If Lucille Bremer was Arthur Freed's mistress, why didn't she get better roles?

Shearer and Jones were better actresses and had lots of fans. Bremer didn't have enough enough of a fanbase to justify getting leads in movies. You can only fuck your way to the middle, because it's ultimately the public that makes someone a star.

She got some big parts at first. But when "Yolanda and the Thief", in which she had the lead opposite Fred Astaire, flopped, that was it for Lucille. The MGM money men weren't going to let Freed give "his pussy" any starring roles after that.

Also I have always gotten the impression from various biographies and interviews that female talent on the MGM lot (Judy Garland, Ann Miller, etc.) considered Bremer a no-talent whore. Probably the public at large wasn't too impressed with her either.

Well, Ann Miller couldn't act, and Judy Garland wasn't pretty.

Say what you want about her, Lucille Bremer was perfect in MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS. Even Garland couldn't have asked for better support than Bremer brought as the lovely and appealing but never upstaging older sister.

"I can't handle twenty men. I [italic]admit[/italic] it!"

Was wise Gary Morton involved in some way?

There is a scene in the terribly titled film YOLANDA AND THE THIEF where Lucille takes a luxurious bath. Her original costume included a mermaid-like strapless bathing suit designed to look like it was make of thousands of tiny sea shells. They had to take a plaster cast of Bremer's beautiful bust to create the skin-tight costume. But once they saw it on film they realized that it made Lucille look like she had a weird skin disease.

The costly garment had to be scrapped. Shooting the bathtub scene was so strenuous on poor Lucille's nerves that she ended up getting several days off afterwards. Being Freed's lover had its advantages.

Her role in 'Til the Clouds Roll By is pretty humiliating, too, as the untalented singer/dancer who loses out to Judy Garland's Marilyn Miller singing Who?

Garland was very funny regarding Bremer. She was interviewed (I think on Jack Paar) and asked whatever happened to Bremer. "Oh, she got married, had kids, left the business (pause) . And no one minded."

She pronounced her last name Bray-mer.

After a string of box office flops at MGM and then three movies loaned out to Poverty Row in the late 40s, she married one of the richest men in Mexico and quit movies. After having three children, she divorced her husband and moved to La Jolla, Calif., in the early 60s.

She became a big Republican supporter, unfortunately.

She was beautiful, an excellent dancer (especially with Fred Astaire) but a lousy actress. She is mostly remembered today for her role as Judy Garland's older sister in Meet Me in St. Louis, in which she was quite good actually.

Since she was a Repug I don't feel bad for making fun of her

Love this number....

Bremer was fine, but forgettable in Meet Me in St. Louis, which explains what happened with her right there. One of those actresses with no presence onscreen. She just doesn't register.

Judy wasn't a great beauty, but she was attractive enough...don't call her ugly when she wasn't. She let her looks go after she stopped making films because of her addictions though.