Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) and Halloween

There are those people who think of the classic Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) as a Christmas movie. This is understandable given the movie features a sequence set at Christmas, complete with a now classic Christmas song ("Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas") sung by Judy Garland herself. That having been said, I tend to associate Meet Me in St. Louis more with Halloween. The movie features an extended sequence at Halloween, complete with Halloween customs practised in 1903. What is more, while I have not timed them, I think the Halloween sequence in Meet Me in St. Louis might be longer than the Christmas sequence is. While I would not go so far as to necessarily call Meet Me in St. Louis a "Halloween movie" any more than I would call it a "Christmas movie," it certainly has a strong link to Halloween.

Meet Me in St. Louis was based on a series of semi-autobiographical vignettes written by Sally Benson that ran under the title 5135 Kensington in The New Yorker from June 14 1941 to May 23 1942. The vignette "October 1903" was published in in the November 1 1941 issue of The New Yorker, and was included when the vignettes were collected into the book Meet Me in St. Louis in 1942. As might be expected from the title, "Octobr 1903," it dealt a good deal with Halloween.

It was on March 1 1942 that MGM bought the rights to Sally Benson's vignettes, 5135 Kensington. The movie would go through an extended period in development. Initially Arthur Freed had wanted George Cukor to direct, but he had enlisted in the United States Army Signal Corps. Mr. Freed then turned to Vincente Minnelli. Of the sequences it was the Halloween sequence that appealed to Mr. Minnelli the most. Quite naturally, he put a good deal of work in that entire sequence. Strangely enough, Louis B. Mayer, the head of MGM, wanted to cut the Halloween sequence, maintaining that it didn't have anything to do with the plot, which hardly made Vincente Minnelli happy. Fortunately, Arthur Freed disagreed with Mr. Mayer. After watching Meet Me in St. Louis without the Halloween sequence, he said that it was not the same movie and decided it should be restored. Here it would seem that history has proven Vincente Minnelli and Arthur Freed right. The Halloween sequence remains one of the most beloved sequences in the film. Indeed, there is an important plot point that comes at the end of the sequence, without which the movie would not make sense. The Halloween sequence would also seem to be important in the development of the relationship between Esther (Judy Garland) and the boy next door, John (Tom Drake). While Louis B. Mayer was usually a very good judge of what made a good motion picture, in the case of Meet Me in St. Louis it would appear he was wrong.

Regardless, Meet Me in St. Louis captures Halloween, particularly as it was celebrated in 1903 very well. Some of the customs celebrated by the Smith family and their neighbours would seem familiar us today. Tootie and Agnes dress up in costumes before going out to celebrate Halloween, Tootie as a "horrible ghost" and Agnes as a "terrible, drunken ghost." The neighbourhood children build a bonfire in the middle of Kensington Avenue. While building bonfires for Halloween is less common now, it is a custom that has been practised on the holiday for centuries. Building a bonfire was still a common practice on Halloween at the start of the 20th Century.

Although it is less common now, pulling pranks while dressed in costumes on Halloween is also an old custom. It is attested as early as the 18th Century in Ireland and the Scottish Highlands. One particular prank pulled in Meet Me in St. Louis propels much of the plot of the Halloween vignette. If you have ever seen the movie, I think you'd have to agree that the prank is truly epic, if admittedly dangerous.

One Halloween custom that appears in Meet Me in St. Louis that must seem bizarre to many today is throwing flour on individuals, those individuals then being said to have been "killed." The custom appears in the vignette "October 1903" in 5153 Kensington more or less as it is portrayed in the movie. As strange as the custom must sound today, it was not an invention of author Sally Benson. The custom of dumping bags of flour on passers-by is described in Ruth Edna Kelley's 1919 book The Book of Hallowe'en.

A Halloween custom many will notice is missing in Meet Me in St. Louis is trick-or-treating. The first reference to trick-or-treating doesn't appear until the late Twenties and in Canada at that. It would not become common in the United States until the late Thirties and early Forties. In fact, what may be the first appearance of trick-or-treating in a movie may well be in another film closely connected to the holiday, Arsenic and Old Lace (released in 1944, but shot in 1942). Regardless, in St. Louis in 1903, it is safe to say that children would not have been trick-or-treating on Halloween.

Meet Me in St. Louis does a wonderful job of recreating Halloween in 1903. There are few movies that do as well a job of capturing the holiday. While some of the customs in Meet Me in St. Louis might seem unusual to us today, the Halloween sequence will still feel familiar to Americans of any age who have celebrated the holiday.