Doing Bob Preston proud

Maybe because I'm a stereotypical nerdy guy, there aren't many musicals I enjoy at all.  Even rarer is the musical that I don't get tired of.  One of those in that category is the 1962 film adaptation of The Music Man, which I do love very much, and no other version comes close. 

Some other musicals I love off the top of my head are: My Fair Lady, Phantom of the Opera, Sweeny Todd, the 1961 version of West Side Story, and of course, Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog. 

So color me surprised when I found out the missus (who is crazy about musicals) had never seen it before I introduced it to her a couple months ago. It's just one of those little things in life that bring you joy: to share something you love with the person you love to find that they enjoy it as well. 😊

As for the film itself, I love it because (imho) unlike most other musicals, it doesn't come across as pretentious and doesn't take itself too seriously, while at the same time being a very heartfelt, yet fun story. 

Unlike the insufferably pretentious, self important, and brain-dead modern trash like La La Land or Tick Tick Boom (wish I could scrub those from my brain) or the terrible new version of West Side Story that should have been given the film equivalent of a postpartum abortion. 

Anyways, back to the good film here. A fun bit of trivia I didn't know about The Music Man until recently, is that despite Robert Preston being the person to not only portray the main character on Broadway, but help write and develop the character, the studio making the film version didn't actually want him in it! Can you believe that? 

Robert Preston and Buddy Hackett are the best parts of the film. Another fun bit of trivia is Robert Preston's character in The Last Starfighter was written for him specifically and is a deliberate tribute to his character in The Music Man. 

Come to find they approached several people to lead as Harold Hill, with the studio wanting Frank Sinatra (of all people). Bing Crosby was also offered the role, and also Cary Grant was asked to star as Hill. Thankfully, Cary Grant refused the role saying, "Nobody could do that role as well as Bob Preston" and reportedly told the studio that he wouldn't even bother to see the film unless Preston was in it. I knew I liked Cary Grant for more than just his acting ability.  

Anyways, here's my favorite song/piece of the film production, Marian the Librarian. As a fun little note of personal history, as a full time missionary, I practiced the bit of choreography seen when they are sitting on the bench in this segment with three other missionaries I served with. Just for the sole purpose of messing with random people's minds when they passed by us all sitting together. As I said, it's the little things.