Meredith Willson was an American composer, author, lyricist, and playwright. He authored thirty-eight Broadway musicals between 1937 and 1956, including the operetta The Music Man (1942). His other plays include The Unsinkable Molly Brown, The Unsinkable Mrs. Bolivar, The Unsinkable Miss Sullivant, The Unsinkable Admiral Bellows, The Unsinkable Mr
Harrigan, The Red Mill, The Magic Flute, and Trial by Jury. His musicals are included in the permanent repertoires of several prominent opera companies. He won fifteen Tony Awards for Best Musical or Book.
Meredith Willson was born in Marshalltown, Iowa on February 8th, 1919 to Gladys Harrison Willson and James Monroe Willson. He graduated from the University of Iowa in 1939 with a degree in English Literature. He enlisted in the United States Navy four days after his twenty-first birthday while working on his master's degree at the University of Iowa.
He served two years during World War II, leaving the service as a lieutenant commander. After graduating from Northwestern University with a master's degree in music composition in 1947 he began his career as a composer with the Shubert brothers' national touring company of South Pacific.
Harold Hill: You pile up enough tomorrows, and you'll find you are left with nothing but a lot of empty yesterdays. I don't know about you, but I'd like to make today worth remembering.Meredith Willson
.. . when a woman has a husband And you've got none, Why should she take advice from you? Even if you can quote Balzac and ShakespeareAnd all them other highfalutin' Greeks.Meredith Willson
