Willson grabbed the drum major’s baton and personally led “the big parade” in Mason City for the movie premiere in 1962.
The Music Man by the Numbers According to the musical’s leading number: 76 trombones led the big parade, with 110 cornets close at hand, there were more than 1,000 reeds springing up like weeds, there were 50 mounted cannon in the battery.
The 1962 movie posted similar numbers:
On Broadway: 66 performers in the original 1957 cast included
300,000 dollars per week were earned in ticket sales by the time it opened at Radio City Music Hall. Warner Brothers spent
4 members of SPEBSQSA, the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America. In total, the cast sang
250,000 dollars on the film’s Mason City premiere. The city hosted
18 lively tunes, down from 40 songs originally composed, leaving 22 songs unsung, including a real clunker,
90,000 guests for the event, which was timed to coincide with the North Iowa Band Festival. The city spent an additional
1 tune named “I’ve Already Started in to Try to Figure Out a Way to Go to Work to Try to Get You” (which was fortunately omitted). The result was a
35,000 dollars hosting the party, and townspeople opened their houses to Hollywood stars because the hotel rooms in the area could not accommodate everyone, including
2-act musical that took
3,500 band members from
6 years to write, included
121 bands from across the country, a
7 scenes and 27 musical bits, including reprises. The play went through 40 drafts before it was ready to present. It lasted for 1,375 performances, initially grossing
160-unit parade that included 40 floats and banners that read “No Trouble in River City Today”
70,000 dollars per week, of which the composer earned
104 members of the press,
5,000 dollars per week, making him a very wealthy man. The cast album was #
190 law enforcement personnel, who mostly attempted to direct traffic. Also present were Hollywood glitterati, including the film’s stars Robert Preston (as Harold Hill), Shirley Jones (as Marian the librarian), and a very young Ron Howard (who played the lisping Winthrop Paroo). Arthur Godfrey emceed the event. The film went on to win
1 on the Billboard charts for 12 weeks and stayed on the charts for 245 weeks (that’s nearly 5 years!), and the production earned 5 Tony Awards, beating out the more contemporary-themed West Side Story for Best Musical. 2 Broadway revivals, one in 1980 and one in 2000, ran for more than 700 performances. Those plus thousands of regional, community, and school theater productions have proved the musical’s timeless appeal.
1 Golden Globe Award for best musical film 1 Academy Award for best music 1 Writers Guild of America Award for best-written musical A1 rating from the motion picture review board, meaning it couldn’t possibly offend anyone.
September/October 2013 | THE IOWAN
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