Yes, it's been a great *SUMMER UNDER THE STARS* on Turner Classic Movies this year. TCM's annual tribute to past Hollywood stars, which devotes an entire day throughout the month of August to 31 selected performers, has thus far included names such as Errol Flynn, Ingrid Bergman, Bob Hope, Warren Beaty, and Walter Matthau to name a few. Also to come this month are some true classics such as Kat Hepburn, Paul Newman, Elizabeth Taylor, Lauren Bacall, Henry Fonda, with the month long tribute corronating on the 31st with an all day tribute to Clint Eastwood, which I think is rather cool. I'm also interested in seeing the films of Robert Stack, who I know mostly for his role as the host of NBC's "Unsolved Mysteries" from the 80's.

And featuring today are the films of Margaret O' Brian, the little girl with the patented cry, best known for her ability to shed tears at any given moment and sustain that cry. O' Brian was extremely talented musically and had a successful career as an adult actor, but will always be remembered for her childhood roles. In particular, one movie which we've discussed extensively in this thread, which aired today on TCM, is Vincent Minneli's classic musical "Meet Me In St. Louis" from 1944, where O' Brian played the adorable and meddling little sister of Judy Garland.

Now, the lack of breadth to O' Brian's filmography speaks volumes to just how legendary Minneli's classic St Louis has to come to be. The film follows one year in the life of a St. Louis family in turn of the century rural America, and Minneli goes to all lengths to portray the beauty of their town and surroundings. The four sisters are all protaganists, as they each try to adjust to their respective stages of life, all the while living in the shadow of a changing St Louis and a changing America, as the father decides to move the family to NYC just as the "World's Fair" is coming to St. Louis in 1904. The musical comedy drama of sorts is an early display of that classic Manneli wry sense of humor story telling, where the director brilliantly uses the cinematography to help establish differing moods and feeling, as the interplay between the shadow and light in his lush scenery becomes a major player in the narrative. There are these beneath-the-surface subtle, yet eerily ironic twists and double meaning often seen in a Minneli film. It's also the picture that brought together Garland and Minneli for the first time, culminating of course in their marriage and birth of future American actress Liza Minnelli.

Among the film's other notable achievements, and one which would later come to define the career of Margaret O' Brian, is Judy Garland's introduction of "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas"; a now staple Christmas time classic that came from a film which hardly deals with Christmas at all. But to those who know Judy's original version, and who come to together every year at Christmas time to share it, 7 yr old child star Margaret O' Brian and her crocodile tears are as much a part of the song as anything else. And perhaps, a part of the child on Christmas in all of of us, too.

** The films of Margaret O' Brian. All day today on TCM **