The Milwaukee Journal – Nov 22,
1942
A Composer Turns Into Comedian
By Robert Myers
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. (AP) When Dr.
Albert Coates, distinguished Brit-Meredith Wilson perform as a radio comic, he
got up and walked out of the studio.
“I played your ‘Missions of California’
symphony in concert because I considered you one of the most promising of the
young America composers,” Dr. Coates told Wilson afterward. “But when I saw you
doing that . . . that slapstick with Frank Morgan, it was just too much. I was
horrified.”
Versatile, affable Wilson, who
would have been called a heretic a few years ago by the lovers of Bach,
Beethoven and Brahms, laughed.
“I try to enjoy everything I do. It
is fun to do comedy lines. And I don’t believe this outlet has in any manner
injured my reputation in the field of music.”
Wilson, tall and easygoing, is
proud of several things. One is his home town of Mason City, Iowa. Another is
his versatility. He was written two symphonic opuses, “San Francisco” and “Missions
of California,” and is working now on Opus No. 3, which he swears will be
called. “An Old-Fashioned Piece for People Who Still Like Melody.” He also has
written lyrics and music so catchy that two of them.
“You and I” and “Two in Love,”
landed on the “Hit Parade” at the same time.
To his symphonic and popular
musical efforts, also add a pair of marches, “America Calling” and “Wings on
High,” which have been widely used. This is hardly surprising, because Meredith
spent three seasons with the master of marches, John Philip Sousa.
“And don’t let anyone tell you
that Sousa wasn’t a great musician and brilliant student of music, or that any
of his works were the product of someone else as some whisperers would have you
believe.”
AS A lad, Willson played the
piano, banjo and guitar.
“I hated piano practice. As a
matter of fact,” he winked, “the piano is still just a workbench for me.”
His family, nonprofessionals but
musically devoted, persuaded him to take up the flute. He studied in New York
under the great Barrere and soon was doing concert work and accompaniment. In 1921
he joined Sousa.
“I used to be very temperamental. I
wore an overcoat with a fur collar, and when I played under Toscanini I
discovered I spoke with a slight Italian accent. Or if the conductor was German,
I’d speak as he did. When I first began conducting I’d tear my hair and act
very temperamental.
“But I outgrew that. I’ll bet I haven’t
thrown a baton across the room in 10 years.”
His popular “You and I” was
dedicated to his pretty wife. “The truth is that one day I found that we had to
abandon our theme song. (That was when the ASCAP-radio fight started.) So I had
to compose a new theme song, and ‘You and I’ came out of it. I composed it in
just a four hours.”
He wastes little time when he gets
an idea. The office of defense transportation in Washington asked Meredith Wilson (everyone calls him Meredith) to write a song that might make the nation’s
truck drivers put a little extra oomph into their work. Twenty-four hours later
Willson had “My Ten Ton Baby and Me” in the mail. The ODT was delighted.
ONE of Willson’s earliest hits was
a suite dedicated to the late O. O. McIntyre called “Thoughts While Strolling.”
McIntyre accepted it as his personal theme song, and to this day his widow
listens for it to be played on the air on the February anniversary of the
columnist’s death. Meredith once received a card from her, postmarked in India,
where she had heard the piece by short wave.
Radio isn’t his only musical
forte, however. He has done numerous scores for motion pictures, including “The
Great Dictator” and “The Little Foxes.”
“I wanted to find out if this type
of work was as mysterious and complicated as some of the boys intimated,” he
laughed. “It’s a snap.”
Willson’s comedy outlet started
several years ago, but it was left for Fanny Brice and Frank Morgan to develop
it. Originally, a script writer with due regard for Willson’s dignity as a
composer-conductor wrote serious lines for him. But every time Meredith spoke,
the lines sounded funny. So the serious writing continued, and Meredith kept on
being funny. The comedy, unconscious as it might be, was continued by NBC when
the present Baby Snooks-Morgan show began.
Lines like “Bend me over and call
me stoop-ed” and “Burn me up and call me a perfect ash” are later day additions
to the moronic straight man part Meredith plays on the air.
Oddly enough, Willson’s best gags
are written by a 76 year old retired farmer named Fred Wetherow. He mails them
in to Willson each week, and doesn’t want any money for them. He just likes to
hear them on the air.
And what does Willson think about
his comedy? He’s going to keep on with it as long as “it feels natural.”
“If I tried to force it, I would
look ridiculous as a musician and a comedian both.”
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