Just his style: The songs Hugh Martin created for MGM’s Meet Me in St. Louis

In 1943, Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane were given the plum assignment of writing songs for Judy Garland to sing in the movie musical Meet Me in St. Louis. Although they had the advantage of having worked with her in New York City and Hollywood, for the young songwriters this was still a high-profile motion picture in which to be a part. Because the work’s title came from a 1904 song that the studio would use in addition to other period music, the challenge was to write new material that sounded as though it came from the turn of the century and that showcased Garland, America’s girl next door. All three songs that Martin created for Meet Me in St. Louis, ‘The Boy Next Door’, ‘The Trolley Song’ and ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’, are emblematic of his writing style. An examination of Martin’s notebooks while at MGM reveals new insight into his process of lyric writing from initial drafts to final versions. In studying his compositions, one discovers how he was influenced by as well as adapted American popular song form. Martin’s skilled craftsmanship yielded the best-known songs of his career, and today they remain standards in the American Songbook.