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Bringing the smash Broadway musical The Music Man to movie audiences proved a giant endeavor. Three studios competed for the rights throughout the waning days of the nice film musical. And though Robert Preston had thrilled audiences within the present for 3 years onstage, a search started to discover a extra recognizable star to play con man Harold Hill.
If it had been as much as Warner Bros. honcho Jack Warner, Cary Grant or James Cagney may need performed the position. “And Frank Sinatra thought he had it,” says Mark Cabaniss, writer of Miracle of The Music Man: The Classic American Story of Meredith Willson. However Willson, the present’s composer who had based mostly The Music Man on his Iowa boyhood, had his thoughts set on Robert. He likened Robert to The Music Man the identical approach that Carol Channing grew to become synonymous with Whats up, Dolly! “Some 60 years later, Preston’s efficiency is preserved on movie,” says Cabaniss.
‘The Music Man’ Forged Grew to become ‘Like Household’
The solid, notably those who didn’t come from Broadway, labored arduous at Onna White’s choreography. “Shirley Jones didn’t contemplate herself a dancer,” says Cabaniss, “however Onna mentioned, ‘Honey, by the point you end this movie, you’ll be one heck of a dancer.’”
Shirley’s success within the position is much more laudable contemplating she was pregnant throughout manufacturing. “A couple of of the solid members figured it out,” says Cabaniss, who provides that her secret was secure. “Shirley mentioned it was a really joyful set. They grew to become like household.”
A long time later, The Music Man nonetheless has the power to please. “I believe the rationale the present continues to be so beloved is that the world shouldn’t be as variety and mild,” says Cabaniss. “There’s a craving for nostalgia, an easier time and pure unabashed enjoyable.”
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