Silver Screen Standards: For Me and My Gal (1942)

Silver Screen Standards: For Me and My Gal (1942)

Although both of them made more memorable pictures on their own, For Me and My Gal (1942) marks the film debut of Gene Kelly and his first pairing with Judy Garland, who was just breaking out of juvenile roles and into adult leading lady status after numerous films with Mickey Rooney and The Wizard of Oz (1939). Directed by Busby Berkeley but far tamer than that might suggest, this charming if overtly sentimental MGM musical merges vaudeville nostalgia and World War I era patriotism in a bid to bolster the morale and wartime resolve of American audiences still experiencing the early days of World War II. For modern viewers, its appeal lies mainly with its two iconic stars, both of them in transition in their roles here, with Kelly bursting into film full of his characteristic energy and 19-year-old Garland proving that she’s ready to play grown-up romantic leads.

The story opens on the vaudeville circuit in the early years of the twentieth century, before the Great War becomes a pressing concern for the American public or traveling entertainers like Jo Hayden (Garland) and Harry Palmer (Kelly). Ambitious and self-centered, Harry convinces Jo to leave her act with her loyal admirer Jimmy Metcalf (George Murphy) and join forces with him instead, but setbacks constantly thwart their hopes of breaking into the big time in New York. Jo’s beloved brother, Danny (Richard Quine), joins the Army as WWI progresses, but Harry cares only about getting his shot at stardom and is desperate to delay his service after he is drafted. He intentionally smashes his hand to keep his opening date at the Palace, but his actions have unintended consequences for his relationship with Jo and his ensuing efforts to make amends.

Garland, the established star, is sympathetic, vulnerable, and poignant as Jo; it’s a perfect role for her, and the audience understands why both Jimmy and Harry fall in love. Her performance of “After You’ve Gone” is especially moving, although the endless vaudeville montages of other songs run together after a while. She also has a memorable scene with Marta Eggerth, the Hungarian operetta star who plays Eve Minard, a successful, sophisticated singer who attracts Harry’s admiration. Those moments of pain for Jo showcase Garland’s talent for pathos, but I always find her heartbreak a little too real when I watch her in such roles. A childhood veteran of the vaudeville stage, Garland knew the life and personality of Jo all too well, and she understood from her own experience the hardships someone like Jo must endure. Garland is so compelling in the tragic scenes that the happy ending rings a bit false, although some of that effect derives from the moral ambiguity of her leading man’s character.

Gene Kelly makes Harry Palmer a complex, slippery sort of romantic lead, perhaps more nuanced than a feel-good wartime musical requires. We believe Eve Minard when she tells Jo that Harry will only bring her pain, even if Jo refuses to see the truth about the man she loves. His character is so flawed and self-centered that the studio had to make changes to the preview cut to satisfy audiences that Harry – rather than the devoted and selfless Jimmy – might actually deserve to get the girl at the end. There’s a darkness in Kelly’s performance as Harry that we only rarely catch a glimpse of in his later films, but it suggests that he might, like Tyrone Power, have made a hell of a noir anti-hero had he ever gotten the chance. Musicals, however, would be his future, and his song and dance numbers in this debut amply prove his ability even if they lack the personal stamp he would put on his performances in later pictures like On the Town (1949), An American in Paris (1951), and, of course, Singin’ in the Rain (1952). His energetic, frankly masculine style would become the perfect counterpoint to Fred Astaire’s airy grace, but here we see it on the big screen for the first time. Anchors Aweigh (1945), for which Kelly created the dance sequences, would signal his full arrival as a musical star and earn him the only Oscar nomination for Best Actor of his career.

After For Me and My Gal, Garland and Kelly reunited for The Pirate (1948) and Summer Stock (1950), the latter of which would be Garland’s last movie with MGM. Both actors also appear in the 1943 musical, Thousands Cheer, which includes Garland as part of the guest star segment and Kelly as one of the characters in the romantic comedy portion of the film. If you’re interested in similar treatments of the vaudeville era, try Rose of Washington Square (1939) and Hello, Frisco, Hello (1943), both starring Alice Faye, or see Garland play a different up-and-coming vaudeville singer in Ziegfeld Girl (1941). Marta Eggerth made many films in Europe, but you can also see her with Judy Garland in the 1943 musical, Presenting Lily Mars.

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— Jennifer Garlen for Classic Movie Hub

Jennifer Garlen pens our monthly Silver Screen Standards column. You can read all of Jennifer’s Silver Screen Standards articles here.

Jennifer is a former college professor with a PhD in English Literature and a lifelong obsession with film. She writes about classic movies at her blog, Virtual Virago, and presents classic film programs for lifetime learning groups and retirement communities. She’s the author of Beyond Casablanca: 100 Classic Movies Worth Watching and its sequel, Beyond Casablanca II: 101 Classic Movies Worth Watching, and she is also the co-editor of two books about the works of Jim Henson.