Meredith Willson Hollywood Did Wilson write music for any movies? His work in films included composing the score for Charlie Chaplin's The Great Dictator (1940) (Academy Award nomination for Best Original Score), What other movies did he compose for? and arranging music for the score of William Wyler's The Little Foxes (1941) (Academy Award nomination for Best Music Score of a Dramatic Picture). Did he win any awards? ) (Academy Award nomination for Best Music Score of a Dramatic Picture). What other movies or songs did he win awards for? Charlie Chaplin's The Great Dictator (1940) (Academy Award nomination for Best Original Score), Did he have a work or personal relationship with anyone in Hollywood? In 1950 Willson served as Musical Director for The California Story, the Golden State's centennial production at the Hollywood Bowl. What was his favorite film to work on? I don't know.
What is the most fascinating part of the article?
What is the most fascinating thing about  Meredith Willson?
His work in films included composing the score for Charlie Chaplin's The Great Dictator (1940) (Academy Award nomination for Best Original Score), and arranging music for the score of William Wyler's The Little Foxes (1941) (Academy Award nomination for Best Music Score of a Dramatic Picture).  During World War II, he worked for the United States' Armed Forces Radio Service. His work with the AFRS teamed him with George Burns, Gracie Allen and Bill Goodwin. He would work with all three as the bandleader, and a regular character, on the Burns and Allen radio program. He played a shy man, always trying to get advice on women. His character was ditsy as well, basically a male version of Gracie Allen's character.  In 1942, Willson had his own program on NBC. Meredith Willson's Music was a summer replacement for Fibber McGee and Molly. Sparkle Time, which ran on CBS in 1946-47, was Willson's first full-season radio program.  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 Show, a prestigious comedy-variety program hosted by actress Tallulah Bankhead 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" for the show. Bankhead spoke the lyrics over the music at the end of each show. He also worked on Jack Benny'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 Same.  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 Lacey 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 Rosing: The Oregon Story in 1959 and The Kansas Story in 1961. CANNOTANSWER
Returning to network radio after WWII, he created the Talking People, a choral group that spoke in unison while delivering radio commercials.
Robert Reiniger Meredith Willson (May 18, 1902 – June 15, 1984) was an American flutist, composer, conductor, musical arranger, bandleader, playwright, and author. He is best known for writing the book, music, and lyrics for the 1957 hit Broadway musical The Music Man and "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" (1951). Willson wrote two other Broadway musicals and composed symphonies and popular songs. He was twice nominated for Academy Awards for film scores.

Early life
Willson was born in Mason City, Iowa, to Rosalie Reiniger Willson and John David Willson. He had a brother two years his senior, John Cedrick, and a sister 12 years his senior, children's author Dixie Willson. Willson attended Frank Damrosch's Institute of Musical Art (which later became the Juilliard School) in New York City. He married his high-school sweetheart, Elizabeth "Peggy" Wilson, on August 29, 1920; they were married for 26 years.

The young Willson became a flute and piccolo virtuoso, and was accomplished enough to become a member of John Philip Sousa's band (1921–1924) and later the New York Philharmonic Orchestra under Arturo Toscanini (1924–1929). He then moved to San Francisco, California, as the concert director for radio station KFRC, and then as a musical director for the NBC radio network in Hollywood. His on-air radio debut came on KFRC in 1928 on Blue Monday Jamboree.

Hollywood
Willson's work in films included the score for Charlie Chaplin's The Great Dictator (1940) (Academy Award nomination for Best Original Score), and arranging music for the score of William Wyler's The Little Foxes (1941) (Academy Award nomination for Best Music Score of a Dramatic Picture).

During World War II, Willson worked for the United States' Armed Forces Radio Service. His work with the AFRS teamed him with George Burns, Gracie Allen, and Bill Goodwin. He worked with all three as the bandleader, and a regular character, on the Burns and Allen radio program. He played a shy man always trying to get advice on women. His character was ditzy as well, basically a male version of Allen's.

In 1942, Willson had his own program on NBC. Meredith Willson's Music was a summer replacement for Fibber McGee and Molly. Sparkle Time, which ran on CBS in 1946–47, was Willson's first full-season radio program.

