Tomorrow will be observed as a special day in Mason City, Iowa. The basis for this community celebration is the centennial of the birth of Meredith Willson on May 18, 1902.

Before we get involved with the events taking place over the weekend at the new Music Man Square, there are still a few questions to be resolved regarding last week’s column.

As I pointed out earlier, there’s proof that Meredith Willson and Elizabeth Wilson were married right here in Albert Lea on Aug. 28, 1920. His age at this time was just 18, instead of 22 as shown on the marriage record at the Freeborn County Courthouse.

I have verified that Meredith graduated from Mason City High School in 1919 and moved to New York City to continue his musical career. However, I was unable to find out why he became married for the first time in Minnesota instead of Iowa. Maybe the license fee was lower and there was no waiting time involved. Then again, maybe he and Elizabeth just decided to elope.

I was hoping there would be more information about the Albert Lea marriage in his 1948 autobiography. &uot;And There I Stood With My Piccolo.&uot; This fairly disorganized and not too well written book didn’t have a single word I could find about Elizabeth or his first marriage. Maybe a clue could be found with the fact that this book was dedicated to his second wife.

Thankfully, Meredith was a better musician than he was a writer. He spent three years as a flute and piccolo player in John Philip Sousa’s Band, and from 1924 to 1929 played with the New York Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, plus other groups.

Meredith then moved to California and became involved with radio program production and the creation of music scores for films.

During World War II, he was a major in the U.S. Army and served as head of the music division of the Armed Forces Radio Service.

As a songwriter, Meredith Willson created the still familiar tunes, &uot;It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas,&uot; and &uot;May The Good Lord Bless and Keep You.&uot; However, his fame and real connection to his Mason City boyhood was to come with &uot;The Music Man.&uot;

This musical about an alleged shyster named Professor Harold Hill and the folks in a town named River City, Iowa, made its debut on Broadway in December 1957. It ran for 1,375 performances and won a Tony for the play, plus a Grammy and a gold record for the music.

Warner Brothers converted this musical into a motion picture which had its 1962 premiere in Mason City. Robert Preston played the Professor Hill role in both the stage production and the film version. Dorothy Cook had the lead female role in the stage version, and Shirley Jones starred in the film.

&uot;The Music Man&uot; has become a continuously popular production for theatrical groups all over the nation. Locally, the Albert Lea Community Theatre produced this musical in May 1972. In fact, there’s report that a new version of &uot;The Music Man&uot; will become a fall program for the ABC-TV network.

From this musical came several hit parade tunes, &uot;Till There Was You.&uot; and of course the famous march and song, &uot;76 Trombones.&uot;

His second Broadway musical in 1960, &uot;The Unsinkable Molly Brown,&uot; had a run of 572 performances. This production had the song, &uot;I Ain’t Down Yet,&uot; which featured Tammy Grimes in the play and Debbie Reynolds in the film version.

The third Broadway musical, &uot;Here’s Love,&uot; had a run of 334 performances in 1963 and 1964.

Meredith Willson died on June 15, 1984, in Santa Monica, Calif. He’s buried in Elmwood Cemetery on the south side of Mason City.

Now the spirit of River City has been revived with the new Music Man Square structure with its 1912 streetscape. Also, the birthplace and boyhood home of this famous Iowan is located next to this new building. Both of these attractions which are worth visiting and enjoying are located just to the east of the Southbridge Mall in Mason City.

Feature writer Ed Shannon’s column appears Fridays in the Tribune.