The Music Man SECRETS FROM THE SET

THE 1962 MOVIE MUSICAL HAD A SPECIAL PLACE IN THE HEARTS OF ITS FANS AND ITS STARS

- Lindsay Hoffman

Filming The Music Man became a family affair for Shirley Jones, who was secretly pregnant with her second son, Patrick. “Robert Preston and my mom are on that footbridge singing,” recalls Shirley’s oldest son, Shaun Cassidy. “Preston steps back and says, ‘What the hell was that?’ My mother looks down and realizes that was Patrick Cassidy, because he’s just kicked Mr. Preston from the womb.”

Shirley’s pregnancy, which she initially kept secret for fear of being fired, wasn’t the only obstacle facing the film’s production. Bringing the musical by Meredith Willson from the Broadway stage, where it became a smash in 1957, to film also required some ruthless decision-making. “Even though Robert Preston won a Tony Award for The Music Man, Jack Warner wanted a big star,” says Debra Warren, author of