Returning to network radio after WWII, Willson created the Talking People, a choral group that spoke in unison while delivering radio commercials. In 1950 he became the musical director for The Big Show, a 90-minute comedy-variety program hosted by actress Tallulah Bankhead and featuring some of the world's best-known entertainers. Willson 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". He wrote the song "May the Good Lord Bless and Keep You" for the show. Bankhead spoke the lyrics over the music at the end of each show. He also worked on Jack Benny'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 Same; he recalled later that he did the show for the steady Goodson-Todman salary, which he was saving toward his Broadway musical project.

In 1950, Willson served as musical director for The California Story, California's centennial production at the Hollywood Bowl. Working on this production, Willson met writer Franklin Lacey, who proved instrumental in developing the storyline for a musical Willson had been working on, soon to become The Music Man. The California Story was followed by two more state centennial collaborations with stage director Vladimir Rosing: The Oregon Story in 1959 and The Kansas Story in 1961.

Broadway
Willson's most famous work, The Music Man, premiered on Broadway in 1957, and was adapted twice for film (in 1962 and 2003). He called it "an Iowan's attempt to pay tribute to his home state". It took Willson eight years and 30 revisions to complete the musical, for which he wrote more than 40 songs. The show was a resounding success, running on Broadway for 1,375 performances over three and a half years. The cast recording won the first Grammy Award for Best Original Cast Album (Broadway or TV). In 1959, Willson and his second wife Ralina "Rini" Zarova recorded an album, ... and Then I Wrote The Music Man, in which they review the history of, and sing songs from, the show. In 2010, Brian d'Arcy James and Kelli O'Hara played Willson and Rini in an off-Broadway entertainment based on this album.

Willson's second musical, The Unsinkable Molly Brown, ran on Broadway for 532 performances from 1960 to 1962 and was made into a 1964 motion picture starring Debbie Reynolds. His third Broadway musical was an adaptation of the film Miracle on 34th Street, called Here's Love. Some theater buffs recall it as a quick failure, but it actually enjoyed an eight-month run on Broadway in 1963-64 (334 performances). 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 Angeles Civic Light Opera in 1969, but not on Broadway.

Other works

Classical music
Willson's 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 the O.O. McIntyre Suite, Symphonic Variations on an American Theme and Anthem, the symphonic poem Jervis Bay, and Ask Not, which incorporates quotations from John F. Kennedy's inaugural address. In tribute to the Idyllwild School of Music and the Arts (ISOMATA), Willson composed In Idyllwild for orchestra, choir, vocal solo and Alphorn. Willson's chamber music includes A Suite for Flute.

Television specials
In 1964, Willson produced three original summer variety specials for CBS under the title Texaco Star Parade. The first premiered on June 5, 1964, and starred Willson and his wife Rini. It featured guest stars Caterina Valente and Sergio Franchi, and a production number with Willson leading four military bands composed of 500 California high school band members. The second special starred Debbie Reynolds singing selections she had introduced in Willson's production The Unsinkable Molly Brown. On July 28, Willson and Rini hosted the third special, which featured a Willson production number with 1,000 Marine Corps volunteers from Camp Pendelton. Guest stars were Vikki Carr, Jack Jones, Frederick Hemke, and Joe and Eddie.

Popular songs
Willson wrote a number of well-known songs, such as "You and I", a No. 1 hit for Glenn Miller in 1941 on the Billboard charts. It was also recorded by Bing Crosby, and by Tommy Dorsey with Frank Sinatra on vocals.

Three songs from The Music Man have become American standards: "Seventy-Six Trombones", "Gary, Indiana", and "Till There Was You", originally titled "Till I Met You" (1950).

Other popular songs by Willson include "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" (published as "It's Beginning to Look Like Christmas"), "May the Good Lord Bless and Keep You", and "I See the Moon". He wrote the University of Iowa's fight song, "Iowa Fight Song", as well as Iowa State University's "For I for S Forever". He also wrote the fight song for his hometown high school "Mason City, Go!" He honored The Salvation Army with a musical tribute, "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, orchestral marching band, and full chorus, it was recorded during sessions for the Music Man film. Two versions of the song exist: a three-minute, radio-friendly length, and a longer, six-minute version for use in the gymnasium. In 2014, a re-recording of "Chicken Fat" was used in a television commercial for the iPhone 5S.

