Robert Meredith Willson was an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
composerA composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
,
songwriterA songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
,
conductorConducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
and
playwrightA playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
, best known for writing the book, music and lyrics for the hit
BroadwayBroadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
musical
The Music ManThe Music Man is a musical with book, music, and lyrics by Meredith Willson, based on a story by Willson and Franklin Lacey. The plot concerns con man Harold Hill, who poses as a boys' band organizer and leader and sells band instruments and uniforms to naive townsfolk before skipping town with...
. He wrote three other Broadway musicals, composed symphonies and popular songs, and his film scores were twice nominated for
Academy AwardsAn Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
.
Early life
He was born in
Mason City, IowaMason City is the county seat of Cerro Gordo County, Iowa, United States. The population was 28,079 in the 2010 census, a decline from 29,172 in the 2000 census. The Mason City Micropolitan Statistical Area includes all of Cerro Gordo and Worth counties....
to John David Willson and Rosalie Reiniger Willson, and had a brother two years older, John Cedrick, and a sister 12 years older, Lucille. He attended Frank Damrosch's Institute of Musical Art (later The Juilliard School) in New York City. He married his high school sweetheart, Elizabeth "Peggy" Wilson on August 29, 1920. A
fluteThe flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
and
piccoloThe piccolo is a half-size flute, and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. The piccolo has the same fingerings as its larger sibling, the standard transverse flute, but the sound it produces is an octave higher than written...
player, Willson was a member of
John Philip SousaJohn Philip Sousa was an American composer and conductor of the late Romantic era, known particularly for American military and patriotic marches. Because of his mastery of march composition, he is known as "The March King" or the "American March King" due to his British counterpart Kenneth J....
's band (1921–1923), and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra under
Arturo ToscaniniArturo Toscanini was an Italian conductor. One of the most acclaimed musicians of the late 19th and 20th century, he was renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orchestral detail and sonority, and his photographic memory...
(1924–1929). Willson then moved to
San Francisco, CaliforniaSan Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
as the concert director for radio station
KFRCKFRC was a radio station in San Francisco, California in the United States, which made its first broadcast on Wednesday, September 24, 1924, from studios in the Hotel Whitcomb 1231 Market Street. KFRC originally broadcast with 50 watts on the 270 meter wavelength , then moved to 660 kHz. in...
, and then as a musical director for the
NBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
radio network in Hollywood.
Hollywood
His work in films included composing the score for
Charlie ChaplinSir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I...
's
The Great DictatorThe Great Dictator is a comedy film by Charlie Chaplin released in October 1940. Like most Chaplin films, he wrote, produced, and directed, in addition to starring as the lead. Having been the only Hollywood film maker to continue to make silent films well into the period of sound films, this was...
(1940), (Academy Award nomination for Best Original Score), and arranging music for the score of
William WylerWilliam Wyler was a leading American motion picture director, producer, and screenwriter.Notable works included Ben-Hur , The Best Years of Our Lives , and Mrs. Miniver , all of which won Wyler Academy Awards for Best Director, and also won Best Picture...
's
The Little FoxesThe Little Foxes is a 1941 American drama film directed by William Wyler. The screenplay by Lillian Hellman is based on her 1939 play of the same name...
(1941), (Academy Award nomination for Best Music Score of a Dramatic Picture).
During
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, he worked for the United States' Armed Forces Radio Service. His work with the AFRS teamed him with
George BurnsGeorge Burns , born Nathan Birnbaum, was an American comedian, actor, and writer.He was one of the few entertainers whose career successfully spanned vaudeville, film, radio, television and movies, with and without his wife, Gracie Allen. His arched eyebrow and cigar smoke punctuation became...
,
Gracie AllenGrace Ethel Cecile Rosalie Allen , known as Gracie Allen, was an American comedian who became internationally famous as the zany partner and comic foil of husband George Burns...
and
Bill GoodwinBill Goodwin was for many years the announcer and regular character of the Burns and Allen radio program, and subsequently The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show on television from 1950-51...
. He would work with all three as the bandleader, and a regular character, on the
Burns and AllenBurns and Allen, an American comedy duo consisting of George Burns and his wife, Gracie Allen, worked together as a comedy team in vaudeville, films, radio and television and achieved great success over four decades.-Vaudeville:...
radio program. He played a shy man, always trying to get advice on women. His character was dizzy as well, basically a male version of
Gracie AllenGrace Ethel Cecile Rosalie Allen , known as Gracie Allen, was an American comedian who became internationally famous as the zany partner and comic foil of husband George Burns...
's character.
