23 Wild “Secrets” About Your Favorite Old Hollywood Movies
In Meet Me in St. Louis , Margaret O'Brien's mother would get her to cry on command while filming the sad scenes by her that her rival actor on the MGM lot was a better crier than her. MGM Vincente Minelli wrote in his book that he got Margaret to cry by telling her that her dog died, but Margaret said that neither her mom nor Judy Garland would stand for that sort of thing.
Instead, she said:"The way they got me to cry is that June Allyson and I were in competition as the best criers on the MGM lot. So when I was having trouble crying, my mother would come over to me and say, 'I'll have the makeup man put the false tears down your face, but June is such a great, great actress – she always cries real tears.' And then I started crying, because I couldn't let June win the competition.