State Fair was made into a movie a few times. The first was in 1933 starring Janet Gaynor, Lew Ayres, and Will Rogers and it was not a musical like the two following versions.
I watched the musical 1945 version recently but it was remade again in 1962 with Ann Margaret and Bobby Darin.
But back to the 1945 version..Jeanne Crain is Margy Frake, a restless young woman in need of something different. Her father, Abel, is preparing his hog for competition and his wife, Melissa, is perfecting her mincemeat recipe all in the hopes of taking home the winning ribbons from the State Fair.
Once they arrive, Margy and her brother take off to get a start on the fun! Margy meets a handsome reporter, Pat (Dana Andrews- my heart throb), and they fall in love over roller coasters and cokes. Her brother Wayne wastes no time either, meeting the female singer in the band. But she has a secret and Pat gets called off to Chicago for a promotion leaving poor Margy unhappily waiting for the date that never came.
The end is a sweet one but you'll have to watch to find out how it works out.
Apparently Jeanne Crain couldn't sing so they dubbed her in with Louanne Hogan's voice. It was such a hit, that Jeanne became known as a singing actress so Ms. Hogan was signed with 20th Century Fox just to be her voice!
Also, Dana Andrews was dubbed in this movie even though he originally came to California to be an opera singer! They didn't know this about him, however, and hired someone to sing for him. He never let on that he could sing because he thought his voice over needed the work. That was nice..no wonder I'm so taken with him!
This movie was pleasant enough but not my favorite musical (despite its having Dana Andrews in it). I wasn't impressed with the musical numbers. My thumb is hovering somewhere in the middle on this one. It is a classic Rogers and Hammerstein, though, so why not see it anyway?
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