Exclusive“State Fair” (1945): Love, Music, and a Summer to Remember

Things I used to like, I don't like anymore, I want a lot of other things I never had before. It's just like mother says, I sit around and moan, pretending I am wonderful, and knowing I'm a doe. I'm as restless as a willow in a windstorm, I'm as jumpy as a puppet on a string. I'd say that I had spring fever, but I know it isn't spring. I am starry-eyed and vaguely discontented, like a nightingale without a song to sing. Oh, why should I have spring fever when it isn't even spring? I keep wishing I was somewhere else, walking down a strange new street, hearing words that I have never heard from a man I've yet to meet. I'm as busy as a spider spinning daydreams, I'm as giddy as a baby on a swing. I haven't seen a crocus or a rosebud or a robin on the wing, but I think so gay in a melancholy way that it might as well be spring. It might as well be spring. Okay, I'm thinking of a musical by Rodgers and Hammerstein. That's a pretty broad category. Can you give me a hint? Okay, here's the story. A farm family goes to the yearly fair and has a series of adventures. Oh, I know. It's Iowa, because that's the state where it takes place. No, you're thinking of Oklahoma. Midwest, because that's the region where it takes place. Nope, that's South Pacific. Um, The Farmer and I. You mean The King and I? Rollercoaster, because The Farmer's daughter meets a newspaper man on the rollercoaster. You're thinking of Carousel, and that's a completely different story. You don't really think that there are musicals called Iowa, Midwest, The Farmer and I, and Rollercoaster, do you? Well, what else is there? You're forgetting Rodgers and Hammerstein's only movie musical, State Fair. I'm Tiffany Brannan. I'm Rebecca Brannan. Welcome to Real Thoughts on Cinema. In the 1940s, it became popular to remake earlier films from the 1930s as musicals. Oftentimes, it was common practice to lighten the tone in these musical remakes, which were often in color, as well as adding songs. The controversial Philip Stong novel State Fair was made into a highly acclaimed film in 1933. When it was remade as a color film in 1945, it had an unusual concept that went along with it. The storyline is quite simple. The Frake family, a simple farming family from Iowa, travels to the yearly State Fair. The father, Abel, is entering his prize Hampshire boar, Blue Boy, in the competition. His wife is entering her pickles and mincemeats, hoping to win a prize. And their two children, Margie and Wayne, are hoping to find some fun and adventure at the fair. Margie meets a charming newspaper man, and they agree to see the fair, somewhat as friends, and then part when the fair is over. But they begin to develop feelings for each other. Wayne, sad and lonely that his girl couldn't come to the fair with him, meets the charming band singer, Emily, and falls for her. But, will anything last when the fair is over? This movie was made by 20th Century Fox. It was produced by William Pearlberg and directed by Walter Lange. It starred Jeanne Crane, Dana Andrews, and Dick Haynes. So, what is the unusual concept? The unusual concept is that this is the only time that the famous songwriting team Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote a score for a movie. In the 1950s, so many of their big hits from the stage were made into movies. Most of them by Fox. We have, starting with Oklahoma, Carousel, King and I, South Pacific, The Sound of Music. But this one they wrote to be a movie. And certainly nothing new for a score to be written for a movie. There's so many of them. But not by Rodgers and Hammerstein. And the interesting thing is that they both had really negative feelings about Hollywood because of past experiences they'd had with other writing partners. So they said, OK, but we will not set foot in Hollywood. They insisted on writing the score back in New York and sending it out to Los Angeles. They wouldn't work there because Rodgers had worked with his previous writing partner, Lawrence Hart, who by this point had died. And Oscar Hammerstein had worked with a lot of other composers over the years. So he'd had his experiences too. And most composers or songwriters weren't too happy to see what Hollywood would do with their scores. So it was easier for them to not be too involved. But it's such a different concept having what really could be considered a Broadway musical in this new style, but written for a movie. And 1943 was when they debuted Oklahoma. Yes, that was the first big hit they had together. And they really established a new style of Broadway musical, which is now the accepted style. And has become the accepted style for movie musicals as well. True, because before that, there were operettas. But the musical, which is really short for musical comedy, was more like a musical review. The songs would be more in context. It would be the characters are supposed to be singing. Either that or on the stage, I think they were often like a series of skits almost. Like different musical scenes that didn't really have a connected story. But the idea that those songs were what told the story. Almost more like an opera. Almost more like an opera, yeah. And that was different. And I think you can see how Oklahoma, you know, it's about these common farmers. Now we've got, again, farmers. It's a similar story. And when a lot of their works were adapted to the screen in the 50s, I think a lot of times they ended up being a bit stagey. I know you're not a huge fan of them. I'm not. But they didn't change them enough, didn't cut enough songs. It's just a bit musical heavy. And the interesting thing about State Fair, I think it really shows kind of the crossroads of the two styles. Because they were writing it for a movie, they didn't go fully into their new style. And the brilliant thing about it is that it balances perfectly in context songs and out of context songs. Starting with the very first number. The movie starts with everyone singing about going to State Fair. That could be either one. I guess it's a little strange that all these people are just singing. But maybe this is, it's kind of like Meet Me in St. Louis. I was going to say, I think that the reason this movie is successful is that it wasn't just like they did on the stage. They were copying