One thing I like about Richmond is that it’s on the James River and does, sometimes, get called “River City.” Of course, River City is much more famous when applied as a name to a small town in Iowa where Professor Harold Hill ran his last scam as he tried to tell them that “that game with the fifteen numbered balls is the devil’s tool” and that they needed a boys band because “you gotta find a way to keep the young ones moral after school.” Of course I’m talking about one my favorite musicals, “The Music Man.” I love the movie with Robert Preston and Cary Grant and every time anyone does it as a play in the area, I make sure I go see it. I was recently emailing back and forth with a friend about the movie and how it looks like just a “fluff” piece, a musical that’s fun but has no depth, but I think there is much more to it than that.
It looks like just fun entertainment, but one issue I work with in writing and other work is the issue of identity, as well as integrity and sense of self. I don’t mean integrity as in just honesty, but also a sense of integrity as in being true to who one’s self is. For example, did you ever see the series “Taxi?” If you haven’t, Danny DiVitto plays a slimy character named Louie who makes some kind of promise to God. I think it’s about his Mother’s health and his end of the deal is to be the best person he can be. He fails miserably at being a good person and is in fear of retaliation form God until another character points out Louie promised to be “the best person I can be,” and that he’s such a slimeball he was the best person he could be, which is not a very good person. The issue had a lot to do with who he was.
It’s like the old story about the scorpion that asks the frog to take him across the creek, but the frog doesn’t want to because he knows the scorpion will sting him and kill him. The scorpion says he can’t do that because if he kills the frog while they’re in the water, he’ll drown as well. Once they get halfway across, the scorpion starts stinging the frog because he can’t help it. He’s a scorpion and it’s his nature to sting. As much as he tries, he can’t not be who and what he is.
In The Music Man, Harold Hill is a con man and he gets off the train in River City because he hears it’ll be a challenge. He’s nothing but a con man. Marion (Shirley Jones) sees who he is, but nobody else does (except maybe the mayor). He does the classic con and creates a fear and need, then steps in to fill it. So far all he’s done is be himself: a con man. But here is where things start to change. He convinces the Woman’s Art League (or whatever they call themselves) that they are talented and beautiful. We laugh at them posing like images on a Grecian urn, but these women are starting to believe in themselves. They are moving out of their comfort zone to become something more than they were.
Then he goes around to the townfolk and lies to them, but he makes them feel special. Marion’s Mom knows what’s going on when he runs the spiel on her, but he makes her feel so good she is willing to pay him because of that good feeling he gives her. He even gets Marion’s young brother to start believing in himself, in spite of his bad lisp.
There’s the 4 men on the town council (or some local board) that the Mayor has told to get Harold Hill’s credentials. He shows them they can sing in harmony and they’re so proud of their new sound and ability that four men who hated each other are never seen apart again.
Then there’s this wonderful number about the Wells Fargo Wagon. It’s something we can all relate to: the delivery wagon is coming to town and everyone wants to know what it is. Is it something for me? Is it for someone I know? What kind of wonderful treat is it delivering? At this point Marion has proof that he’s a fraud, but when the Wells Fargo Wagon arrives and the kids get their instruments, her kid brother is so excited about his shiny brass horn that he doesn’t care about his lisp and is babbling on in excitement. Even if he’s a con man, Marion sees this wonderful gift he’s given her brother: a sense of excitement and a feeling that there is something about him that is worth something.
Then she starts to fall for him and we realize, bit by bit (but mostly because we know it’s going to be a happy ending), that he is really falling for her. So much so that when the uniforms are about to arrive and he can skip out, he stays behind because of her. We also see, as he’s standing on the foot bridge, looking into the water, that deep inside, behind the con man faced, he *wants* to be the conductor he’s pretending to be. When he belts out a song like, “Seventy Six Trombones Leading a Big Parade,” he really, down inside, desperately wants to be in that conductor’s uniform leading that parade with 76 shiny trombones and “rows and rows of the finest virtuosos of every shape and size.”
So far he’s been true to the shallow version of himself, but now we see, as he finally admits it to himself, that there is something else, another self, one with a higher level of integrity, down inside. He’s probably been scared to admit it because he didn’t think he could do it, so he spent years covering it up with lies.
But even with the lies and the con going on, he was still true to that inner self. At some level, even though the “Think System” was crap, somewhere in him, he was still working on making the boys into musicians. As he tells Marion’s brother, he always believes there is a band. He can only carry on a fraud by making himself believe it’s real, but, even more, he has to believe it because he wants it to be real.
And now, right here, in River City, for the first time, he has a reason to face his fears: Marion. He’s fallen in love so he doesn’t run from the town folk and from his own fears. He faces them, knowing he’ll probably be tarred and feathered. He is willing to take responsibility for what he’s done, but all he sees is the bad. Then Marion steps up and points out the good he’s done. The Women’s Art League is performing and they believe in themselves. There’s a sense of pride in River City that goes beyond Iowa stubbornness and it’s all because of Harold Hill. They’re still ready to tar and feather him, but then the kids start playing. It’s horrendous and barely recognizable, but the kids are playing their instruments and everyone sees what can be. They don’t see what is, as Harold Hill has for decades. They ALL see what can be.
And that’s when a con man is transformed into a member of the community.
He started as a thief and liar, but it was not possible for him to be anything other than himself, which may be a con man on the surface, but much deeper down, is a boys band conductor. He has given the town a gift of self worth and they give it back to him and in the next shot (in the movie, it can’t happen that way when done on stage), we see him in that uniform, leading a parade with all the town excited to see what’s happening.
The lies have been lived for so long they became a truth and the people he taught to see something special in themselves now, almost against their will, do the same for him.
Yes, on the surface, it’s just a fun movie with a wide variety of music, but just like Harold Hill, when you scratch that surface and go beneath the song and dance, there’s something much more interesting.
At least that’s the way I see it.
If you like Robert Preston (he elevated “The Last Starfighter” from a kid’s action movie to a campy, fun bit of film), try to find a copy of this movie, “Finnegan Begin Again” (1985) (TV). It was set in Richmond and allowed Preston to show his skill at something other than bombastic con men roles. I found it a revelation.
Oh, yes. I’ve seen it. Being a native Richmonder, I made sure to see it and have it on tape somewhere around here. Both Robert Preston and Mary Tyler Moore did an excellent job on that film. I also recognized most of the outdoor locations used in it (and some of the indoor ones). It’s a bit weird to see Finnegan step off the bus, walk through a neighborhood on the East End, go through another neighborhood in another part of town, and end up going into his house, which is on the South Side.
I’m not saying that to detract from the film, it’s something done quite often in many movies and “Finnegan” is a jewel. It’s not a big budget adventure, so it’s one many people never look for, but it was quite enjoyable.