Audiences who filed into movie theaters in late 1944 to see the musical “Meet Me in St. Louis” were treated to soon-to-be standards sung by Judy Garland, including “The Trolley Song” and “The Boy Next Door.”

Late in the film, Garland’s character, the 17-year-old Esther Smith, delivered a different, intimate number to cheer up her younger sister Tootie, who was distraught over the family’s plans to relocate from St. Louis to New York.

“Have yourself a merry little Christmas; let your heart be light,” Garland sang, as she played with the hair of her trembling, teary-eyed co-star, and as toy monkeys spun nearby. “Next year, all our troubles will be out of sight.”

The song was far from the movie’s biggest hit.

But 80 years later, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” has perhaps eclipsed its source material, becoming an enduring Christmas classic, covered by generations of musicians who have reimagined it.

Frank Sinatra, who recorded the song three times and gave it a cheerier postwar sheen in 1957, played a key role in popularizing it. And with time, the song’s legend grew, its encouraging refrain providing a bittersweet balm through times of national strife and pandemic isolation.