one of the most successful musicals of the decade, which just came out the year before. MGM was noted for making musicals. Fox was finding its footing with musicals. So I wouldn't be surprised if the producer or director or even just the writers themselves looked and said that worked well. It started out with everybody singing about Meet Me in St. Louis, Meet Me at the Fair. All these people who don't really know how to sing. But it's cute because of these character actors. And they're not singing a lot. They're not singing a big ballad. They're singing like two lines. And then it's followed by Margie's ballad, It Might As Well Be Spring. An average farm girl probably wouldn't be sitting in her room singing to herself. I guess it depends on how bored she is. It's almost an inner monologue. Yes, it's almost like her thought process. But then moving at the fair, most of the notable songs are sung by Emily, who is a band singer. And she's supposed to be singing. Right, and the brilliance of them is they are in context. She's a performer, but the lyrics tie into what's happening in the story. And I think that is really brilliant. That really just kind of dawned on me fully the last time we watched it. Obviously I was aware of it, but I was really thinking, that's really great. Her first song, That's For Me, kind of is echoing when she and Wayne first met. And then when they sing a duet together later, she and Wayne, it again kind of reflects their relationship. Maybe this is just for fun, but maybe it's not. Maybe we really feel something. And interesting in that you could say there are four main characters. And two of those four main characters, in fact the main two, weren't singers. Or actually the strange thing is Dana Andrews was a singer, but he never sang in movies. So the tiny snippet he sings was overdubbed. But Jeannie Crane wasn't a singer, and her voice is overdubbed, even though she's the leading lady. They could have cast a musical star, but they didn't. Instead they cast someone who would be a good type for the role from an acting perspective. This was really one of her breakout films, and helped establish her as a big star at Fox. Then Dana Andrews was also getting his footing. He usually was known for playing more as tough guys, like the year before he'd been the detective in Laura. He still has a bit of that, I don't want to say tough, but a slightly more hard-boiled edge as a newspaper man. That's always kind of a tough profession. But then there's also a great sensitivity in the way he interacts with this very sweet young woman. The way maybe he has had a questionable past, but he wants to be different for her. She brings something out in him. And then the minor couple is the brother, played by popular band singer and radio singer Dick Haynes. In one of his most notable acting roles. He made a few other movies, but this is a pretty important role for him. So we hear his beautiful voice, he gets to sing a lot, he really is featured. And Emily is played by Vivian Blaine, who was also a radio singer, band singer, getting her start in motion pictures. The interesting thing is that she would go on to be quite a Broadway star, but she really wasn't yet. This was her first Broadway work, and it wasn't even on Broadway. She debuted the role of Adelaide in Guys and Dolls, and then appeared in the movie. She did a lot of things on the stage. She looks very different. If you know her from Guys and Dolls, you might be like, that's Vivian Blaine. She became kind of famous as a dumb blonde, but she's a redhead here, so she looks very different. But you can see a very sincere side, a nice voice, a strong voice, more of a voice that would work on the stage at this time. Considering that they didn't use body mics at this time on Broadway, so people had to really use their voices, more like opera. And you can hear that style, you hear the signature Rodgers and Hammerstein style, but it's a little more relatable. It's a little more popular music. Richard Rodgers knew how to write songs that are now considered jazz, or the Great American Songbook. The songs he wrote with heart, you don't think of them as Rodgers and Hammerstein as this uppity Broadway. It's interesting how just having this new lyricist, he developed a new style. Hammerstein was the one who led him toward that. Hammerstein worked with Zygmunt Romberg. Hammerstein did operetta, so he was trying to make Rodgers do that too. And Rodgers was much younger. Hammerstein was old enough to be his father. He was probably the brains behind the organization. And he kind of made Rodgers be what he needed to be to be part of this team. Interesting. And I don't want to say anything against Rodgers and Hammerstein, but I think that's one reason why, especially if not performed properly, that music can sound a bit pretentious. It's a difficult balance between if you're an opera singer, you sound kind of over the top. But if you're more of the modern Broadway style, or even the popular singer style of the day, it's just like you're not quite classical or legit enough to sing it. So it's a very fine line to work, I think, to really do it right. To really have the right style for it. That old Broadway style is kind of lost now. It is. I think Sound of Music is an exception because it was trying to bring that inspiration of the old world. But this is very Americana, and they struck the perfect balance. The lyrics are so clever. The tunes are so catchy. They're heartwarming. There are more songs than they ended up using in the film. That's right, I heard about that too. And to look at where this came in the history of Hollywood. This movie was made three times. The story was made into three different movies. A pre-code film in 1933, a code film in 1945, and a Sherlock-era film in 1962. Now, these may not be terms that most people know, but they're all relating to the Motion Picture Production Code, otherwise known as the Hays Code, rather inaccurately, but which was enforced between 1934 and 1954 by Joseph I. Breen. Although technically the code was adopted and in place in Hollywood from the year 1930 to the year 1968, it was only those 20 years when Joseph Breen was in charge and working as the head of the Production Code Administration that it really was enforced properly. From 1930 to 1934, it was in place but not really