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The Harvey Girls is a 1942 novel by Samuel Hopkins Adams about Fred Harvey's famous Harvey Houses, which was subsequently made into a 1946 MGM musical.

The film starred Judy Garland, John Hodiak, Angela Lansbury, Virginia O'Brien, Ray Bolger, and Marjorie Main, and was directed by George Sidney. It won an Academy Award for Best Song for "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe", written by Johnny Mercer and Harry Warren.

The plot of the film concerns the Harvey Girls, waitresses for the nation-wide chain of Fred Harvey Restaurants in the 19th century, which fed pioneers and travelers alike. This new batch of Harvey Girls is heading to a place called Sandrock, which appears to truly be in the middle of nowhere but which has a lively, even rambunctious, community, and big business in the local saloon which features women of a certain profession (though, because of the times in which the movie was made, they profess to providing "entertainment"). Judy Garland plays a young woman on her way to Sandrock to meet, and marry, the man whose 'lonely hearts' ad she has answered. Alas, upon meeting, both she and her intended decide quickly that a marriage between them wouldn't work, so she decides to join the Harvey Girls as a waitress at their newly-opened location. Unfortunately, many of the townsfolk, particularly the town's judge and main saloon gal (Angela Lansbury), view the Harvey Restaurant, and its Girls, as stiff competition for the menfolk's time, energy, and money, and steps are taken to drive the Girls and their business out of town for good. Along the way, the owner of the saloon (John Hodiak), who ghost-wrote the letters received by Garland, intending them as a sort of joke, and is initially antagonistic towards the Harvey group, comes to side with them, as he and Garland begin a tentative, shaky romance, even though he and Lansbury seem to also have a spark between them. At the climax of the film, the judge, and one of his lackeys, set fire to the restaurant, destroying it. Hodiak invites the Girls and their manager to use his saloon as a makeshift Harvey Restaurant, which prompts Lansbury and her girls to leave town. Lansbury intends to leave with Hodiak but he finally decides to stay in Sandrock, not knowing Garland is on the train, too. Soon after the train leaves, Lansbury finds Garland aboard and soon realizes how deeply Garland cares for Hodiak, pulling the cord and stopping the train, forcing Garland to get off just as Hodiak comes into view on his horse, heading for them. Lansbury looks on happily as Garland and Hodiak embrace, which dissolves into a shot of their wedding day.

All of Lansbury's singing was dubbed, quite obviously; the voice is noticeably deeper than her own. Lansbury is actually an accomplished singer, having since won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical four times, though perhaps her voice wasn't entirely suitable for the sort of 'low-down' songs she performs in the film.

The film also co-stars Virginia O'Brien, a character actress in musical comedies noted for her deadpan expression throughout most of her movies. O'Brien's character, Alma, seems to disappear half-way through the movie: this was because O'Brien was pregnant with her first child and couldn't complete the film.

Ray Bolger also appears, thanks to Garland, who had bonded with him during the making of The Wizard of Oz.

• Art Direction - William Ferrari & Cedric Gibbons
• Set Decoration - Mildred Griffiths & Edwin B. Willis
• Costume Design - Irene Gibbons, Helen Rose, (Arlington) Valles
• Makeup Artist - Dorothy Ponedel
• Production Manager - Dave Friedman
• Assistant Director - George Rhein
• Sound Director - Douglas Shearer
• Special Effects -Warren Newcombe
• Camera - Cliff Shirpser
• Choreographer - Robert Alton
• Musical director - Lennie Hayton
• Associate color consultant - Henri Jaffa
• Color consultant- Natalie Kalmus
• Lyricist- Johnny Mercer
• Orchestrator- Conrad Salinger
• Lyricist - Kay Thompson
• Singing voice: Cyd Charisse - Marion Doenges
• Singing voice: Angela Lansbury - Virginia Rees

• The Harvey Girls at the Internet Movie Database
• The Judy Garland Online Discography "The Harvey Girls" pages.