records, he began to admire their work, and he and his wife traveled to Buffalo three years later to meet them. Soon, he began featuring the quartet regularly on his radio show. In February 1957, the Buffalo Bills competed on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts, won first honors, and received an invitation to perform on Godfrey's morning show for the rest of the week. Later that year, Willson finished writing his new musical play, The Music Man, which featured a barbershop quartet in the plot. Willson invited the Bills to New York City to audition for the show. They were accepted immediately, but joining the cast of the musical meant they would all have to quit their jobs in Buffalo and relocate to New York City. Broadway and film Ultimately, baritone Dick Grapes decided to stay behind with his job and family life. He was soon replaced by veteran barbershop baritone Wayne "Scotty" Ward of the Great Scots quartet of Steubenville, Ohio. The quartet took one-year leaves from their jobs (which later became permanent) and moved with their families to New York City. They continued to make television and radio appearances, including the Arthur Godfrey show. The Music Man was a hit on Broadway, running for three years and 1,375 performances, and their new star status garnered them a new recording contract with Columbia Records. Columbia's artists and repertoire director, Mitch Miller, was an avid fan of barbershop harmony and welcomed the quartet to his label. The Bills recorded four albums for Columbia through 1961. The Bills reprised their stage roles in The Music Man for the 1962 film adaptation of the musical. Shortly after the film was completed, bass Bill Spangenberg became ill and was forced to leave the quartet; he died in 1963. Spangenberg was replaced by Jim Jones, bass of the Sta-Laters quartet. Final years For the next five years, the Buffalo Bills continued to perform regularly on the Arthur Godfrey² show, appeared as a nightclub act, performed in regional and amateur productions of The Music Man and were headline entertainers at barbershop conventions and shows, as well as at state and county fairs and festivals around the United States and Canada. Their total career consisted of 1,510 performances on Broadway, 728 concerts, 675 radio shows, 672 night club and hotel appearances, 626 conventions, 218 television shows, 137 state fair performances, eight record albums, and one motion picture.