Meredith Willson Biography

Fast Facts

• President Ronald Reagan posthumously presented him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1987
• From 1921 to 1923 he played the flute in John Philip Sousa's band
• Quote: "(On creating the characters and background for "The Music Man") "I didn't have to make up anything․ I simply remembered Mason City in Iowa as closely as I could the way it was when I was a boy growing up․""
• Served as a musical director on many NBC radio shows in the late 1930s
• Wrote and composed the music for the Broadway classic "The Music Man," which contained the signature song turned standard "Seventy-six Trombones․"
• Wrote three autobiographies, "And There I Stood With My Piccolo," "Eggs I Have Laid" and "But He Doesn't Know the Territory․"
• Played with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra from 1924 to 1929