In 1974, Willson offered another marching song, "Whip Inflation Now", to the Ford Administration, but it was not used.

Autobiography
Willson wrote three memoirs: 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. He was divorced by his first wife, Elizabeth, as reported in a news dispatch of March 5, 1947. They apparently had no contact after the divorce, and in his three memoirs Elizabeth is never mentioned, although he surprised her by sending her roses on August 20, 1970, which would have been their 50th wedding anniversary.

Wilson married Ralina "Rini" Zarova, a Russian opera singer, on March 13, 1948. She died on December 6, 1966. Willson married Rosemary Sullivan in February 1968. For years he lived in the Mandeville Canyon section of Brentwood, California; he 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 guests autographed copies of his album Meredith Willson Sings Songs from The Music Man. In 1982, he and Rosemary appeared in the audience of The Lawrence Welk Show.

Willson returned several times to his hometown 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, hosted by Iowa Governor Norman Erbe, which was timed to coincide with the festival. Like his character Harold Hill, Willson led the "Big Parade" through the town, and the event included special appearances by the film's stars Shirley Jones and Robert Preston. The Master of Ceremonies, Mason City Globe-Gazette editor W. Earl Hall, was a statewide radio personality and friend of many decades.

Willson was a member of the National Honorary Band Fraternity, Kappa Kappa Psi.

Willson died of heart failure in 1984 at the age of 82. His funeral in Mason City included mourners dressed in Music Man costumes and a barbershop quartet that sang "Lida Rose". Willson is buried at the Elmwood-St. Joseph Municipal Cemetery in Mason City.

Legacy

On June 23, 1987, Willson posthumously received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Ronald Reagan.
In 1999, the United States Postal Service issued a postage stamp featuring Willson.
Willson's boyhood home in Mason City, Iowa, is part of "The Music Man Square", which opened in 2002. His widow, Rosemary, was a donor to the square.
 His alma mater, the Juilliard School, dedicated its first and only residence hall to Willson in 2005.
"Till There Was You" from The Music Man was a favorite of the Beatles, and their recording of it was issued on their second UK and US albums With the Beatles and Meet the Beatles!. They performed the song during their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964.
 Willson's papers can be found at the Great American Songbook Foundation.

Bibliography
Willson, Meredith. And There I Stood with My Piccolo. Minneapolis. University of Minnesota Press, 1948, 2009.
Willson, Meredith. Eggs I Have Laid, Holt, 1955.
Willson, Meredith. But He Doesn't Know the Territory. Minneapolis. University of Minnesota Press 1959, 2009. Chronicles the making of The Music Man.

Notes

References
 Skipper, John C. (2000),  Meredith Willson: The Unsinkable Music Man Savas Pub. Co, 
 Oates, Bill (2005), Meredith Willson-America's Music Man, Author House,

External links

Official Website

NAXOS listing
MTI Shows biography
Song Writers Hall of Fame listing
Des Moines Register bio
Remarks at the Presentation Ceremony for the Presidential Medal of Freedom – June 23, 1987
Univ. of Iowa Special Collections, Papers of W. Earl Hall (dating from 1917–1969)
 Appearance of Willson as guest on Make the Connection show, Sept. 1, 1955?

1902 births
1984 deaths
20th-century American composers
20th-century American male musicians
20th-century classical composers
American classical composers
American classical flautists
American film score composers
American male classical composers
American memoirists
American musical theatre composers
American musical theatre lyricists
Broadway composers and lyricists
Capitol Records artists
Distinguished Service to Music Medal recipients
Grammy Award winners
Juilliard School alumni
American male film score composers
Musicians from Iowa
People from Mandeville Canyon, Los Angeles
People from Mason City, Iowa
Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients
RCA Victor artists
Songwriters from Iowa
Tony Award winners
American male songwriters
The Iraq War: A Historiography of Wikipedia Changelogs is a 2010 book artwork compiled by British artist and technology writer James Bridle. It consists of a 12-volume, 7000-page set of printed books that show all 12,000 changes made to the English Wikipedia article on the Iraq War from December 2004 to November 2009. The books are an artistic visualization of the changes made to a particular article at Wikipedia. Only one copy was made, in 2010, so the set has not been published and was not intended for sale. The books have been exhibited in galleries in the United States and in Europe.

