"The purpose of a man is to love a woman, and  the purpose of a woman is to love a man. So come on baby, let's start today, come on baby, let's play the game of love." (Clint Ballard Jr., 1965)

The Chase is the cornerstone of many classic movie musicals and is the opening act to Oklahoma, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, The Music Man, and Singing in The Rain. No set of movie musical men is better at it than Curley McClain, Adam Pontipee, and his brothers, Harold Hill and Don Lockwood.

In a recent Facebook post, a friend and Gene Kelly fan  described Kelly's behavior in the majority of his films as "an ambitious womanizer or chauvinist who falls in love with the right girl and reforms." The same can be said for all of these men. 

In the beginning, they look for a girl:

     •Who is "pretty and trim, but not too slim; Heavenly eyes           and just the right size." (Adam, Seven Brides for                         Seven Brothers)

     •Who falls for a few "purties "about a beautiful carriage?           (Curley,  Oklahoma)

     •Who is a bit sadder and wiser? (Harold Hill, The Music               Man)

   •Who has her own place. ("Now that know where you live,         I'd like to see you   home." Don, Singin' in the Rain)

"Getting the girl" is the immediate goal. Keeping her is not on his radar because she is part of the game.

Welcome to the Spring - Summer  2024 Edition  ~ The Game of Love.

It's a game all these men play well. They know how to deliver a "pick up" line ("Didn't I meet you in?" "Grant your wish I carved our initials on that tree!" "People think we lead lives of glamour and romance, but we're really lonely...terribly lonely")

They can plead their case. ("My name's Adam Pontipee, I got a farm up the mountain, a house on it too. There's sheep, milk cows, 50 acres of wheat, and timberland. The only thing it ain't got? It ain't got a woman. How 'bout it? How 'bout marryin' me? "

And…

Keep  women off balance with:

     •poetic words (Ruth: "Follow me." Caleb: "To the end of             the earth.”)

     •moonlight kisses

     •promises of becoming a new man. 

They have a powerful charm showcased in beautiful love songs (People Will Say We're in Love, Til There Was You, You Were Meant for Me) and captivating athletic dances. All of this allows these men to believe girls will "fall in a dead faint at (their) feet" and be willing and eager to be taken on dates to box socials, for walks across footbridges, and even "kidnapped" to an isolated cabin in the backwoods of Oregon.

However, in their bravado, (Adam: "We'll get a parson up here someway"; Cosmo to Don: "She's the first girl who hasn't fallen for your line since you were four"; Harold Hill: "I cheer, I rave, for the virtue, I'm too late to save";  Aunt Eller to Curley: Who you takin' to the  box social tonight?" Curley: "I ain't thought about it much yet."), they miss opportunities to understand women.

Millie says it best: "You got no feelin', you got no understanding! You think because I said yes to you—I didn't make you court me and coax me that that's all there is to it!"

As each story progresses, these men begin to understand what we, as an audience, already know: These women are not meant to be game pieces. They are meant to change the game.

Changing the game means rejecting flirtatious advances (the pick-up lines), expecting respect, and being recognized as unique.

This recognition  is evident when each man  embraces the opportunity to proclaim his love:

• Harold Hill: "Miss Marian, if one could only tell you how much you've done for one."?

• Curley: "If there's anybody out and around this yard that can hear my voice, I want 'em to know that Laurie Williams is my girl!"

• Don: "Our love will last until the stars turn cold. Kathy, I don't want to wait until the picture is finished; I want to tell everyone about us now!"

And put it to music:

• Adam: "When you're in love, really in love, you simply let your heart decide it."

•  Harold: "Sweet dreams be yours dear if dreams there be. Sweet dreams to carry you  close to me."

• Don: "You are my lucky star!"

With this declaration,  love is no longer a game but an opportunity to build a life together!

~~ Lori

To our friends and fans: We hope you will take a cue from our guidebook offerings and embrace love this Spring, Spring, Spring! (And summer :-).

We will be spreading the love with some long-awaited family time!

See you in September!