More than 20 years after Judy Garland had starred in the original feature film adaptation of a series of stories by Sally Benson, MGM, having previously mounted a made-for-TV remake in 1959, decided to try Meet me in St. Louis as a sitcom.
Whereas the 1959 production featured the likes of Tab Hunter and Patty Duke, this pilot, shot late in 1965, and burned off sometime before the 1966 season, has Celeste Holm as the mother, with Shelley Fabares, fresh from The Donna Reed Show, in Garland's role as Esther, the eldest daughter. Our cast also includes Reta Shaw, later of The Ghost & Mrs. Muir, and, in a smaller role, John Clarke (Days of Our Lives).
Making this a straight sitcom, instead of including at least some of the songs from the movie (i.e. "The Trolley Song", "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"), made this a harder sell than MGM anticipated. Tammy Locke (Tootie) would be cast later in 1966 in ABC's The Monroes.
No rating, just a public service.
4 comments:
For The Record:
Celeste Holm and Wesley Addy, the mother and father here, were married in real life - from 1961 through Addy's passing in 1996.
I'm guessing that this might have been a selling point for the series, if it had sold ...
I hadn't heard of Addy, really, until this came along, and you might be right about this being a selling point. Did Addy have anything else on his resume?
According to IMDb, Wesley Addy had 85 acting credits,going back to the 1950s (long pedating his marriage to Celeste Holm).
All that is on film and video; Mr. and Mrs. Addy did quite a bit of touring together on stage.
Some people might consider this to be a kind of resume ...
I remember a time when Celeste Holm was a guest on Dick Cavett's talk show.
During a commercial break, there was a promo for The FBI, featuring a clip of one of Wesley Addy's numerous guest shots thereon:
"If they find out about you, it's only one more step to me ..."
Back from the break, Cavett said to Holm: "You know, your husband is on my show more often than I am!"
They - and the audience - enjoyed a hearty chuckle ...
I'll have to look up IMDB. Thanks, Mike.
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