The last time I saw this movie, I kept thinking this: if "Harold Hill" stayed in River City... how did he tell people (DID he tell people) that his real name is Gregory? We always get caught up thinking "oh, that's Harold Hill" and forget that Marcellus keeps calling him "Greg" or "Gregory" throughout the movie.
Does the question amuse anybody else? Anybody else think of that? :)
-Missie
I've thought of that myself,especially when he would have married Marian.He had a lot of explaining to do on all accounts.I've also wondered if he really would have taken to settling down in a small town,and what he would have done for a living (After all,he couldn't teach music).But it's considered a bit unfair to ask this much "after the fact" of a movie musical,is it not?The real point is that love wins and one must assume that it all works out somehow.
shareMarcellus was happy in the town, so why couldn't Harold (Gregory) be too?
Love changes things in your life. You no longer put yourself first. Only someone who has experienced that can fully understand the phenomena. :)
He wouldn't have had to explain anything, as Harold Hill was his REAL name, as he tells Marcellus early in the movie. Gregory was a fake name he used earlier, when Marcellus was shilling for him. This is just about the perfect musical.
shareDoesn't matter what his real name was. Anyone who can conjure up a 300-man uniformed marching band with matching baton twirlers can be named anything he wants!
shareActually, Gregory WAS his real name. Don't forget, he said, "Hill's the name this trip. Professor Harold Hill." He knew his real name because he had worked for him before.
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Back then without the internet and meticulous record keeping we have today it was probably much easier to change your name and get away with it. No one bothered checking birth certificates when you applied for a marriage license...instead you relied on the Charlie Cowells and Pick-a-Little Ladies of the world to spread information and speak up when the minister said, "If you know of any reason why these two should not be joined in holy matrimony speak now or forever hold your peace."
shareI think he probably told Mariam, her mom and maybe Winthrop (unless he legally changed his name--not sure if that was done in 1912). The rest of the town's busy-bodies probably had to find out on their own. Unless he talked Marcelles not to reveal his real name.
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I'm actually not sure his "real" name was Gregory anymore than it was Harold. I imagine that he probably had at least a dozen or so aliases and Gregory was just the one that Marcellus knew him best as. Whe he settled in River City he kept going by Harold Hill because that's how the people who loved him knew him.
shareWhat was he going to do to make a living in River City? He had no skills as a music teacher, and the "think system" was bunk.
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