"On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe" won an Academy Award for Best Original Song for Harry Warren and Johnny Mercer. In addition, Lennie Hayton's score was nominated for Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture, but did not win.
