A con artist hawks musical instruments and band uniforms to small-town America. Subscribe now to watch more classic film content from TCM spr.ly/6017cTBT
I can't imagine how hard it must be for someone who has this role to memorize the entire lyrics and then perform it without stuttering or skipping a beat or tripping on the words.
Wow, I just mulled through similar thoughts. And even though I saw this as a child in the sixties on TV, I did not make the connection when I saw him in "The Last Starfighter". Absolutely great actor. Back in the days of "Balk Line" no less.
The studio wanted to use a movie star instead of Robert Preston. Meredith Wilson was smart enough to negotiate final approval over casting and shot that idea down.
What? You’re telling me a preschool didn’t sexually abuse kids as part of a satanic ritual, or that queer people aren’t trying to brainwash children? Ridiculous.
"Our children's children gonna have trouble" indeed. The film is set in 1912, and said children appear to be in their early teens. Many of them would presumably have children of their own some ten years later. This would make the children's children around drafting age in 1941-45, when trouble was indeed afoot. Not sure how much of that had to do with pool, but this song makes it sound like it was one of the principal reasons.
The art of the con. The townspeople didn't know that pool was a different version of billiards. With billiards, the balls are knocked into leather pouches. Pool has an under-the-table tunnel system that places the balls back into one spot. The system was new and with the right words, the perfect device for Professor Hill to stir up the pot and play them all like a fiddle.
@@greencello599 And it ages so well, from '57 to '62 till now, because of the finger this song has on the pulse of moral panics. Some innocuous development's viewed with suspicion because it's novel, the billiards of the day. Then, its harmlessness becomes clear; no one can exploit it for moral panic. Then, the next, greatly similar, thing comes along, the pool of its day, and moral panic depends on casting pool as somehow the dread foe of billiards.
Lyrics : A pool table, don't you understand? Friend, either you're closing your eyes To a situation you do not wish to acknowledge Or you are not aware of the caliber of disaster indicated By the presence of a pool table in your community Well, ya got trouble my friend, right here I say, trouble right in River City, why sure, I'm a billiard player Certainly, mighty proud I say, I'm always mighty proud to say it I consider that the hours I spend with a cue in my hand are golden Help you cultivate horse sense and a cool head and a keen eye Did you ever take and try to find and iron-clad leave for yourself From a three-rail billiard shot? But just as I say It takes judgement, brains and maturity to score In a balkline game, I say that any boob Can take and shove a ball in a pocket And I call that sloth the first big step on the road To the depths of deg-ra-day I say, first, medicinal wine from a teaspoon Then beer from a bottle And the next thing you know Your son is playing for money in a pinch-back suit And listenin' to some big outta town jasper Hearin' him tell about horse race gamblin' Not a wholesome trottin' race, no But a race where they set down right on the horse Like to see some stuck-up jockey boy Settin' on Dan Patch? Make your blood boil Well I should say Now friends, let me tell you what I mean You got one, two, three, four, five, six pockets in a table Pockets that mark the difference between a gentleman and a bum With a capital "B" and that rhymes with "P" and that stands for pool And all week long your River City youth'll be fritterin' away I say, your young men will be fritterin' Fritterin' away their noontime, suppertime, choretime too Get the ball in the pocket, never mind gettin' dandelions pulled Or the screen door patched or the beef steak pounded Never mind pumpin' any water 'Til your parents are caught with the cistern empty On a Saturday night and that's trouble Yes you got lots and lots of trouble I'm thinkin' of the kids in the knickerbockers Shirt-tail young ones, peekin' in the pool hall window after school You got trouble, folks Right here in River City, trouble with a capital "T" And that rhymes with "P" and that stands for pool Now I know all you folks are the right kind of parents I'm gonna be perfectly frank Would you like to know what kinda conversation goes on While they're loafing around that hall? They be tryin' out Bevo, tryin' out cubebs Tryin' out Tailor Mades like cigarette fiends And braggin' all about how they're gonna cover up A tell-tale breath with Sen-Sen One fine night, they leave the pool hall Heading for the dance at the Arm'ry Libertine men and scarlet women, and ragtime, shameless music That'll grab your son, your daught with the arms of a jungle, animal instinct Mass-staria Friends, the idle brain is the devil's playground Trouble (oh we got trouble) Right