Someone off-camera hands a book to Annabelle.The effete conductor of the train methodically marches down the sidewalk to his girlfriend""s home, trailed in a ""train"" procession by two adoring boys who worship him and imitatively remove heir hats as they pass other townsfolk.This most popular and financially-successful film was produced by the legendary Arthur Freed and directed by its star""s future husband, newcomer Vincente Minnelli (who married 23 year-old Judy Garland a year later on June 15, 1945 - it was Garland""s second marriage).Daughters are encouraged by heir parents to entice and snare the handsome, eligible bachelor as a husband by dressing in provocative shorts or a peek-a-boo.The credits play on top of a lop-sided button of a composite ""stars-and-stripes"" Queen of Diamonds.The next scene opens stateside, with a member of a military band beating the side of a drum - painted with the patriotic symbol of an American eagle.Several weeks had passed since her coming and still she lingered.In the opening sequence, a dark, bobbed-haired, sophisticated urban vamp (Margaret Livingston) - wearing a low-cut slip and wrap - is holidaying in the country from the metropolis.