You know that feeling when you're watching an old movie and everything just feels... right? That’s 1945’s State Fair. It’s Technicolor, it’s Iowa, and it’s basically a warm hug in cinematic form. At the center of it all is Jeanne Crain. She plays Margy Frake, the girl-next-door who’s "as restless as a willow in a windstorm."
Honestly, it’s the role that turned her into a household name. But here’s the thing: what you see on screen isn't exactly the whole truth.
The Voice That Wasn’t Hers
If you’ve seen the movie, you definitely remember the song "It Might as Well Be Spring." It’s melancholy, it’s sweet, and it won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. Jeanne Crain looks stunning while "singing" it on that porch swing. Her performance is so sincere you'd swear every note came from her soul.
Except, it didn't.
Jeanne Crain couldn't sing a lick. Well, maybe she could, but 20th Century Fox wasn't taking any chances with a Rodgers and Hammerstein score. They brought in a professional named Louanne Hogan to provide the vocals.
Hogan was actually put under contract specifically to be Jeanne’s singing voice. It wasn't just for State Fair either; she dubbed Crain in Margie and Centennial Summer too. What’s wild is that Jeanne was so good at "acting" the songs—the breathing, the throat movements, the subtle emotional cues—that most audiences at the time had no clue.
Even weirder? Her co-star, Dana Andrews, was actually a trained opera singer.
You’d think he’d be the one belting it out, right? Nope. He kept his singing talents a secret because he wanted to be taken seriously as a dramatic actor. He also didn't want to put the professional dubbers out of work. So, you have a movie where the person who can't sing is the face of a hit song, and the person who can sing is being dubbed by Ben Gage. Hollywood is weird.
Why Jeanne Crain Almost Missed the Fair
It’s hard to imagine anyone else as Margy. She had that "fresh from the farm" glow that made the whole romance with a cynical city reporter (Andrews) actually believable. But she wasn't the first choice.
Fox originally had their eyes on Maureen O'Hara. They also considered Kathryn Grayson.
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Crain was still a relative newcomer. She’d had a hit with Home in Indiana, but she wasn't a "Musical Star" in the way Alice Faye or Betty Grable were. But director Walter Lang saw something in her. He needed someone who didn't look like a polished Hollywood starlet. He needed someone who looked like she actually knew how to win a ribbon for mincemeat.
The gamble paid off.
The close-ups of Crain in State Fair are legendary. The camera absolutely loved her. She had this way of looking into the middle distance that made you feel her longing for "somewhere else." That’s the secret sauce of the movie. It’s not just about a fair; it’s about that universal teenage feeling that your life is about to start, and you're terrified and excited all at once.
More Than Just a Pretty Face in Iowa
Some critics over the years have called her performance "pale" or "simple."
I think they’re missing the point.
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Crain’s job wasn't to chew the scenery. Her job was to be the emotional anchor. While her father (played by the hilarious Charles Winninger) is obsessing over his hog, Blue Boy, and her mother is worrying about spiked mincemeat, Margy is the one dealing with real-world stakes: love and the future.
State Fair was a massive hit. It was the only musical Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote directly for the screen. It wasn't a Broadway adaptation first. It was built for the movies. Because it was such a success, it basically cemented Jeanne Crain's status at Fox.
She went on to do Leave Her to Heaven that same year, playing the "good" sister to Gene Tierney’s "bad" one. A few years later, she’d earn a Best Actress Oscar nomination for Pinky. She proved she had the range, but for a lot of fans, she’ll always be the girl on the roller coaster at the Iowa State Fair.
The Legacy of the 1945 Version
There was a remake in 1962 with Pat Boone and Ann-Margret. It moved the setting to Texas. It... wasn't the same.
The 1945 version has a specific post-war innocence that you just can't manufacture. It captures a moment in American history where the simplest things—a ferris wheel, a hot dog, a chance encounter with a stranger—felt like the most important things in the world.
Jeanne Crain’s career eventually shifted toward television and raising her seven children. She stayed busy, but she never quite captured that specific lightning in a bottle again.
What You Can Do Now
If you want to really appreciate what Jeanne Crain brought to the screen, here's how to do it properly:
- Watch the 1945 version first. Don't skip to the remakes. The Technicolor restoration on the Blu-ray or high-def streaming versions is breathtaking.
- Listen for Louanne Hogan. Now that you know it's not Jeanne singing, listen to the texture of the voice. It's a fun "spot the dub" game that reveals how much work went into the audio engineering of the 40s.
- Compare her to Janet Gaynor. If you're a real film nerd, track down the 1933 non-musical version. Seeing how Crain interprets the same character that Gaynor did a decade earlier shows just how much the "starlet" archetype changed in those ten years.
- Check out her work in Pinky. If you think she was just a "pretty face" in State Fair, her performance in Pinky will completely change your mind about her acting chops.
It’s easy to dismiss old musicals as "corny," but there's a reason State Fair still ranks high for classic movie fans. It’s the sincerity. Jeanne Crain didn't have to be a singer to make you believe every word of those songs. She just had to be Margy.
Practical Next Steps:
To explore more of this era, look for the "Fox Musicals" collection. Many of them share the same creative team and secondary cast members. Also, check out the biography Hollywood Enigma: Dana Andrews for the full story on why he stayed quiet about his singing voice during production.