One of his problems is solved when he runs into Marcellus Washburn (Buddy Hackett), a former shill of his, who mentions the new billiard table that just arrived in town. But right out of the chute, he runs into some problems: The Mayor of River City, George Shinn (Paul Ford) wants his credentials, the lovely young local piano teacher and librarian, Marion (Shirley Jones), has her doubts about him, and he lacks an `angle,' something to convince the local citizenry of the need for a `boys band' to get them out of the trouble they're in- even if there isn't any until he `creates' it. There's only one problem, and it's the fact that - as one of his fellow competitors puts it- `He don't know one note from another!' Alas, can it be the con is on? When he jumps train in River City to escape the wrath of an angry gathering of his peers, whom he has `Given a black eye' to in the territory, thanks to his dubious business practices, he sets about plying his trade on the good folks of middle America.
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`Professor Harold Hill,' as he calls himself this time around, is in the business of selling band instruments and uniforms, all with the guarantee that he will teach the youngsters of the parents who fork over the cash for his wares how to play. Iowa, that is, in this delightful adaptation of Meredith Wilson's long running Broadway musical, `The Music Man,' directed by Morton DaCosta and starring Robert Preston as the fast-talking, fleet-footed traveling salesman, Harold Hill. It's early in the Twentieth Century, and there's trouble, my friends, in River City. Further complications may ensue if any of those traveling salesmen who have been following his route through the territory catch up with and expose him. Harold starts to fall for Marian, something that never happened with any of the other music teachers. What Harold does not know is that one way to Marian is through her young adolescent brother, Winthrop Paroo, a sullen boy who has withdrawn from life since their father's death two years before, when he started to lisp. Her exterior is partly due to her somewhat removed standing in the town, as all the gossipy housewives believe she is a smut peddler - encouraging the teenagers to read authors such as Chaucer and Balzac - and mistakenly believe that she got her position as librarian through less-than-scrupulous means.
![the little man movie the little man movie](https://c8.alamy.com/comp/R0462A/marlon-wayans-arriving-at-the-little-man-premiere-at-the-national-theatre-in-los-angeles-july-6-2006wayansmarlon04-red-carpet-event-vertical-usa-film-industry-celebrities-photography-bestof-arts-culture-and-entertainment-topix-celebrities-fashion-vertical-best-of-event-in-hollywood-life-california-red-carpet-and-backstage-usa-film-industry-celebrities-movie-celebrities-tv-celebrities-music-celebrities-photography-bestof-arts-culture-and-entertainment-topix-vertical-one-person-from-the-year-2006-inquiry-tsuni@gamma-usacom-fashion-full-length-R0462A.jpg)
He's able to impress all the other River Citizens with his fast-talking sales pitches, but not suspicious Marian, whose hard-as-nails exterior is unlike all the other River Citizens. River City's music teacher is spinster and town librarian Marian Paroo. That is the case when he arrives in River City, Iowa, population 2,212, where he will have some unexpected help from Marcellus Washburn, a friend and former grifter colleague who now lives in River City and has gone straight, but he still wants to make sure Harold survives his stay in town.
![the little man movie the little man movie](https://i2.netflixmovies.com/dibsl9ebc/image/upload/w_600,h_891,c_lfill,g_north/onr01dqgg05zoumgkh0d.jpg)
And if the town doesn't believe it has a youth problem needing to be fixed, he will manufacture one for them.
![the little man movie the little man movie](https://cdn.quotesgram.com/img/98/22/376009991-a2_86528_0_LittleMan.jpg)
For Harold's scheme to work, he must gain the trust of the local music teacher, usually by wooing her, regardless of her appearance.
![the little man movie the little man movie](https://img.streamlook.me/700w400/cpd1CcHwgjQMkACDC9R5LtQcGXK.jpg)
Many of the traveling salesmen in the territory have been negatively impacted by him, as the townsfolk then become suspicious of any stranger trying to sell them something. However, in reality, he has no degree and knows nothing about music, and after all the materials arrive and are distributed, he absconds with all the money, never to be seen again. He takes money from the townsfolk to buy instruments, music, instructional materials, and uniforms for their sons. A con man going by the assumed name Harold Hill has used several different schemes to bilk the unsuspecting, and now travels from town to town pretending to be a professor of music - from the Gary (Indiana) Conservatory of Music, class of '05 - who solves all the respective towns' youth problems by forming boys' marching bands. It's the early 20th-century American Midwest.