The Music Man
Movie Quote Quiz

Charlie Cowell: Who do you think you're protectin'? That guy's got a gal in every county in Illinois and that's 102 counties. Not countin' the piano teachers like you he cozies up to, just keep your mouths shut! Neither one of you's heard the last o' me, girly-girl.

Mayor Shinn: You watch your phraseology.

Mayor Shinn: It's as clear as a buttonhook in the well water.

Zaneeta: It's indecent to meet boys at the footbridge.
Tommy Djilas: First thing after supper?
Zaneeta: All right! Ye Gods.

Marian Paroo: No, please, not tonight. Maybe tomorrow.
Harold Hill: Oh, my dear little librarian. You pile up enough tomorrows, and you'll find you've collected nothing but a lot of empty yesterdays. I don't know about you, but I'd like to make today worth remembering.
Marian Paroo: Oh, so would I.

Charlie Cowell: Don't believe I caught your name.
Harold Hill: Don't believe I dropped it.

Harold Hill: Mothers of River City, heed that warning before it's too late! Watch for the telltale signs of corruption! The minute your son leaves the house, does he rebuckle his knickerbockers below the knee? Is there a nicotine stain on his index finger? A dime-novel hidden in the corncrib? Is he starting to memorize jokes from Captain Billy's Whiz-Bang? Are certain words creeping into his conversation? Words like "swell" and "so's your old man"? If so my friends, ya got trouble.

Salesman on train: How far you going, friend?
Harold Hill: Wherever the people are as green as the money... friend.

Tommy Djilas: Mayor Shinn, Your Honor, your daughter and I have been going steady behind your back.
Mayor Shinn: What?
Tommy Djilas: We'd rather be doing it in front of your back.
Mayor Shinn: Doing what?
Tommy Djilas: Well.
Mayor Shinn: Never mind.

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)

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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.

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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"?

Answer: The movie doesn't take place in Indiana. It takes place in River City, Iowa, which is established multiple times throughout the movie.

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