About
The work is a historiography compiled by technology writer James Bridle. It contains changelogs of the page for the Wikipedia article on the Iraq War, including arguments, opinions and vandalism. The work shows the editing process for an article and the process of creation, which includes the opinions and biases of many contributors.

The author created their book as a demonstration of the process of making history. They say:

The project encourages viewers to think of editing contributions and the collections of commentary and disagreement as part of the historical record. It is also an exploration of how recent contributions to various media supplant older contributions and what content may be lost when scholars have access only to the latest publications. Bridle has stated that, despite the history button being on every  page of every article, few people use it and to them this phenomenon is the most interesting and enlightening part of Wikipedia.

Reviews
A reviewer for Time described the project as a fascinating visual aid. The review in ReadWriteWeb was that the work was "pretty awesome".

See also
 Bibliography of Wikipedia

References

External links

Audio of creator giving talk about this work
Interview with the artist
Video of James Bridle discussing Wikipedia

2010 non-fiction books
Book arts
Books about the 2003 invasion of Iraq
Books about Wikipedia
Historiography Fascinating Womanhood is a book written by Helen Andelin and published in 1963. The book recently went into its sixth edition, published by Random House. 2,000,000 books were sold and is credited with starting a grassroots movement among women.

History
Derived from a set of booklets published in the 1920s and 1930s by the Psychological Press, the book seeks to help traditionally-minded women to make their marriages "a lifelong love affair". According to Time magazine, Andelin wrote Fascinating Womanhood when "she felt her own marriage wasn't the romantic love affair she had dreamed of."

The book's self-published edition sold over 400,000 copies, and since being published by Random House, the book has sold more than 2 million copies. including foreign markets. It has been translated into seven languages. The book serves as a touchstone for those of the anti-feminist persuasion.

Sources
The book takes many of its sources from historical women and from examples provided in classic literature. One of the "real life" women, Mumtaz Mahal of Taj Mahal fame, is cited as one of the ideal women who possessed both an angelic and a human side. More sources come from classic literature: Amelia (the original domestic goddess) of William Makepeace Thackeray's Vanity Fair, Agnes and Dora from David Copperfield by Charles Dickens, and Deruchette from Victor Hugo's Toilers of the Sea.

Fascinating Womanhood movement
Although the book was published in the early 1960s when second wave feminism became part of the American mainstream, Fascinating Womanhoods traditional explication of happy marriage resonated in the minds and hearts of millions of women. By 1975, according to Time magazine, the movement included 11,000 teachers, and over 300,000 women had taken the series of Fascinating Womanhood classes.

Unlike other antifeminism movements of the 1960s and 1970s, the Fascinating Womanhood movement continues today. The now-deceased Andelin maintained a website that received over a quarter of a million visits. The classes continue in Namibia, the Philippines, Japan, and Malaysia, and in the United States in Alabama, Arizona, California, Florida, Utah, and Virginia.

Academic attention
Fascinating Womanhood has gained the attention of feminist writers, who largely regard the book as detrimental to women in various ways. In 1978, psychologist Martha L. Rogers wrote an article ("Fascinating Womanhood as a Regression in the Emotional Maturation of Women") positing the argument that women who follow the book's teachings were doing so out of a fear of being self-actualized individuals. Juanne N. Clarke of Wilfrid Laurier University wrote that the movement used Kanter's Model of Commitment Mechanisms to analyze the techniques used to gain women's allegiance. More recently, Pink Think: Becoming a Woman in Many Uneasy Lessons, by Lynn Peril, cited Fascinating Womanhood as part of a body of literature that seeks to promote "an idealized version of womanhood".  Finally, communications writer Julia Woods discusses the Fascinating Womanhood movement in Gendered Lives: Communication, Gender, and Culture.

References

Further reading
 

1963 non-fiction books
American non-fiction books
Books about marriage