THE HARVEY GIRLS

The Harvey Girls
MGM, 1946, Color, 101 minutes, ***½
Released January, 1946

MGM's answer to "Oklahoma!" this western-musical-comedy follows the plight of the Harvey House waitresses in their battle to tame the wild west. Mid-westerner Susan Bradley (Judy Garland) moves to Sandrock, New Mexico to marry her lonely-heart pen-pal, H. H. Hartsey. But when she discovers that he's "an old buzzard," she gives him up for a job as a waitress at the new Harvey House. Trouble brews between the Harvey Girls and the dance hall girls at the Alhambra saloon, and the fun begins. One of Judy Garland's biggest hits, The Harvey Girls sports a great cast, plenty of laughs and many lively musical numbers, including the Academy Award winning production number "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe."

"When Fred Harvey pushed his chain of restaurants farther and farther west along the lengthening tracks of the Santa Fe, he brought with him one of the first civilizing forces this land had known -- The Harvey Girls.

"These winsome waitresses conquered the west as surely as the Davy Crockets and the Kit Carsons -- not with powder, horn and rifle, but with a beefsteak and a cup of coffee."

"To these unsung pioneers, whose successors today still carry on in the same tradition, we sincerely dedicate this motion picture."

Produced by: Arthur Freed
Associate Producer: Roger Edens
Directed by: George Sidney
Screen Play by: Edmund Beloin, Nathaniel Curtis, Harry Crane, James O'Hanlon and Samson Raphaelson
Additional Dialogue by: Kay Van Riper
Based on the Book by Samuel Hopkins Adams and the Original Story by Eleanore Griffin and William Rankin
Words and Music by: Johnny Mercer and Harry Warren
Musical Direction: Lennie Hayton
Orchestration: Conrad Salinger
Vocal Arrangements: Kay Thompson
Musical Numbers Staged by: Robert Alton
Art Direction: Cedric Gibbons, William Ferrari
Set Decoration: Edwin B. Willis
Associate: Mildred Griffiths
Costume Supervision: Irene
Costumes Designed by: Helen Rose
Men's Costumes: Valles
Make-Up Created by: Jack Dawn
Recording Director: Douglas Shearer
Director of Photography: George Folsey
Special Effects: Warren Newcombe
Photographed in Technicolor
Technicolor Color Director: Natalie Kalmus
Associate: Henri Jaffa
Film Editor: Albert Akst

"The help of the Fred Harvey Company on many historical details is thankfully acknowledged."

Awards: Won Best Song Academy Award ("On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe"), Harry Warren (Music), Johnny Mercer (Lyrics); won Academy Award nomination for Best Score - Musical (Lennie Hayton)

Cast: Judy Garland [Susan Bradley], John Hodiak [Ned Trent], Ray Bolger [Chris Maule], Angela Lansbury [Em], Preston Foster [Judge Sam Purvis], Virginia O'Brien [Alma], Kenny Baker [Terry O'Halloran], Marjorie Main [Sonora Cassidy], Chill Wills [H. H. Hartsey], Selena Royle [Miss Bliss], Cyd Charisse [Deborah], Ruth Brady [Ethel], Jack Lambert [Marty Peters], Edward Earle [Jed Adams], Morris Ankrum [Rev. Claggett], Ben Carter [John Henry], William "Bill" Phillips [Cowboy], Norman Leavitt [2nd Cowboy], Horace McNally ["Goldust" McClean], Additional Cast: Catherine McLeod [Louise], Virginia Hunter [Jane], Ray Teal [Conductor], Jack Clifford [Fireman], Vernon Dent [Engineer], Paul "Tiny" Newlan [Station Agent], Jim Toney [Mule Skinner], Lucille Casey, Mary Jo Ellis, Dorothy Gilmore, Gloria Hope, Mary Jane French, Daphne Moore, Joan Thorson, Dorothy Tuttle [Harvey Girls], Hazel Brooks, Kay English, Hane Hall, Vera Lee, Peggy Maley, Erin O'Kelly, Dorothy Van Nuys, Eve Whitney, Dallas Worth [Dance Hall Girls], Byron Harvey, Jr, Beverly Tyler [Bits], Marion Doenges [singing voice of Cyd Charisse], Virginia Rees [singing voice of Angela Lansbury]

Musical Program: [0:00] Overture: "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe" / "Swing Your Partner Round and Roung" (played by Orchestra behind titles); [0:02] In the Valley (Where the Evening Sun Goes Down) (sung by Judy Garland); [0:11] Wait and See (sung by Virginia Rees dubbing for Angela Lansbury); [0:14] On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe (performed by Judy Garland, Cyd Charisse, Virginia O'Brien, Marjorie Main, Ray Bolger, Benny Carter, The Seckler Group, The Williams Brothers (Andy, Bob and Don), Alice Ludes, Dorothy McCarty, Lee Gotch, Jud Conlon, Ralph Blane, Loulie Jean Norman, Dorothy Jackson, Judy Matson, Mary Moder, Ruth Clark, Jimmie Garland, Dorothy Wilkerson, Vivian Edwards, Joe Karnes, Kenneth Rundquist, Claude Martin, Arnet Amos, Elva Kellog and the MGM Studio Chorus); [0:30] Training Montage (The Train Must be Fed) (performed by Edward Earle, Selena Royle, Marjorie Main, Joe Karnes, Elva Kellog, Judy Garland, Virginia O'Brien, Cyd Charisse and the MGM Studio Chorus); [0:32] Oh, You Kid (sung by Virginia Rees dubbing for Angela Lansbury); [0:40] Wait and See (sung by Kenny Baker); [0:41] It's a Great Big World (performed by Judy Garland, Virginia O'Brien and Marion Doenges dubbing for Cyd Charisse); [0:56] The Wild, Wild West (sung by Virginia O'Brien); [1:06] Wait and See (sung by Kenny Baker and Marion Doenges dubbing for Cyd Charise); [1:15] On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe (instrumental arrangement danced by Ray Boger); [1:18] Swing Your Partner Round and Round (sung and danced by Judy Garland, Marjorie Main and the MGM Studio Chorus); [Outtake] Hayride (sung by Judy Garland, Ray Bolger and the MGM Studio Chorus); [Outtake] My Intuition (sung by Judy Garland and John Hodiak)