Meredith Wilson: "A Composer Turns Into Comedian"

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.”