Trivia / The Harvey Girls

• Breakaway Pop Hit: "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe" was released a full year before the film, and became a chart hit. Although it won the Oscar for Best Original Song, it's been covered by the likes of Bing Crosby, Rosemary Clooney, John Denver and others. It's often forgotten it was written specifically for The Harvey Girls.
• …But I Play One on TV: Angela Lansbury got a lot of hate mail from people who hated how mean her character was to Judy Garland.
• California Doubling: As was usual then, California's Monument Valley stood in for the Wild West. The film is set in Arizona, with a couple of scenes in New Mexico.
• Cut Song:
  • "March of the Doagies" - a solo for Susan at the ball that turns into a Crowd Song. It was filmed and shown on That's Entertainment II. It can be watched here. The song ends with the entire party going out to the valley for a bonfire, explaining why the building is completely empty later.
  • "My Intuition" - a duet between Susan and Ned after their first talk in the valley, and before they arrive back in town in the carriage. It can be seen here.
  • "Hayride" - a duet between Susan and Chris. It wasn't filmed but it was pre-recorded.
• Dyeing for Your Art: When Judy Garland went to a screening of the film in the 60s, she remarked that the shade of red her hair had to be "took hours".
• Fake American: Angela Lansbury (British) as the Southern Belle Em.
• Follow the Leader: It was following the lead of both Oklahoma! and Meet Me in St. Louis. As noted below, Judy Garland's role shares many similarities to Esther Smith.
• Hide Your Pregnancy: Virginia O'Brien's pregnancy had to be concealed, which works in scenes where she's wearing an apron. They used Fake Shemps in some scenes, such as "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe", where if you look closely you can see someone else wearing her costume at the end of the number.
• Hostility on the Set: Judy Garland didn't endear herself to many, due to her frequent lateness causing delays. She was late forty times altogether.
• Irony as She Is Cast:
  • Chris confesses to Alma that he's afraid of horses, and she fearlessly gives one a new shoe. In real life it was Virginia O'Brien who was scared of horses.
  • Deborah sighs that her family wouldn't allow her to be a dancer. Cyd Charisse was of course a professionally trained ballerina, who would get fame in Hollywood as a dancer.
• Mid-Development Genre Shift: The film began as a dramatic vehicle for Lana Turner. But after seeing the success of Oklahoma!, it was reworked into a musical.
• Never Work with Children or Animals: Judy Garland was terrified of horses, which made working with several of them quite tricky.
  "When I even come near a bunch of horses, they nudge each other and say, 'This is going to be fun.'"
• Non-Singing Voice:
  • Angela Lansbury's singing is dubbed by Virginia Rees. If this sounds baffling, given her later success on Broadway, it's apparently because her voice sounded "too good" for a lowlife saloon girl. Lansbury herself also adds that she was more on the soprano side at the time, which they decided didn't fit the character.
  • Cyd Charisse's singing was dubbed by Marion Doenges.
• One-Take Wonder: "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe" - Judy Garland did the whole song up until the tempo change perfect on the first take. They did one more for safety however.
• Typecasting: Judy Garland had played a very similar Spirited Young Lady in a period musical Meet Me in St. Louis a few years earlier. In both, she takes part in a Train Song. Amusingly, Marjorie Main plays her superior here, and in Meet Me In St Louis had played her maid.
• Uncredited Role: The train conductor is played by Byron Harvey Jr, who is uncredited. He was the grandson of Fred Harvey, and president of the Fred Harvey Company at the time of filming.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Judy Garland initially passed on the film, instead favouring Yolanda and the Thief. Roger Edens convinced her the part in that wouldn't be large enough, and promised that The Harvey Girls would be created to showcase her talents. The part in Yolanda and the Thief would go to Judy's Meet Me in St. Louis co-star Lucille Bremer, would become an infamous Box Office Bomb and damage her career significantly.
  • Clark Gable was the first choice for Ned, as he had dueted with Judy Garland on "Dear Mr Gable/You Made Me Love You". But he was put into the film Adventure instead. Gene Kelly was considered as well.
  • Ann Southern was supposed to play Em, but couldn't do it due to personal problems, and was replaced with Angela Lansbury.
  • Lucille Ball was slated for a role in the film, possibly Deborah or Alma. Edward Arnold was likewise supposed to be the Judge.
  • Alma disappears from the film after "Wild Wild West". This is because Virginia O'Brien was pregnant, and they had to cut some scenes of her with Ray Bolger that would have been impossible to film. The original schedule would have been able to fit more of her in, but Judy Garland's frequent lateness and absence from set (she missed eleven filming days) caused delays.
  • The soundtrack version of "It's A Great Big World" for some reason drops the first part of Deborah's verse, going straight to "a million miles I have crossed or more". The singing is also done by Betty Russell rather than Marion Doenges.