Fri Jun 1 00:18:38 CDT 2001
 

Stage/screen/TV star Shirley Jones visits River City for the third time

By DEB NICKLAY, Of The Globe Gazette
 

KELLI WENCL/The Globe Gazette
Shirley Jones signs an autograph for Kristin Escher and her daughter, Paige, Thursday while at The Music Man Square.
 

    MASON CITY - It was in Mason City that "The Music Man," written by native son Meredith Willson, had its movie premiere in 1962.

Shirley Jones, who played librarian Marian Paroo in the film, attended the opening along with Willson and co-stars Robert Preston and Ron Howard.

Almost 40 years later, Jones and The Music Man - or rather, The Music Man Square - joined to entertain again.

Jones, 67, arrived in Mason City Thursday for the official opening of the first phase of the Square. She was honored by the Mason City Foundation Thursday evening with the presentation of its first Crystal Award, during the foundation's Heritage Banquet.

Jones had also been the foundation's guest two years ago during Band Festival weekend 1999.

During the afternoon Thursday she signed autographs for a large crowd that lined up early at the facility's Reunion Hall.

Returning to Mason City again was, she said, a bit like coming home.

"Meredith Willson and I were alike in a lot of ways; we both came from small towns," she said. "I loved his work, he loved mine, and we formed a mutual admiration society."

The Square, she said, "is wonderful, magnificent," and a fitting tribute to the man whose music she is most often requested to sing.

"I get requests from children 8, 9 and 10 years old at my concerts, who all know 'The Music Man,' " she said. "Meredith's music is the most popular of all that I sing."

Jones said she was eager to see the rest of the complex, but she was kept from touring the much-discussed streetscape until the banquet.

"I'm anxious to see it; I can't wait," she said, eyeing the activity behind windowed doors that separated the hall from the rest of the complex.

Fans couldn't wait to see Jones. They lined up outside of the Square a good half-hour before the doors of Reunion Hall opened. Jones arrived, and, seated in front of the stage meant to replicate the gym of the mythical River City High School, signed her name to scores of album covers, pictures and other memorabilia.

Some combined autograph-seeking with a first-peek at the Square.

Dick Schory, a popular percussionist who has conducted and arranged music for Henry Mancini, Elvis Presley and The Beatles during his many years with RCA Records, came to pay tribute to his friend Willson.

Willson and his second wife, Rini, met Schory when Schory was only a high school senior from Ames. Schory had traveled to Des Moines to compete in an Iowa talent contest, which he won. He met the Willsons during the course of the event.

The Willsons became, he said, surrogate parents when he traveled to New York City in 1950 to pursue his music career.

"Meredith and Rini took care of me, looked out for me," he said with a big smile. "We were both from Iowa, and he knew what it was like, going out there.

"He was such a great guy; seeing this brings back really fond memories. Meredith always loved this town; he never lost that small-town part of him."

Reach Deb Nicklay at 421-0531 or deb.nicklay@globegazette.com.
 

Fan toasts Jones with collectible
 

MASON CITY - First in line to get Shirley Jones's autograph Thursday was Hank Motter Jr., who held a special memento that elicited a gasp of surprise even from Jones, who is used to signing anything and everything.

Motter presented Jones with the champagne glass she used to toast fellow cast members just after the premiere of "The Music Man" on June 19, 1962, at the Palace Theater in Mason City.

Motter and his father, Hank Sr., were both employed by Northwestern Bell Telephone Company in 1962. Both were at the theater that evening.

The senior Motter was a supervisor for the company and had overseen the installation of the additional media links needed for the premiere. Hundreds of Hollywood celebrities and members of the press flooded Mason City for the event.

Just after the film's end, champagne was brought out to celebrate the film's success. After Jones made her tribute, Motter said, "I told my dad, 'I want that glass.' So he did it, he went over to her, asked if he could have it, and she very graciously gave it to him."

"Oh, my gosh," Jones said when she saw the glass Thursday. She promptly signed the base of the glass.

Motter said he would donate the glass to the Mason City Foundation and The Music Man Square.

"It's one of a kind," he said. "I've had it for more than 30 years and now it's coming home, where it should be."