The Music Man (1962 film)

American musical film by Morton DaCosta

The Music Man is a 1962 American musical film directed and produced by Morton DaCosta, based on Meredith Willson's 1957 Broadway musical of the same name, which DaCosta also directed. Robert Preston reprises the title role from the stage version, starring alongside Shirley Jones, Buddy Hackett, Hermione Gingold, Ronny Howard, and Paul Ford. Released by Warner Bros. on June 19, 1962, the film was one of the biggest hits of the year and was widely acclaimed by critics. It was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, with composer Ray Heindorf winning Best Music, Scoring of Music, Adaptation or Treatment. The film also won the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, and Preston and Jones were both nominated in their respective acting categories. In 2005, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

In 1912, con man Professor Harold Hill arrives in fictional River City, Iowa, to swindle the citizens. A few traveling salesmen in the area have heard about Hill, who is known for a ploy in which he gets townspeople to pay to create boys' marching bands, with Hill faking his musical expertise and skipping town once he has their money. Hill discovers that River City is the home of his former associate Marcellus Washburn; with Marcellus's help, Hill incites concern among River City's parents that their boys are being seduced into sin by the town's new pool table. He suggests that a marching band will keep young boys out of trouble. Anticipating that Marian Paroo, the town's librarian and piano teacher, is suspicious of his motives, Hill sets out to seduce her. Also suspicious is Mayor Shinn, owner of the billiard parlor, who orders the school board to obtain Hill's credentials. When they attempt to do so, Hill distracts them by teaching them to sing as a barbershop quartet. Thereafter, Hill tricks them into breaking into four part harmony whenever they ask for his credentials. Hill's wooing of Marian, who mistrusts him, has little effect, though he succeeds in winning the admiration of her mother and befriends her unhappy younger brother, Winthrop. When Marian discovers that Hill's claim to being a graduate of Gary Conservatory is a lie, she attempts to expose him, but is interrupted by the arrival of the Wells Fargo wagon. When Winthrop, after years of moody withdrawal, joins in the townspeople's singing and speaks effusively about his new cornet, Marian changes her mind about Hill. Hill tells the boys to learn to play via the Think System, in which they simply have to think of a tune over and over and will know how to play it without ever practicing on their instruments. Meeting Marian at the traditional footbridge—the first time she has ever been there with a man—Hill learns that she knows of his deception but did not tell because she is in love with him. He is about to leave town when Charlie Cowell, a disgruntled anvil salesman who was run out of Brighton, Illinois, because Hill had conned the townspeople there, comes to River City and exposes Hill. Sought by an angry mob and pressed to leave town by Marcellus and Marian, Hill realizes he is in love with Marian and does not want to leave. Hill is captured by the mob and brought before a town meeting to be tarred and feathered. Marian defends Hill; the townspeople, reminded of how he has brought so many of them together, relent. Mayor Shinn reminds the townspeople how much money Hill has taken with no apparent result. When he demands to know "Where's the band?" Hill is saved by the town's boys, who play Beethoven's Minuet in G. Although their technique is awful, the parents are enthralled. As the boys march out of the town hall, they are suddenly transformed in the townspeople's imagination into a band, playing and marching with perfection, led by Hill.

The members of the original Broadway cast who appear in the film are Robert Preston (Harold Hill), Pert Kelton (Mrs. Paroo), The Buffalo Bills (The School Board), Peggy Mondo (Ethel Toffelmier), and Adina Rice (Alma Hix). Paul Ford (Mayor Shinn) was a replacement during the original run. Susan Luckey (Zaneeta Shinn) and Harry Hickox (Charlie Cowell) both reprise their roles from the first national tour while Monique Vermont (Amaryllis) was a replacement. Although Preston scored a great success in the original stage version of the show, he was not the first choice for the film version, mostly because he was not a major box office star. Jack L. Warner was notorious for wanting to film stage musicals with bigger stars than the ones who played the roles onstage. James Cagney and Bing Crosby were offered the role of Harold Hill, but both turned it down. Warner also offered the part to Cary Grant, but he declined, saying "Nobody could do that role as well as Bob Preston." Grant also told Warner that he would not bother to see the film unless Preston was in it.

Unusual for a musical film at the time, Morton DaCosta, who had directed the stage version of the musical, not only directed the film but produced it as well, ensuring that the film was faithful to the show. In addition to Preston, the actress Pert Kelton and the Buffalo Bills also reprised their stage roles. All of the show's songs were retained in their full versions with three exceptions: The opening "Rock Island" was slightly altered and edited; the middle verse of "My White Knight" was retained but the remainder of the song was replaced with a new song by Willson, "Being In Love"; "It's You" was initially heard as incidental music and later sung by the school board in abbreviated form in the fairground scene. Several phrases were altered for the film, as the writers felt they were too obscurely Midwestern to appeal to a broader audience; the minced oath "Jeely kly!" is Tommy Djilas's catchphrase in the play, while in the film he exclaims, "Great honk!" The word "shipoopi," which has no meaning and was concocted by Willson for the original Broadway show, was left unchanged. When Amaryllis plays "Goodnight My Someone", she is playing the keys C, G, and E on the piano, but the notes actually heard are B, F#, and D#. Marian sings the song in B major. Shirley Jones was pregnant while the film was in production. When she and Preston embraced during the footbridge scene, the baby—who would be born on January 4 and would be named Patrick Cassidy—kicked Preston. The costume designers had to adjust her dresses several times to conceal her pregnancy. For the final parade scene, Jack L. Warner selected the University of Southern California's marching band, the Spirit of Troy. Many junior high school students from Southern California were also included, forming the majority of the band. It took approximately eight hours of shooting over two days to film the scene. All the musical instruments for the production were specially made for the film by the RMC. Each instrument made for the movie carries this engraving, "Made by RMC for the filming of Meredith Willson's 'The Music Man' by Warner Bros."

The film had its premiere in Mason City, Iowa, the home town of Meredith Willson, during the North Iowa Band Festival on June 19, 1962.