Meredith Willson

Regarding the current Broadway revival of The Music Man, Jay Nordlinger wrote: There will always be those who sniff that the show is "feel good"-but, oh, it feels good to feel good. And the main reason The Music Man feels so good is that it is good-a great American musical.

Regarding The Music Man, Jay Nordlinger wrote: The Music Man (for which Willson also wrote the lyrics) is an astonishing creation. It came in a spurt of brilliance. It is shot through with originality, verve, and-why not go all the way?-genius. People love it, can't get enough of it, can't stop performing it-and they are not wrong. For closing in on a half- century now, The Music Man has been performed continually, in every American city, town, and village, and in other parts of the world as well, not excluding Peking.

Speaking of River City in The Music Man & his home town, Mason City, Iowa: I didn't have to make up anything. I simply remembered Mason City as closely as I could.

From the explanatory notes that Willson wrote to accompany his symphony, A Symphony of San Francisco,: "Generally speaking, the first movement is intended to convey pioneer courage, loyalty, strength of purpose and freedom." The trumpet motive in the closing Allegro "is a call of defiance to the very elements themselves that had the temerity to dispute the spiritual strength and courage of the golden city of the West."

Seven gifts my mother gave me: 1. The gift of right: if mamma saw a wrong she righted it. 2. The gift of friendliness: making people happier than they were before 3. The gift of rose-colored vision: mamma liked for the flowers, not the weeds. 4. The gift of fun: mamma gave us the best gift a mother can - her time. 5. The gift of understanding: she was always trying to solve people's problems or at least listen to them. 6. The gift of thoughtfulness: she didn't wait for something special, she just did kind acts any time she saw the need. 7. The gift of respect: when you help to inch your fellow man along on that struggle to dignity, he loves you for it. Seven gifts? I could list seven hundred gifts my mother gave me. Gifts not boxed and ribboned. Not always noticed or even appreciated at the time. But a part of us. Forever.

You pile up enough tomorrows, and you'll find you've collected a lot of empty yesterdays.