in length, so the writers suggested edits that brought the film down to 113 minutes for its preview screenings in the summer of 1944. MGM, encouraged by overwhelmingly positive audience previews, held the film's release for the Christmas season. The premiere was held in St. Louis on November 22, 1944 and at New York's Astor Theatre one week later. Minnelli's idea to introduce each season segment with a greeting-card illustration dissolving into live action was most likely influenced by a similar technique used in Orson Welles' 1942 film The Magnificent Ambersons. Freed's process for Meet Me in St. Louis established a pattern for Minnelli's future musicals: budgets in excess of $1 million, preproduction schedules sometimes exceeding a full year, shooting schedules of three to six months and postproduction phases of six months or longer. Music The musical score for the film was adapted by Roger Edens, who also served as an uncredited associate producer. Georgie Stoll conducted the orchestrations of Conrad Salinger. Some of the songs in the film are from around the time of the St. Louis Exposition, and others were written for the film. "Meet Me in St. Louis, Louis," Kerry Mills and Andrew B. Sterling, 1904. "The Boy Next Door", Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane, 1944, performed by Judy Garland. "Skip to My Lou", traditional, with section sung to the tunes of "Kingdom Coming", "Turkey in the Straw" and "Yankee Doodle" arranged by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane, 1944 "I Was Drunk Last Night," performed by Margaret O'Brien. "Under the Bamboo Tree," words and music by Robert Cole and the Johnson Bros., 1902, performed by Judy Garland and Margaret O'Brien. "Over the Banister," 19th-century melody adapted by Conrad Salinger, lyrics from the 1888 poem "Over the Banisters" by Ella Wheeler Wilcox, adapted by Roger Edens (1944), performed by Judy Garland. "The Trolley Song", Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane, 1944, performed by Chorus and Judy Garland. "You and I," Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed, sung by Freed, the film's producer, and Denny Markas (the young woman in blue on the trolley, as seen in one of the pictures below), voices dubbed for Leon Ames and Mary Astor. "Goodbye, My Lady Love", instrumental, Joseph E. Howard, 1904. "Little Brown Jug", instrumental, Joseph Winner, 1869. "Down at the Old Bull and Bush," instrumental, Harry von Tilzer, 1903. "Home! Sweet Home!", instrumental, Henry Bishop, 1823/1852. "Auld Lang Syne", instrumental "The