River City was based on Meredith Willson's home town of Mason City, Iowa. The movie had its world premiere there. Shirley Jones learned she was pregnant with her son Patrick once the filming of The Music Man had begun. She met with the director over lunch to tell him of the situation. Her concern was that she would begin "showing" during its filming. He assured her that they could work through it with costumes and also by filming her from the waist up, if necessary. He did have one ...[Read Story ]