In the wake of the huge success of Oklahoma! in 1943, Broadway and Hollywood gave us a rash of what I call the “Americana musicals,” and this is one of the most famous. Like Oklahoma!, it’s set in the West (Sandrock, New Mexico), and it’s inspired by real life: How Fred Harvey established a chain of restaurants across the country that would follow the trail of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad.

Here’s the conflict in this splashy example of MGM Technicolor: A group of ultra-refined waitresses -- including the straitlaced Garland -- find themselves up against a Sandrock saloon that doubles as what we might label (with understatement) a bawdy house.

What have we got here? The 24-year-old Garland transplanted from Meet Me in St. Louis; John Hodiak as the saloon owner with whom she ironically falls in love (of course, she transforms him!); and Angela Lansbury, given her first assignment in a musical at just 21. They didn’t trust her to do her own singing – although as she told us for years, she was up to the task – but she holds her own with Garland when it comes to acting prowess.

Harvey Girls also boasts a major score by Harry Warren and Johnny Mercer including the Oscar-winning “Atchison, Topeka…” The film is MGM A-List all the way, and worth a viewing if, like me, you haven’t seen it in years.