Harvey Girls (1946)

Judy Garland is Susan Bradley, a young girl who heads West to marry a man she has never met.

He happens to live in Sandrock, and she happens to be traveling on the same train as the Harvey Girls, waitresses for a new restaurant that’s going to open there.

Seems Harvey Houses are popping up all along the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway. And, according to legend, where the Harvey girls go, civilization soon follows.

Susan arrives in Sandrock to discover her husband-to-be isn’t quite the handsome dashing cowboy she envisioned after reading his letters. Heck, he didn’t even write the letters.

So she wriggles out of matrimony, into a Harvey girls uniform and right into another tight spot.

Ned Trent (John Hodiak) owns the local saloon and stands to lose out if the Harvey House — and pretty unmarried waitresses — lure all his customers away.

He and his comrades, including Judge Sam Purvis (Preston Foster) and saloon singer/lover Em (Angela Lansbury), set out to make sure the Harvey House is a failture.

But when Susan grabs two six-guns and goes looking for the signature steaks that have been stolen from the new eatery … well, Trent’s quite taken with this pretty and fiesty newcomer, and orders the rough stuff to stop.

Judge Purvis isn’t inclined to follow those orders.

Judy Garland as Susan Bradley, arriving in Sandrock in The Harvey Girls (1946)

John Hodiak as Ned Trent, the man who capitalizes off drinking, gambling and women in The Harvey Girls (1946)

Review:

A lovely looking piece of fluff that, according to the TCM opening, was intended as a romantic comedy starring Cary Grant and Lana Turner, but became a Judy Garland musical after the smash success of Oklahoma on Broadway.

It’s filled with elaborate song and dance numbers, some of which seem to have little to do with the plot, in which civilization threatens to push evil — represented by Trent and his gaudily dressed ladies of the night — right out of Sandrock.

Judy Garland is in top form. In the film’s best scene, she totes two six guns she has no idea how to use into Trent’s saloon to track down the missing steaks. She even takes part in a barroom brawl featuring the Harvey Girls against the saloon girls.

Ray Bolger is third billed, but has little to do with the main plot. He played the Scarcrow alongside Garland in 1939’s “The Wizard of Oz.”

Oh, and for those who weren’t aware, there really were Harvey Houses and Harvey girls in the West. Fred Harvey started the restaurant chain in 1876, had 15 restaurants in operation by 1891and 47 restaurants, 15 hotels and 30 dining cars at the time of his death in 1901. Harvey Houses remained in existence into the 1960s.

Angela Lansbury as Em, trying to put newcomer Susan Bradley in her place in The Harvey Girls (1946)

Preston Foster as Judge Sam Purvis, determined to chase the Harvey girls out of Sandrcock in The Harvey Girls (1946)

Directed by:
George Sidney

Cast:
Judy Garland … Susan Bradley
John Hodiak … Ned Trent
Ray Bolger … Chris Maule
Angela Lansbury … Em
Preston Foster … Judge Sam Purvis
Virginia O’Brien … Alma
Kenny Baker … Terry O’Halloran
Marjorie Main … Sonora Cassidy
Chill Wills … H.H. Hartsey
Selena Royle .. Miss Bliss
Cyd Charisse … Deborah Andrews
Ruth Brady … Ethel
Jack Lambert … Marty Peters
Edward Earle … Jed Adams
Morris Ankrum … Rev. Claggett
Ben Carter … John Henry
Stephen McNally … “Goldust” McClean
as Horace McNally

Runtime: 102 min.

Chill Wills as H.H. Hartsey, the man expecting a mail order bride in The Harvey Girls (1946)

Marjorie Main as Sonora Cassidy, who’s spent 14 years with the Harvey Girls in The Harvey Girls (1946)

Memorable lines:

Sonora Cassidy: “I’ve been cooking in the Harvey Houses for 14 years.”
One of the Harvey Girls: “Must be well done by now.”

Sonora Cassidy: “If General Custer had our provisions, he’d still be standing.”

Susan Bradley, explaining why she’s heading west to marry a stranger: “The constitution guarantees the pursuit of happiness, but it’s up to me to do the pursuing.”

Ned Trent, when Judge Sam Purvis expresses reservations about the Harvey House opening: “Em, the judge is losing his grip. He’s afraid of a place that sells vittles and a pack of calf-faced girls.”

Ned Trent: “I thought I’d stroll over (to the Harvey House) and size up the competition.”
Em, suspicious of his interest in Susan: “Yours? Or mine?”

The Reverend: “On this night, the male population of Sandrock, for the first time, turned down a wild time in favor of a good time.”

Cyd Charisse as Deborah Andrews, Judy Garland as Susan Bradley and Virginia O’Brien as Alma in The Harvey Girls (1946)

Judy Garland as Susan Bradley, armed with two six guns, goes searching for stolen steaks in The Harvey Girls (1946)

Virginia O’Brien as Alma, proving she can shoe a horse in The Harvey Girls (1946)

Ray Bolger as Chris Maule, a wannabe blacksmith in The Harvey Girls (1946)

Cyd Charisse as Deborah Andrews, a Harvey girl being serenaded in The Harvey Girls (1946)

Kenny Baker as Terry O’Halloran, the man who falls for Deborah in The Harvey Girls (1946)

Judy Garland as Susan Bradley, a newcomer to Sandrock telling off Ned Trent in The Harvey Girls (1946)

Judy Garland as Susan Bradley, exasperated after a barroom brawl in The Harvey Girls (1946)