Buttonhooks in the Well-Water

We all have a favorite movie. Mine is the 1962 version of "The Music Man", a film I must have watched upwards of thirty times in my, ahem, short life. No other title even comes close to that number of viewings and every time I watch it I seem to see something new.

So this Fourth of July weekend I spun up my special edition DVD and I saw something I'd never seen before. Something… unpleasant.

I saw a con man prey upon a naive, midwest community.

I watched a con artist lie about his collegiate background and misrepresent his product line repeatedly to its citizens.

I saw a creep singing songs about the pleasures of loose women in front of a little girl.

I saw a charlatan beguile and attempt to seduce his 103rd female victim in a two-state area (An actress who Wikipedia reports was, in reality, pregnant at the time of filming. Eww.)

I watched an otherwise smart and beautiful woman fall into a rubber-legged swoon over this crook's catfishing.

I watched the same woman inform the chisler she knew all about his lies and invited him back to her place anyway.

I watched an entire community of decent people rise up and forgive him of his obvious swindles simply because he was just so darned entertaining.

I watched Trump. Basically.

Sigh.

Yes, Trump ruined my very favorite movie. I actually got a little queasy at times.

Thanks to that orange pus-bucket everything has lost its innocence.

RIP Prof. Harold Hill. Or Gregory. Or whatever your name was.

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Note: There was a slight edit to the cartoon. You're not crazy.

=Lefty=