“Wasn’t I lucky to be born in my favorite city?”

Before she was Esther Blodgett singing about “The Man That Got Away,” Judy Garland was Esther Smith, singing about “The Boy Next Door.” The film that married Garland’s song-and-dance magic to Vincente Minnelli’s euphoric fantasias—and, shortly after, Garland and Minnelli themselves—Meet Me in St. Louis is still regarded as one of the highest achievements in the American movie musical genre. Adapted from Sally Benson’s short stories, it follows a year in the life of the Smith family as their native St. Louis prepares for the advent of the 1904 World’s Fair. Under their father’s strict rule, the Smith girls yearn for self-actualization, taking it upon themselves to get the lives and loves they want while dealing with younger sister Tootie’s antics. Deemed “culturally significant” by the Library of Congress, this Technicolor vision of turn-of-the-century Americana introduced the standards “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” and “The Trolley Song,” cementing its place in pop culture history.