The Harvey Girls - Production

Production

The Harvey Girls was originally conceived by MGM as a dramatic vehicle for Lana Turner, but Roger Edens of the Arthur Freed unit decided after seeing the musical Oklahoma! that the story should be reworked as MGM's western musical with Judy Garland as its star. Unfortunately, Garland wanted to work with Fred Astaire on Yolanda and the Thief, which was being directed by her husband at the time, Vincente Minnelli, and was not interested in the part. Edens managed to convince her that the part in Yolanda wasn't big enough for her, and promised that Harvey Girls would be specifically created to showcase her talents.

Ann Sothern and Lucille Ball were supposed to have parts in the film at one point, and Edward Arnold was scheduled to play Judge Purvis.

The Harvey Girls filmed from 12 January through 4 June 1945, a rather long production period. Studio filming was at MGM's Culver City studios, and location shooting took place at the Iverson Ranch in Victorville, at Chatsworth near Los Angeles, and in Monument Valley.

Although Angela Lansbury was a fine singer in her own right, her voice was considered unsuitable for the character she played, a low-down saloon singer, and as a result all of her singing in the film was dubbed by Virginia Rees. Cyd Charisse, who had her first speaking role in the film, also had her singing dubbed, by Marion Doenges.

Virginia O'Brien, a comic actress known for her deadpan style of singing, was pregnant at the time The Harvey Girls was filmed, and as a result some of her scripted scenes with Ray Bolger were never filmed, because her condition was becoming difficult to hide, while others that were filmed were cut from the final print. This accounts for O'Brien's and Bolger's characters more or less disappearing from the film after O'Brien sings "Wild Wild West". Bolger was burnt by steam during the filming of the On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe number.

The Harvey Girls had its American release on 18 January 1946.