The TIME review in 1944 was effusive in its praise of both the film, Meet Me in St. Louis, and its youngest star: “Now and then, too, the film gets well beyond the charm of mere tableau for short flights in the empyrean of genuine domestic poetry. These triumphs are creditable mainly to the intensity and grace of Margaret O’Brien and to the ability of director Minnelli & Co. to get the best out of her.”

Nearly 80 years later, Meet Me in St. Louis remains—thanks in large part to its inclusion of Judy Garland’s rendition of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”—a beloved Christmastime classic. The movie, based on author Sally Benson’s stories about her childhood in the Missouri city at the beginning of th…