I remember seeing this movie when I was a kid and I can't help looking at this now with the same kind of no-context, uncomprehending bemusement that I had about it then. I can't really imagine what contemporary grown-ups would have thought about this.
Meredith Wilson spent something like 30 years writing this.
Not much for musicals or anything but every song in this makes me smile. I used to have the "he doesn't know the territory!" part on on the train at the beginning memorized.