Whenever I’ve been on a studio back lot, I’m always impressed with how authentic they look, even in real life and up close. But one of the first places I would go in my time machine would be the MGM back lot in the 1940s. What a marvelous playground it must have been as we can see on the set for their 1944 classic “Meet Me in St. Louis.” This is the “street” where the Smith family “lived.” The only giveaways that it’s a movie set is the clapper sitting on the ground and those light reflectors on the far right.
The MGM back lot set built for MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS stood until it was demolished 1970. It was also used for CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN (1950).
I read somewhere that the Smith family’s living room or parlor from “Meet Me in St. Louis” was reassembled and used as the parlor in the film, “The Time Machine” years later.
I hadn’t heard that before but “The Time Machine” was also from MGM so it’s very possible.
So were the interior sets for Meet Me in St Louis inside the exterior set … or was the exterior just a facade used for the exterior shots?
The interiors would have been shot on soundstages.
Those exterior and interior scenes have always just pulled me in. If I could walk inside just one house, that would be it.
Thanks for the info.