The Music Man (1962)
Robert Preston: Harold Hill
Photos
Quotes
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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.
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Harold Hill : I always think there's a band, kid.
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Charlie Cowell : Don't believe I caught your name.
Harold Hill : Don't believe I *dropped* it.
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Marian Paroo : The librarian hasn't felt much like doing research lately, but she did plenty when you first came here.
Harold Hill : What about?
Marian Paroo : Professor Harold Hill. Gary Conservatory of Music, gold medal class of '05. Harold, there wasn't any Gary Conservatory of Music in '05.
Harold Hill : Why, there most certainly w...
Marian Paroo : Because the town wasn't even built until '06. I tore this page out of an Indiana Journal. I was going to use it against you, but now I give to you with all my heart.
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Harold Hill : [Marian and Winthrop are urging the Professor to leave before the crowd arrives] I can't go, Winthrop.
Winthrop Paroo : Why not?
Harold Hill : Well, for the first time in my life, I got my *foot* caught in the door.
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Marcellus Washburn : Thar she blows.
Harold Hill : [winces] Well, I'll do it, but I won't like it.
Marcellus Washburn : [amused] No, that's not the librarian. That's Mrs. Shinn, the mayor's wife.
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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!
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Harold Hill : Ladies and gentlemen, either you are 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!
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Harold Hill : So now I'm back at the old stand.
Marcellus Washburn : Not boys' bands? Well, ain't no call for a boys' band in this town. Anything these Iowa people don't have already, they do without.
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Harold Hill : A man can't turn tail and run just because a little personal risk is involved. What did Shakespeare say? "Cowards die a thousand deaths, the brave man... only 500"?
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Salesman on train : How far you going, friend?
Harold Hill : Wherever the people are as green as the money... friend.
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[in song]
Harold Hill : I cheer, and I rave, for the virtue I'm too late to save, the sadder but wiser girl for me... I smile, I grin when the gal with a touch of sin walks in / I hope and I pray for Hester to win just one more "A" / The sadder but wiser girl's the girl for me / The sadder but wiser girl for me.
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Marcellus Washburn : Hey, what are you selling now? Last I heard about you, you was in steam automobiles.
Harold Hill : I was.
Marcellus Washburn : Well, what happened?
Harold Hill : Somebody actually invented one.
Marcellus Washburn : No!
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Marcellus Washburn : This is where I work.
Harold Hill : You mean you *live* in this town?
Marcellus Washburn : Yeah, I like it, too. I mean it's not Brooklyn, New York. It's not the City of Homes and Churches and...
Harold Hill : [amazed] "Brooklyn"? Marce, this isn't even *Dubuque*!
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Harold Hill : Oh this is a refined operation son, and I've got it timed down to the last wave of the brakeman's hand on the last train outta town.
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Harold Hill : [to Winthrop] Never allow the demands of tomorrow to interfere with the pleasures and excitements of today.
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Constable Locke : That was pretty good, Professor, but you made a couple of mistakes.
Harold Hill : Oh?
Constable Locke : Yeah, the billiard hall and that pool table belong to Mayor Shinn.
Harold Hill : Oh.
[looks thoughtful]
Harold Hill : What was my other mistake?
Constable Locke : That Zaneeta, she's the mayor's oldest girl.
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Harold Hill : Ah, yes, my dear Mrs. Paroo. You must realize that only one out of every 78 adults has a ganglion that reaches the ligature clear down to the apex. This automatically turns your entire face into an amazing embouchure.
Mrs. Paroo : Well, I never had a sick day in my life, Doctor.
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Harold Hill : All of the really great cornet players were Irish - O'Clark, O'Mendez, O'Klein.
Mrs. Paroo : But professor, we are Irish.
Harold Hill : No? No, really? Well that chinches it. Sign here, madam. Your boy was born to play the cornet... That'll be $7 earnest money.
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[in song]
Harold Hill : Seventy-six trombones led the big parade / with a hundred and ten cornets close at hand / They were followed by rows and rows of the finest virtuosos / the cream of every famous band!
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Harold Hill : Think, boys. Think!
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Harold Hill : May one call upon you some evening?
Marian Paroo : Any night this week.
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Harold Hill : Could you kindly direct me? Which way is the center of town?
Townsman : [Nods his head to the right] Runs right down the middle of the street.
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Marian Paroo : Mr. Hill!
Harold Hill : Oh, please, please... "Professor."
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Marian Paroo : The one thing one must remember, no matter who one is or what one is working for, one can do anything if one puts one's mind to it.
Harold Hill : Miss Marian, if one could only tell you how much you've done for one.
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Harold Hill : You do sit? Your knees bend and all?
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Harold Hill : All I need is an opening. You remember the pitch. What can I use? What's new around here?
Marcellus Washburn : Well, the other day a farmer brought in an egg had three yolks in it. Was in the paper.
Harold Hill : [dryly] Oh, that's exciting, all right. No, what do you talk about?
Marcellus Washburn : Well, there's the weather, of course.
[looking at the sky]
Marcellus Washburn : When it's in season.