enforced by the Studio Relations Committee, the SRC. They just didn't really have the power to... No, they could make suggestions. Please don't put that nudity in your film. Please don't have that mistake. But they couldn't make them. They didn't have the power and position to really guide the filmmakers. They were like, you have to follow these steps. It was like they weren't a police force. They were a counselor, a therapist. Yes, and then when Mr. Breen retired in 1954, his right-hand man, kind of second-in-command, Geoffrey Sherlock, took over, and he really didn't know what he was doing. Or he was doing this intentionally. That's kind of up for conjecture. But between 1954 and 1968, it just gradually began to be enforced less and less until ultimately it was replaced with the rating system just because it was no longer effectual because it was not being regulated properly. And so we can really see drastically how the same story with, for the most part, the same names, similar premise, oftentimes very similar dialogue, how different it would be in the different eras. Fascinating study. It is. The three state fairs are a great study. Now, each one in some ways is less like the book, although the 60s one brought some of those elements back in. But the tone, I felt, got further away. The odd thing to me is that technically the 45 and the 62 should be more similar because they're both musicals. Musicals, they're both using the Rodgers and Hammerstein score. They use most of the same songs. They wrote some new ones for the 62. And the 33 is so different. 30s films are very different than anything else. They are. It's kind of darker in tone. It's the only one that's in black and white. It's the Depression era. It's so different. But the 33 and the 45 are more similar. Even though the 62 has the songs, they put it in Texas. That's true. They left Iowa. They changed more the names. Changed the names. They kind of changed the focus because Pat Boone played Wayne, so he was really the star. So Margie and her romance kind of took a second, kind of took a back seat to that. And really, it's the first two. They're the ones. I have to say the 45 would be my ranking of the best. I would say 45, 33, 62 if I was going to rank them. And as a code film, clearly, the other two don't stand a chance. And it's so much fun. It's a feel-good movie, very much a family film. It looks so beautiful. The songs are very catchy. There are not too many of them if you're just the kind of person who hates musicals. Yeah, there is. Sort of a coming-of-age story, I guess you could say. It is, but it's nice to see how these two young people don't just totally forget about their values, as at least one of them does in the other ones. They come from a good family, a good background, and then just one day at the fair and they're running amok. That bothered people in the book. It bothered them in the 33 movie. The characters, I think that was the biggest flaw. So by this film, we saw these two young people fall in love with people who are very different than themselves, but it manages to be very wholesome and clean. And interestingly, it's the only one of the movies that wasn't really filmed at a real fair. Although the hair and some of the aesthetics of the pre-code and the Sherlock are very much part of their time and place. They were filmed at real fairs. It's about that spectacle. This one was about telling a story in a really engaging, even theatrical manner. It's kind of like a fairy tale. It is kind of like a fairy tale, like the beautiful American dream. Because if this is supposed to be the Iowa State Fair, it didn't happen during the Great Depression. Multiple eligible young men are clearly not fighting in the war. But it doesn't look like the 30s either. It doesn't look like the Great Depression. Maybe it's 1941. It could be. But it's sort of like this beautiful, idealized world where we don't have to deal with a Great Depression and farmhouse, plastics. It's interesting. It has that post-war fabrication. I guess this was almost the end of the war. People were looking ahead to when the war was over. So maybe it's supposed to be like 1946, 1947. Within the next couple of years, this is what we hope the world will have gone back to being. This is a prediction of the post-war Dior New Look 1950s style, with very full skirts, a beautiful hourglass style, oftentimes almost the German dirndl style of a little stomacher or corset belt with poofy full sleeves that are a bit of a callback perhaps to the 1930s or even the 1830s. And she wears a small hat in one scene, where she's a singer with whom Wayne falls in love, particularly her last costume, very signature 40s evening wear with a silver shimmery skirt, a little jacket over the top of it, and statement sparkly jewelry. If you're a Broadway fan, I think you would enjoy seeing this rather unusual outing from Rodgers and Hammerstein. It did end up being put on the stage eventually. It certainly is a worthy part of their catalog. If you're someone who just likes movie musicals, you might enjoy this more than the stage two film. Yeah, absolutely. And even if you just like classic films, it's a really heartwarming, endearing film, a great love story. It's something the whole family can enjoy. It's a musical that I don't want to sing again. Another song that they do a good job of balancing so you never have that feeling. It's funny, it's heartwarming, it's touching. It's a really enjoyable, fun movie to watch, especially perfect for the summer months, but it's great any time of year as it celebrates the beauty of Americana and the tradition that different parts of the states meet different people, try new things, go on rides, have their livestock and their pickles and mincemeat. It's got a lot of really fun elements in it, and I think they did a great job of keeping the spirit of the novel while removing some of the really dark, negative and offensive aspects of the movie. entertaining platform because it is quite popular now. You can even watch it for free on YouTube. It's beautiful color copies so you can really get into the spirit of it for the lovely visuals. Many classic films, such as State Fair, really focus on family and the special bond they share. They focus on perhaps the greatest teacher in literature. Thank you for watching. Goodbye.