They sure don’t make musicals like they used to. I love the genre, but I’m not a big fan of the movie musicals of today. I don’t know exactly what it is, but I prefer to watch musicals from the 1950s and 1960s than I do the musicals of today. Well, except for “Mamma Mia”, but that’s for another article.

One of my favorite movie musicals is “The Music Man”. The 1962 version with Robert Preston and Shirley Jones, not the 2003 version with Matthew Broderick and Kristen Chenoweth. Although, I’ve never actually seen the 2003 version. I just can’t imagine that it holds a candle to the original movie version.

Based on the Broadway hit, “The Music Man” stars Robert Preston as Professor Harold Hill, a con man who descends on a small Iowa town and makes the citizens believe that he is a music professor specializing in boys’ bands. Professor Hill convinces the fine folk of River City that the new pool table will cause the corruption of the boys in town, and the only way to avoid trouble is to invest in his boys’ band. Professor Hill won’t avoid trouble however, once the town discovers that he doesn’t know anything about forming a boys’ band.

Marian, the town librarian, played by Shirley Jones, has her doubts about Professor Hill, but the rest of the town believes Professor Hill is what he says he is. Eventually Marian gives Professor Hill a chance, and he surprises her, as well as himself, by following through with his promise.

“The Music Man” features the songs “Seventy-six Trombones”, “Ya Got Trouble”, “Marian the Librarian”, “Gary, Indiana”, “Shipoopi”, “Wells Fargo Wagon” and “Sadder but Wiser Girl for Me”, among others. My favorite song from this movie though is “Till There Was You”. It has a special place in my heart, as it’s one of my husband’s and my special songs.