I'm absolutely sure the intent of the way she says it is not the same but it strongly reminds of when in "Will & Grace" (s2e21) "Sharon" (Piper Laurie) tells "Professor Joseph Dudley" (Orson Bean, RIP) during an argument: "And Joseph darling, I'm sorry the only Balzac you've thumbed in the last twenty years sits on a dusty shelf in your study!"
The thing is, "Balzac" was one of the great ways to get around the Hays Code prohibition against inappropriate language. They did the same thing in the movie "Mister Roberts"
I get involuntarily exposed to one or other of those shows in the lunchroom at work. Possibly both - I dunno - I try to tune them out. A bunch of women fulfilling the sexist stereotype of brainlessly chattering (and screaming) females. Chalk on a blackboard... 5 minutes of chattering before a shrilly screaming audience, 5 minutes of commercials, repeat endlessly. ... lol, you may be able to detect how I feel about experiencing this every workday ;-)
I just love watching the way Robert Preston moves in this film, every move is packed with energy: the way he points, waves, even puts a little skip in his walk - amazing.
Fun fact - when the studio went to cast the movie, they wanted Frank Sinatra for Harold Hill, because Preston wasn't a big enough name off Broadway. But Meredith Wilson had kept creative control and told them if they wanted to make a movie, they were doing it with Robert Preston.
really??? I thought it was kind of treating us like we were stupid and leaving nothing to subtlety. Obviously anyone who is intelligent can glean the metaphor to a pack of hens from the previous scene with the movements of hens and vocal cadences. We don't need to be hit over the head with it. I actually think it ruined the scene.
Hermione Gingold magnificently gets off the most obscene rendition of a harmless name, in history. At a time when couples couldn’t even sleep in the same beds in Hollywood!
When I was 11 years old in 1966 this movie played in Vancouver. I'd ride the bus from North Van to Granville Street and spend the afternoon watching this movie. Back then you could linger and watch it again if there was a second showing.
I remember seeing "The Music Man" in a theater. The audience was laughing its head off during this number, and at the end burst into a thunderous and lengthy applause.
Keep in mind the social and moral standards of 1912, when this story takes place; pure Victorian. After World War One the 1920s would change things greatly.
yeah, that's so typical of a small town... all gossip. I'm from a small town and it really is that way, even to this day. LOL. I think there's a Marion and a miser in all of them.
My folks were from Iowa. This is my favorite musical. I saw Meredith Wilson direct the Ozzie Charger Band on opening day in San Diego. My father and his brother Colonel Gene Howard, USMC, cousin Michael and myself attended the opening. Now it's gone. Daddy, Uncle Gene and Michael also.
I LOVE this musical; not just because of its great score, but because of its moving and well-motivated love story. Harold, con man though he is, realizes that he can't defeat Time; someday soon he won't be as light on his feet as he once was, and the jig will be up. He needs to settle down (like his friend Marcellus), with an intelligent and cultured woman like Marion. (And speaking of "light on his feet", take a look at how elegantly Preston moves as he retreats to the barn. Fred Astaire couldn't have done it better). Marion, for all of the brave front she puts up, is lonely in her enforced isolation from the other women in town; when Harold first gets her brother Winthrop to come out of his shell, and then gets her involved with the community's activities, she is grateful to him, and their love follows naturally. Willson found the perfect metaphor for this, in giving "Goodnight, My Someone" (Marion's song) and "Seventy-Six Trombones" (Harold's song) the same melody, and then letting them switch songs in the second half. And the fact that "Till There Was You" is one of the most meltingly beautiful love songs of all time seals the deal. A GREAT show; I hope that Hugh Jackman has a ball with it.
"He left river city the library building, but he left all the books to HER" His last move was to do something he knew would piss off all of these "hens." Ultimate troll 😂
lmao i did this play years ago in middle school and i just remember everyone laughing their asses off whenever the girl playing one of the ladies said "BALLLLLLZAC"
When I first saw The Music Man at Torrance drive-in ,in the 1960s, it included ALL the songs, also the pick-a- little song reprise - I think its when Marianne comes out of the Candy Kitchen store ,and the women say they LIKE her books.
It's August 21 and Manafort is having a bad hair day. Cohen is coughing, Stormy's lawyer is crowing, Madcow is mooing. All the networks are going on and on and then this song came to my mind. In a moment of clarity.
I had never heard of this film until I saw Hugh Jackman 😍 talk about it and sing a little of it too. I checked out the Train song , now this one, is it all like this through the whole film? such awesome talent these people have, and from what I've read here in the comments there are a lot of talented people to be able to do this, you should all be proud of yourselves. 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
Sally Kilby, if you haven't watched it by now, you really should! SO many songs intertwined together, a lot of talented people in it, and just an amazing, enjoyable musical production!
My favorite part is where Hill says, “you mean Madison picnic park, Madison gymnasium, Madison hospital, that ‘miser’ Madison?” “Miser Madison” must have been a great guy, seriously.
My 6th grade team is doing this play for our school this year and when they heard “BALZAC” in the script everyone died because we watched the movie first and everyone screamed “BALLSACK?!” Long story short the teacher had to explain to us 😂😂😂
I agree, Mary Wickes always stole the scene. She could upstage by just standing there. That's what I call stage presence. I was always happy to see her in the cast in movie credits.
Whoever wrote the music must’ve inspired by Gilbert and Sullivan because, just like G&S, there are two different songs using the same music that sound really good when sung at the same time. The same goes for Goodnight My Someone and 76 Trombones. I hope I made sense.
Note the consistency in this scene with which every character (except Professor Harold Hill) pronounces the word “LIE-Berry”. If any US President deserves a “LIE-Berry”, it will be the one we have today.
Just posted for my long time, brilliant, witty and wise FB gal friends! We've been through a great deal together & we all manage to survive....who'd have thought such an unusual way of communicating could forge such bonds?
zool ogist Queen? A gifted stage actor, sure, but he gave no appearance of being a queen. And married an actress. And I’ll agree taken too young, but 68 is pretty good.
Has anybody else tried watching with the auto-generated closed captioning? Absolutely hilarious gabblefab! "Balzac" turns into "Bowls That" - now imagine the second captioning feature of RU-vid - Instant Translation of that mess to hundreds of other languages!
"...chuckle on cheep-cheep-cheep oh c'mon pick another more big a little talk little pickles dog little chick there just talk a lot..." I think the CC threw in the towel by the final chorus.
+crocostimpy She was in Sister Act's 1&2 and many other shows...my favorite role she played was on M*A*S*H* in one of the early seasons where she makes a play for Frank....too funny!! Cheers
+crocostimpy That's the late Mary Wickes. A great character actress whose career spanned from the 1930s to the 1990s. She played a lot of nuns and nurses!
