Who really is Winthrop's Mom?- Page 2

[mustard]

Posted: 10/3/06 at 8:34pm

^^^ agreed

And I love this thread.

LOL

[ThankstoPhantom]

Posted: 10/3/06 at 9:52pm

I played Winthrop when I was 9. Interestingly, my Marian was 26, and our "mom" was only about 30 (but looked to be in her late 40s).

At least from my Winthrop-Marian experience, we were definately not mom and son, we interpreted a real brother-sister relationship...

But if other companies want to complicate it, then fine, but it won't be as fun.

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 10/3/06 at 9:57pm

"And I know it was already pointed out, but Marian did not have a relationship with whomever owned the library - it was really her Uncle."

Actually, she referred to him as uncle, as he was a dear friend of Mrs. Paroo, as if he was family. But there were no blood relations between them.

I totally agree this theory is far-fetched, but just wanted to straighten that out.

[allofmylife]

Posted: 10/3/06 at 11:24pm

Gossip, gossip, gossip. Some of us would fit right in with that Pick-a-little group. It's a simple story with no Machevellian overtones. He's her brother.

Don't make me tell Ronnie Howard of ya.

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 8/15/07 at 9:45am

Bumping because this is a great thread.

[brdwybound2]

Posted: 8/15/07 at 10:57am

Hahaha I just read all the posts on this thread... very entertaining. But I am confused.. I could be completely wrong because the last time I was in The Music Man I was 9 and have chosen to block out the show since. But didn't we all agree that Marian was around 21-25, and Winthrop was 10? So in order for Marian to be Winthrop's mother, she would've given birth between 11-15?

[sparrman]

Posted: 8/15/07 at 12:25pm

I love how people defend Marian Paroo's honor like she was a real person!

I think this is an intriguing theory, though probably not intended at all by Meredith Willson.

Four random thoughts:

If this "switched pregnancy" thing had really happened, it would have been IMPOSSIBLE to keep from the gossiping biddies of River City.

Shirley Jones is actually somewhat visibly pregnant in the movie!

What's biologically hard is for a woman to have her FIRST baby after 40.

And interestingly, Jack Nicholson grew up under EXACTLY the circumstances proposed for Winthrop here. The woman he thought was his sister was really his mother. Happened to Bobby Darin too, apparently.



Updated On: 8/15/07 at 12:25 PM

[BillKlem]

Posted: 1/22/20 at 1:07am

Marian Paroo must be at least 26 ("I'd say 26 years too late", and given that the reference is not to her age but to when her first visit to the footbridge should have been, it's much more likely 30-35. Now, we don't know the exact ages of anyone in this flick, but we do know the ages of the actors: Shirley Jones was 28, Ronnie Howard 8. Nope, I've damned sure never heard of anyone having a baby at or before age 20. All that said, this is not the usual case of laughing at such speculation about fictional characters; they aren't exactly fictional. Meredith clearly and OPENLY based this story on his own childhood. He had a much older sister, so I don't know how it can be inferred that he based the Winthrop/Marian relationship on his with the mother ... but I've been to the museum and while I don't want to be hung for being a year or two off I BELIEVE the age difference was on the order pf 12 years. So, no, the real-life versions of Marian and Winthrop Paroo were not mother/son. That said, in fictional world, whether Marian had a baby or not does NOT answer questions about her relationship with Miser Madison. It wasn't uncle/niece just because Marian SAID it was uncle/niece.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 1/22/20 at 7:57am

Do you realize you are responding to a 13 year old thread?  Most of those posters aren't even "here" anymore.

 

The actual cast breakdown from MTI (who holds the licensing) lists Marian at 20-30.  Harold Hill is listed at 25-35.  With Winthrop being listed as 8-12.  So if they are both YOUNGER, she be TWELVE when he was born?

 

VERY few unmarried women would have been in the predicament of an unmarried, sexually active pregnancy.  And if they HAD, the entire town would have known about it.  

 

MANY women in their 40s and 50s were still having babies - there wasn't reliable birth control and big families, spanning many years were not uncommon.   

[Det95]

Posted: 1/22/20 at 8:09am

The upcoming revival isn't helping things. Marie Mullen is 66.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 1/22/20 at 8:33am

Helping things?   How many people do you think actually CARE about this kind of thought?  What's it supposed to help?

Updated On: 1/22/20 at 08:33 AM

[Alex Kulak2]

Posted: 1/22/20 at 10:38am

Jim and Tomic's podcast pointed it out, so I'll just leave this here.

In You're A Good Man Charlie Brown, after getting rejected by Shroeder, Lucy says "My aunt Marian was right: Never discuss marriage with a musician."

Lucy and Linus' Dad is Winthrop