"Ding ding ding went the trolley...."

Terry Teachout on Meet Me In St. Louis, which I agree is one of the most underrated musicals of all time. It's a pure confection, but what a confection it is! (Although I can name several films with songs as good as the three Mr. Teachout names from Meet Me...: Singin' in the Rain, My Fair Lady, Brigadoon, The Music Man and The Sound of Music leap to mind.)

This reminds me of the last time I watched Meet Me in St. Louis. I was in the mood for a musical, and preferably one I hadn't seen in a while (i.e., one that I didn't already own), so I went to Blockbuster and checked out their musical selection. Not particularly good selection, but then, that's not really a surprise, is it? Anyway, they had a copy of Meet Me..., so that's what I got. When I took it to the counter, the Blockbuster employee bursts out enthusiastically: "Oh, Meet Me In St. Louis! That's one of my favorite movies ever!" Except, you see, if you've seen the movie and heard the song, you know it's pronounced "Meet Me In St. Louie", but she said it "Meet Me In St. Lewis".

I did manage to withhold my knowing belly-laugh until I got to the car.

I wanted to go back the next day and rent something like Shoah to see if she'd react that way again, but I never did get around to it. (As if Blockbuster would have a copy of Shoah, anyway.)