Q 01/05

Which British band recorded Till There Was You, the ballad from The Music Man, on their second album?

A) The Rolling Stones

B) The Kinks

C) The Beatles

D) The Hollies

Answer · why

C) The Beatles

The Beatles learned it from Peggy Lee's cover, and Paul McCartney did not find out until much later that it came from a stage show. Willson's widow sa...

Q 02/05

Which child star of a hit 1960s sitcom played Marian's shy brother Winthrop in the 1962 film The Music Man?

A) Ron Howard

B) Jay North

C) Jerry Mathers

D) Tony Dow

Answer · why

A) Ron Howard

Ron Howard, billed as Ronny, was already playing Opie on The Andy Griffith Show when he was cast as Winthrop. He grew up to direct Apollo 13 and A Bea...

Q 03/05

Which future late-night host wrote The Simpsons episode Marge vs. the Monorail as a parody of The Music Man?

A) Jon Stewart

B) Jimmy Kimmel

C) Stephen Colbert

D) Conan O'Brien

Answer · why

D) Conan O'Brien

Conan O'Brien based the monorail huckster Lyle Lanley on Harold Hill and has called The Music Man his favourite musical. The episode's big song was mo...

Q 04/05

Which now-classic musical, opened nearly three months earlier, lost the 1958 Best Musical Tony to The Music Man?

A) The Sound of Music

B) West Side Story

C) Guys and Dolls

D) The King and I

Answer · why

B) West Side Story

West Side Story went home without the top prize as The Music Man took five Tonys, including Best Musical, and ran for 1,375 performances on Broadway.

Q 05/05

What newly delivered item does Harold Hill claim will corrupt River City's boys in The Music Man?

A) A slot machine

B) A pool table

C) A player piano

D) A nickelodeon

Answer · why

B) A pool table

A pool table had just arrived at the town billiard parlour, which the mayor himself owned. Hill's cure for the supposed moral danger was, conveniently...