By:Wanda Rossman
A flautist, bandleader, conductor, composer, musical arranger, playwright, and author, Robert Reiniger Meredith Willson, was born May 18, “aught two” (1902) in Mason City, Iowa. At 18 he was such an accomplished flautist, that he became a member of the John Phillip Sousa Band. He later moved to California as a music arranger, and to compose film scores. Two of the films, Little Foxes with Bette Davis, and Charlie Chaplin’s, The Great Dictator brought him Oscar nominations. (As an aside, The Great Dictator is a film worth watching!)
Some of Willson’s individual songs have become standards: It’s Beginning To Look a Lot Like Christmas and the very familiar Beatles tune, Till There Was You.
Even though he lived in, and worked for Hollywood, he never was far removed from Iowa, which brings me to a film that I adore: The Music Man. Meredith Willson was the playwright, composer, and lyricist for The Music Man, which was a hit on Broadway in 1957, a film in 1962 (Robert Preston and Shirley Jones), and will be back on Broadway in August, 2022 with Hugh Jackman as professor Howard Hill.
The Music Man takes place in 1912, in Mason City, Iowa and revolves around a single, very prim and proper librarian, Marian Paroo, who meets a slick “He’s just a bang beat, bell ringing, big haul, great go, neck-or-nothing, rip roarin’, every time a bull’s eye salesman,” professor Harold Hill. The film cast also includes a very precious, lisping, red-headed 8 yr old, Winthrop Paroo, played by none other than Ron Howard; Winthrop sings Gary, Indiana as “it doesn’t have many ‘ethes’ in it.”
The toe-tapping song list for The Music Man includes “Trouble,” “76 Trombones,” “Wells Fargo Wagon,” (it’s our Amazon today) and “Lida Rose,” performed by the amazing Buffalo Bills barbershop quartet. Then there’s Buddy Hackett, who sings and dances to Shipoopi, (shipoopi means a girl who’s hard to get.) A more up-to-date version of Shipoopi was performed by Peter Griffin, Family Guy at a football game. How talented is it, that in animation the original choreography was incorporated?
One of my favorite parts of the film is the mayor’s wife and her entourage dancing Grecian urns. It’s purposely so bad that it makes this dance teacher’s head spin!
Do yourself a favor, gather your family, pop the corn and watch this charming film. Turn on the subtitles or you’ll miss too much of the clever lyrics to enjoy a predictable plot, great music, vibrant choreography and dancing, and the nostalgia likened to a strawberry phosphate.
“May the Good Lord Bless and Keep You.” (Meredith Willson by Johnny Mathis)
