Character mistake: When Marian is correcting Amaryllis for the girls' poor grammar in saying "can I" instead of "may I" over the cross-hand piece, the girl then asks if she can go play that cross-hand piece and Marian replies, "now you can play your cross-hand piece."
The Music Man (1962)
1 character mistake - chronological order
Directed by: Morton DaCosta
Starring: Shirley Jones, Robert Preston, Buddy Hackett, Hermione Gingold
Revealing mistake: At a certain point we see the arid, dry Santa Monica Mountains of Los Angeles in the upper left of the picture with a huge high-tension electrical tower at the summit. The film is set in 1912 in Iowa, a green, rainy state which is also completely flat, with no mountains. Then again, we see the arid, dry Santa Monica Mountains in the upper right. (00:08:27)
Mayor Shinn: You watch your phraseology.
Trivia: Shirley Jones was pregnant during the movie. She wore a special corset to conceal this. Director Morton DaCosta did not want anyone else involved in the movie to be aware of her pregnancy. He was so successful, that it was not until the kissing scene on the bridge that Robert Preston (Harold Hill) found out, when he was shocked to feel Jones' baby kicking him in the stomach.
Question: If the movie was supposedly taking place in Indiana, why then during town meeting to runoff the band director did Marian tell the town folks to "put aside your Iowa stubbornness"?
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Answer: The movie doesn't take place in Indiana. It takes place in River City, Iowa, which is established multiple times throughout the movie.