Returning to network radio after WWII, he created the Talking People, a choral group that spoke in unison while delivering radio commercials. He also became the musical director for
The Big ShowThe Big Show, an American radio variety program featuring 90 minutes of top-name comic, stage, screen and music talent, was aimed at keeping American radio in its classic era alive and well against the rapidly-growing television tide...
, a prestigious comedy-variety program hosted by actress
Tallulah BankheadTallulah Brockman Bankhead was an award-winning American actress of the stage and screen, talk-show host, and bonne vivante...
and featuring some of the world's most respected entertainers. Willson himself became part of one of the show's very few running gags, beginning replies to Bankhead's comments or questions with, "Well, sir, Miss Bankhead...." Willson wrote the song, "
May the Good Lord Bless and Keep You"May the Good Lord Bless and Keep You" is a popular song by Meredith Willson, originally published in 1950.The song is now considered a standard, recorded by many artists....
" for the show. Bankhead spoke the lyrics over the music at the end of each show. He also worked on
Jack BennyJack Benny was an American comedian, vaudevillian, and actor for radio, television, and film...
's radio program, and hosted his own program in 1949. For a few years in the early 1950s, Willson was a regular panelist on the Goodson-Todman game show
The Name's the SameThe Name's the Same is an American game show that was produced by Goodson-Todman for the ABC television network from December 5, 1951 to August 31, 1954, followed by a run from October 25, 1954 to October 7, 1955....
.
In 1950 Willson served as Musical Director for
The California Story, the Golden State's centennial production at the Hollywood Bowl. Through working on this production, Willson met writer
Franklin LaceyFranklin Lacey was an American playwright and screenwriter. He was best known for co-authoring the book for The Music Man , together with his collaborator Meredith Willson, and later collaborating on the screenplay for the 1962 film version. Lacey shared a Tony Award for the book of the musical...
who proved instrumental in developing the story line for a musical Willson had been working on, soon to be known as
The Music Man.
The California Story spectacular was followed by two more state centennial collaborations with stage director
Vladimir RosingVladimir Sergeyevich Rosing , aka Val Rosing, was a Russian-born operatic tenor and stage director who spent most of his professional career in England and the United States...
:
The Oregon Story in 1959 and
The Kansas Story in 1961.
Broadway
Willson's most famous work,
The Music ManThe Music Man is a musical with book, music, and lyrics by Meredith Willson, based on a story by Willson and Franklin Lacey. The plot concerns con man Harold Hill, who poses as a boys' band organizer and leader and sells band instruments and uniforms to naive townsfolk before skipping town with...
, premiered on
BroadwayBroadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
in 1957, and was adapted twice for film (in
1962The Music Man is a 1962 musical film starring Robert Preston as Harold Hill and Shirley Jones as Marian Paroo. The film is based on the 1957 Broadway musical of the same name by Meredith Willson...
and 2003). He referred to the show as "an Iowan's attempt to pay tribute to his home state". It took Willson some eight years and thirty revisions to complete the musical, for which he wrote more than forty songs. The cast recording of
The Music Man won the first
Grammy AwardA Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
for
Best Original Cast Album (Broadway or TV)The Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album has been awarded since 1959. The award was given only to the album producer, and to the composer and lyricist who wrote at least 51% of the music which had not been recorded previously....
. In 1959, Willson and his wife Rini recorded an album called "...and Then I Wrote The Music Man", in which they review the history of, and sing songs from, the show (album cover shown at right). In 2010, Brian d’Arcy James and Kelli O’Hara played Willson and Rini in an off-Broadway entertainment based on this album.
His second musical,
The Unsinkable Molly Brown The Unsinkable Molly Brown is a musical with music and lyrics by Meredith Willson and book by Richard Morris. The plot is a fictionalized account of the life of Margaret Brown, who survived the sinking of the RMS Titanic, and her wealthy miner-husband....
, ran on Broadway for 532 performances from 1960 to 1962 and was made into a 1964 motion picture starring
Debbie ReynoldsDebbie Reynolds is an American actress, singer, and dancer.She was initially signed at age 16 by Warner Bros., but her career got off to a slow start. When her contract was not renewed, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer gave her a small, but significant part in the film Three Little Words , then signed her to...
. His third Broadway musical was an adaptation of the film
Miracle On 34th StreetMiracle on 34th Street is a 1947 Christmas film written by George Seaton from a story by Valentine Davies, directed by George Seaton and starring Maureen O'Hara, John Payne, Natalie Wood and Edmund Gwenn...
