Special Theme: From Hollywood to the Heartland: ‘Small Town Musicals’
TCM, beginning at 7 p.m.
It’s a tuneful trip to the heartland tonight on Turner Classic Movies, as this month’s theme turns to classic movie musicals set in small-town America. The evening starts with the Oscar-nominated Bye Bye Birdie (pictured) (1963), about a rock star who, before heading off for a stint in the Army, arrives in Columbus, Ohio, for a farewell performance, with the town unprepared for the furor that is about to hit it. Janet Leigh, Dick Van Dyke and Ann-Margret lead the cast of this story inspired by the real-life upheaval among fans when Elvis Presley was called into the service. Following that is the Best Picture Oscar-nominated The Music Man (1962), in which they’ve got trouble right here in River City, Iowa, in the form of notorious con man “Professor” Harold Hill (Robert Preston). Shirley Jones costars. Early1900s St. Louis and its World’s Fair is the setting for the next film, Meet Me in St. Louis (1944). Judy Garland stars as Esther Smith, a young woman whose romance with the boy next door (Tom Drake) is endangered when her father announces the family is moving to New York. Margaret O’Brien and Mary Astor also star in this film that was nominated for four Oscars, including one for “The Trolley Song” — one of the enduring Hugh Martin/Ralph Blane musical standards introduced by Garland in the film, along with “The Boy Next Door” and “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.” She also memorably performs the film’s title tune. The lineup concludes with Janie (1944), starring Joyce Reynolds; and the Oscar-nominated Four Daughters (1938), starring the Lane Sisters (Priscilla, Rosemary and Lola). —