here in River City (right here in River City) With a capital "T" and that rhymes with "P" and that stands for pool (That stands for pool) We've surely got trouble (we've surely got trouble) Right here in River City (right here) Gotta figure out a way to keep the young ones moral after school (Our children's children gonna have trouble, trouble, trouble, trouble...) Mothers of River City, heed that warning before it's too late Watch for the the tell-tale signs of corruption The minute your son leaves the house Does he re-buckle his knickerbockers below the knee? Is there a nicotine stain on his index finger? A dime novel hidden in the corn crib? Is he starting to memorise jokes from Cap'n Billy's Whiz Bang? Are certain words creeping into his conversation Words like, like "swell"? (Trouble, trouble, trouble) And "so's your old man? (Trouble, trouble, trouble) Well if so, my friends, you got trouble (oh we got trouble) Right here in River City (right here in River City) With a capital "T" and that rhymes with "P" and that stands for pool (That stands for pool) We've surely got trouble (we've surely got trouble) Right here in River City (right here) Remember the Maine, Plymouth Rock and the Golden Rule (Our children's children gonna have trouble, trouble, trouble, trouble...) Oh we got trouble, we're in terrible, terrible trouble That game with the fifteen numbered balls is a devil's tool (devil's tool) Oh yes we got trouble, trouble, trouble (Oh yes we got trouble here, we got big, big trouble) With a "T" (with a capital "T") Gotta rhyme it with "P" (gotta rhyme with "P") And that stands for pool (that stands for pool)
Meredith Wilson wanted Robert Preston in this movie adaptation of his musical. Preston had been playing the role of Professor Harold Hill on the stage in the 1950's. This movie was made in the 1960's. Many actors have done their best as the snake in the grass Professor Hill. Preston is the gold standard.
I heard somewhere that they wanted Frank Sinatra to play the role of Harold Hill. Meredith willson told the studio if you don't take Robert Preston they will be no movie of The music Man. I really applaud Mr Wilson. I honestly don't think Frank Sinatra would have been as good.
@@aminsadeghpour1549 Harold Hill is a uniquely Midwestern con man. As the song says, "But ya gotta know the territory!", and Hill knows his marks, probably because he grew up among them, His whole cover story (Gary, Indiana Academy of Music) is centered in the Midwest. Robert Preston made a convincing Midwesterner, something Frank Sinatra, with his New York/New Jersey tough guy aura and accent, could never have pulled that off.
Funny thing is that in Halo 3, there is a chance a Marine will shout "We got trouble, right here in River City!" whenever they spot a large group of enemies, which is a reference to this song.
we did this play in jr high. remember it like it was yesterday. We had so much fun, it was ridiculous. some kids mastered the craft and went on to become Stars.
Yes he was and later on in the first broadway revival of the music man in 1980 Harold hill was played by dick van dyke and I the second broadway revival of the music man in 2000 and 2001 Harold hill was played by Craig beriko and Eric McCormack and then two years ago in the third broadway revival of the music man in 2022 Hugh Jackman was Harold hill.
Still one of the sexiest men I have ever seen. I love the performance. I've never cared about anyone else ever singing this song. But I still wouldn't fall for this scam.
It’s funny you say that while MSDNC and #FakeNews CNN are the King and Queen of panic-porn. They literally tacked a death count on their screen for a year and exalted crackpots who peddled junk science that ended up harming children, ripping apart families, degrading humanity and destroying hundreds of thousands of small businesses. And are now like Chicken Little breathlessly screaming about “The End Of Democracy” (we’re a Republic by the way) day in and day out. But yeah, go after Fox News. You’re so virtuous. Fool. 🙄🤦🏾♂️
As paranoid as this may sound, he’s not wrong. Tell me this is not the world we find ourselves in today. It’s called the slippery slope effect. When you let one moral standard slip another will sure enough follow until you end up where we are. Look around you. The best example is the Senate dress code situation…I rest my case. 😐
I saw a high school production and was floored by the kid played this role. This is a movie with a great experienced actor at the helm and the benefit multiple takes affords one on film. Seeing this done straight through, live, by a high schooler was pretty darn impressive!
Knickerbockers (or knickers in Great Britain). It's sad that people don't even know about them anymore. They were standard fashion for any schoolboy or college kid.
You graduated to wearing long pants when you became an adult male. Shorts were not "in" at the time so in the US knickerbockers were called short pants by most but they were not shorts.
