Oh my, that is a wide screen, Warner Brothers #TheMusicMan. -- Jerz's Literacy Weblog (est. 1999)

#BuckRodgers was fun. Looks like The Music Man is next.
Shirley Jones, Robert Preston, Buddy Hackett.#TheMusicMan
Cash for the merchandise, cash for the button hooks… Love the traveling salesman opening number. #TheMusicMan
It’s like rap, but it’s white guys rhyming about credit and sales territories. #TheMusicMan
Hats! Hats and bow ties. Go ahead, surprised and angry salesmen, throw your hats! That’ll show Harold Hill! #TheMusicMan
“I’m a stranger in these parts, what do you do for fun?” “Mind our own business.” #TheMusicMan
Son asks, “How did Harold Hill get to be a professor?” I answer, “Just watch.” #TheMusicMan
“You know maiden lady librarians who give piano are a specialty of mine.”#TheMusicMan
Must create a desperate need in your town for a boy’s band. #TheMusicMan
Love the tracking camera shots as Hill riles up the citizens of River City. #TheMusicMan
Crowds are dangerous and easily led. Avoid crowds, or better yet, bend their sheep-like will to serve your own nefarious needs. #TheMusicMan
Another nice long tracking shot, as Harold accosts Marian on the street, and the scene moves inside the house. #TheMusicMan
The Suzuki system is like the Think System, but with fewer bow ties and less brass. #TheMusicMan
I totally forgot little lithping Ronnie Howard was Winthrop. #TheMusicMan
Aww, Amaryllis is heartbroken… “I’ll end up an old maid like you!” (Ouch!)
Clever shot from the back of the piano, where the music would be, showing Amaryllis face-on as she plays her cross-hand piece. #TheMusicMan
Amaryllis is a independent learner, as Marian totally ignores her towards the end of the lesson. Ending with the duet is sweet. #TheMusicMan
Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean. We belted that off key. One night when the song ended, I started up the next verse. #cheapsolo #TheMusicMan
Running gag is the mayor being interrupted while trying to recite the Gettysburg Address.#TheMusicMan
I made sure to memorize the whole address, figuring someone would play a trick on me by NOT interrupting me on cue. #TheMusicMan
I just love the kids in knickers, or pigtails and sailor suits. The 28-year-olds playing teenagers are a bit creepy, though. #TheMusicMan
My son is analyzing Marion Paroo’s “self-defeating philosophy that I’ll ignore this man until my true love comes along.” #TheMusicMan
When running from the constable, don’t run past the mayor and the school board. Run towards a plume-hatted traveling salesman. #TheMusicMan
Harold’s plan for breaking up a gang is a pretty good one. Love the theatrical spotlight effect as he learns his mistake #TheMusicMan
Straw hats… Mustaches… Sideburns… It must be barbershop quartet time! #TheMusicMan
#TheMusicMan is like steampunk, only with music instead of steam, and precious instead of punk. So I guess, it’s not much like steampunk.
Hats! Feather hats! Chaucer! Rabelase! Balzac!#TheMusicMan
When does the sun set in Iowa in July? Isn’t it a bit late, then, for Amaryllis to be wandering the streets alone? #TheMusicMan
Okay, that is awful creepy to have Amaryllis watching during “The Sadder But Wiser Girl,” with lines about Hester’s A. #TheMusicMan
What do you want to take out? “The librarian!”#TheMusicMan
For a supposedly backwater town, this library is a hopping place on a summer evening.#TheMusicMan
Spiral staircases! Wood paneling! White cuffs and spats! Dancers holding books while cartwheeling!#TheMusicMan
Harold throws a book, a marshmallow, and a kiss at Marion. Naturally she winds up to slap him. Great physical comedy. #TheMusicMan
All the really great cornet players were Irish.#TheMusicMan
The Wells-Fargo Wagon song…. A tribute to hopes and dreams that can only be fulfilled by the purchase of mail-order gods. #TheMusicMan
Chorus members measured in linear feet, not numbers. Another great tracking shot.#TheMusicMan
Another great shot — the mayor and his wife approaching out of focus as Marian reacts to Winthrop’s joy in the foreground. #TheMusicMan
Act 1 ended… Time for a little break.#TheMusicMan
Dramatic stakes raised in the candy kitchen scene. Marian barely touched her strawberry phosphate.#TheMusicMan
See? Groups are scary. The school board members were going about their duty when SNAP! Suddenly they’re harmonizing zombies. #TheMusicMan
The syncopated rocking chairs add a pleasant bit of energy to a peaceful, nostalgic “Lida Rose” song.#TheMusicMan Isn’t love great?
Ronnie Howard’s dance steps are a bit hard to track when his feet are cut out of the frame.#TheMusicMan
The kids loved the “anvil salesman” joke.#TheMusicMan
I’ve never met a man who sells anvils before. “Anvils have a limited appeal, you know.” #TheMusicMan
After the anvil salesman warns Marian that Hill has a girl in every county, the quartet’s cheerful stroll is powerfully ironic. #TheMusicMan
You pile up enough tomorrows, and you’ll end up with nothing but a bunch of empty yesterdays.#TheMusicMan
Buddy Hackett dancing in a straw hat, pink tie and purple checkered suit. Flamingos? #TheMusicMan
Never noticed before, but one pair of dancers in Shipoopi is about 9 or 10. They’re doing all the lifts and kicks. Very cute. #TheMusicMan
The mid-song kiss… Just before the dramatic climax. The uniforms have arrived. Marian knows all, but kept quiet. #TheMusicMan
During the 80s, Wendy’s ran the “Where’s the Beef?” campaign. In a dramatic moment, I had to shout the line “Where’s the band?” #TheMusicMan
Torches! See? The townspeople are carrying torches! What did I tell you about how scary a community is? #TheMusicMan
Marian steals the podium from the mayor to speak in defense of Harold Hill. It’s like a slow clap, only without the clapping. #TheMusicMan
Harold, handcuffed, raises his hands to conduct “the band.” “Linus! Play to me, son.”
Can’t tweet with tears in my eyes as the band brings the whole community together. #TheMusicMan