, called
Here's LoveHere's Love is a musical with a book, music, and lyrics by Meredith Willson.Based on the classic film Miracle on 34th Street, it tells the tale of a skeptical little girl who doubts the existence of Santa Claus. When the real Kris Kringle inadvertently is hired to represent jolly St...
(1963). His fourth, last, and least successful musical was
1491, which told the story of Columbus's attempts to finance his famous voyage. It was produced by the
Los AngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
Civic Light Opera Association in 1969, but was never produced on Broadway.
Classical music
His Symphony No. 1 in F minor:
A Symphony of San Francisco and his Symphony No. 2 in E minor:
Missions of California were recorded in 1999, by William T. Stromberg conducting the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra. Other symphonic works include
O.O. McIntyre Suite,
Symphonic Variations on an American Theme and Anthem, the symphonic poem
Jervis BayHMS Jervis Bay was a British liner later converted into an Armed Merchant Cruiser, pennant F40. She was launched in 1922 and sunk on 5 November 1940 by the German pocket battleship ....
, and
Ask Not, which incorporates quotations from
John F. KennedyJohn Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
's inaugural address. In tribute to the Idyllwild School of Music and the Arts (ISOMATA), he composed
In Idyllwild for orchestra, choir, vocal solo and
AlphornThe alphorn or alpenhorn or alpine horn is a labrophone, consisting of a natural wooden horn of conical bore, having a wooden cup-shaped mouthpiece, used by mountain dwellers in Switzerland and elsewhere...
. Willson's chamber music also includes
A Suite for Flute.
In general, it was recognized that Willson wrote well-crafted, complex music that classical music fans could appreciate, with intricate and sometimes startling counterpoint, well-crafted melody, and subtle orchestration, all while still appealing to mass audiences.
Popular song
Willson penned a number of very well known songs, such as "You and I", which was a No. 1 for
Glenn MillerAlton Glenn Miller was an American jazz musician , arranger, composer, and bandleader in the swing era. He was one of the best-selling recording artists from 1939 to 1943, leading one of the best known "Big Bands"...
in 1941 on Billboard. It was also recorded by
Bing CrosbyHarry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....
, and by
Tommy DorseyThomas Francis "Tommy" Dorsey, Jr. was an American jazz trombonist, trumpeter, composer, and bandleader of the Big Band era. He was known as "The Sentimental Gentleman of Swing", due to his smooth-toned trombone playing. He was the younger brother of bandleader Jimmy Dorsey...
with
Frank SinatraFrancis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
on vocals.
Three songs from
The Music Man have become American standards: "
Seventy-Six TrombonesSeventy-six Trombones is the signature song from the musical play The Music Man , which was written by Meredith Willson. This song also appeared in the film The Music Man , and in the made-for-TV movie adaptation in 2003...
", "Gary Indiana", and "
Till There Was You"Till There Was You" is a song written by Meredith Willson for his 1957 musical play The Music Man, and which also appeared in the 1962 movie version...
." The last was a hit for
The BeatlesThe Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
in 1963 as part of the
With the Beatles album.
Individual songs include: "
It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas"It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" is a classic Christmas song written in 1951 by Meredith Willson. The song was originally titled "It's Beginning to Look Like Christmas"...
", "May the Good Lord Bless and Keep You", and "
I See The Moon"I See the Moon" is a popular song written by Meredith Willson.The Mariners, in the United States, and The Stargazers, in the United Kingdom, had the best-known versions. The Stargazers' recording reached number one in the UK Singles Chart in 1954...
". He wrote the
University of IowaThe University of Iowa is a public state-supported research university located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is the oldest public university in the state. The university is organized into eleven colleges granting undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees...
's fight song, and
Iowa State UniversityIowa State University of Science and Technology, more commonly known as Iowa State University , is a public land-grant and space-grant research university located in Ames, Iowa, United States. Iowa State has produced astronauts, scientists, and Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winners, along with a host of...
's "For I for S Forever". He also wrote the fight song for his hometown high school "Mason City, Go!" He honored
The Salvation ArmyThe Salvation Army is a Protestant Christian church known for its thrift stores and charity work. It is an international movement that currently works in over a hundred countries....
with a musical tribute entitled "Banners and Bonnets".
An oddity in Willson's body of work is "Chicken Fat", written in 1962. In school gymnasiums across the nation, this was the theme song for President John F. Kennedy's youth fitness program. It was time to get the country's youth into shape, and Willson's song had youngsters moving through basic exercises at a frenetic pace: push-ups, sit-ups, jumping jacks, torso twists, running in place, pogo springs, and plenty of marching. With an energetic lead vocal by
Robert Preston-Early life:Preston was born Robert Preston Meservey in Newton, Massachusetts, the son of Ruth L. and Frank Wesley Meservey, a garment worker and billing clerk for American Express. After attending Abraham Lincoln High School in Los Angeles, California, he studied acting at the Pasadena Community...
, orchestral marching band, and full chorus, it was likely recorded during sessions for the
Music Man motion picture. In 1974 he offered a marching song "Whip Inflation Now" to the Ford Administration, but it was not used.
Autobiography
Willson wrote three autobiographies:
And There I Stood With My Piccolo (1948),
Eggs I Have Laid (1955) and
But He Doesn't Know the Territory (1959).
Personal life
Willson was married three times. After divorcing first wife Elizabeth, he married Ralina "Rini" Zarova on March 13, 1948. Following her December 6, 1966 death, he married Rosemary Sullivan in February 1968. He lived for years in the Mandeville Canyon section of
Brentwood, CaliforniaBrentwood is a district in western Los Angeles, California, United States. The district is located at the base of the Santa Monica Mountains, bounded by the San Diego Freeway on the east, Wilshire Boulevard on the south, the Santa Monica city limits on the southwest, the border of Topanga State...
, and was fondly remembered by friends and neighbors as a warm and gregarious host who loved nothing more than to play the piano and sing at parties. He often gave out autographed copies of his record album,
Meredith Willson Sings Songs from The Music Man. In 1982, both he and Rosemary appeared in the audience of
The Lawrence Welk Show.
Willson returned several times to his home town for the North Iowa Band Festival, an annual event celebrating music with a special emphasis on marching bands. Mason City was the site of the 1962 premiere of the motion picture
The Music Man, which was timed to coincide with the festival. Willson, like his character Harold Hill, led the "Big Parade" through the town, and the event included special appearances by stars of the film
Shirley JonesShirley Mae Jones is an American singer and actress of stage, film and television. In her six decades of television, she starred as wholesome characters in a number of well-known musical films, such as Oklahoma! , Carousel , and The Music Man...
and
Robert Preston-Early life:Preston was born Robert Preston Meservey in Newton, Massachusetts, the son of Ruth L. and Frank Wesley Meservey, a garment worker and billing clerk for American Express. After attending Abraham Lincoln High School in Los Angeles, California, he studied acting at the Pasadena Community...
. The Master of Ceremonies was W. Earl Hall, editor of the Mason City
Globe-Gazette, state wide radio personality and friend of many decades. Willson was a member of the National Honorary Band Fraternity,
Kappa Kappa PsiKappa Kappa Psi is a fraternity for college and university band members. It was founded on November 27, 1919 at Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College in Stillwater, Oklahoma. William Scroggs, now regarded as the "Founder," together with "Mr. Kappa Kappa Psi" A...
.
From about 1948 to the end of his life he was an active member, a deacon, of Westwood Hills Congregational Church in Los Angeles. He donated a stained glass window, known as "The Music Man Window", above the pew where he would sit, which represented various musical instruments. He drove a Rolls Royce to church. He composed hymns for the church, including: "Anthem of the Atomic Age" in 1953. He and the pastor, who was also from Northeastern Iowa, were very close friends.
Willson died of heart failure in 1984 at the age of 82. He is buried at the Elmwood Saint Joseph Cemetery in Mason City, Iowa.
Legacy
- On June 23, 1987, Meredith Willson was presented, posthumously, with the Presidential Medal of Freedom
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is an award bestowed by the President of the United States and is—along with thecomparable Congressional Gold Medal bestowed by an act of U.S. Congress—the highest civilian award in the United States...
by President Ronald ReaganRonald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
.
- Willson's boyhood home in Mason City, Iowa
Mason City is the county seat of Cerro Gordo County, Iowa, United States. The population was 28,079 in the 2010 census, a decline from 29,172 in the 2000 census. The Mason City Micropolitan Statistical Area includes all of Cerro Gordo and Worth counties....
is part of "The Music Man Square", which opened in the spring of 2002. His widow, Rosemary was a very generous donor to the square.
- His alma mater, the Juilliard School
The Juilliard School, located at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City, United States, is a performing arts conservatory which was established in 1905...
, dedicated its first and only residence hall to Willson in 2005.
- Sir Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
, through his MPL CommunicationsMPL Communications is the holding company for the business interests of Sir Paul McCartney. In addition to handling McCartney's post-Beatles work, MPL is also one of the world's largest privately owned music publishers through its acquisition of numerous other publishing companies...
company, controls the rights to Willson's song catalog.
External links