Why did ‘The Music Man’ accuse a North Dakotan of corrupting the youth of River City? – InForum

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You know the story of The Music Man. Con man Harold Hill travels to River City, Iowa, and tries to convince the townspeople that they’re in trouble (with a capital “T” that rhymes with “P” and stands for billiards! ).

Hill argues, in song, that if the town started a band, their sons would stop hanging out at the pool hall where they were corrupt.

Mothers of River City, heed this warning before it’s too late

Watch for telltale signs of corruption

Is he starting to memorize Captain Billy’s whiz bang jokes?

Great song. But one thing. What exactly is Captain Billys Whiz Bang?

It turns out that Captain Billy, and subsequently his “whiz bang”, have roots in North Dakota and Minnesota.

Captain Billys Whiz Bang was a bawdy humor magazine started by a North Dakota boy from a good family. Wilford Hamilton Fawcett has become one of this region’s most colorful characters, a veteran of two wars, Olympic athlete, world traveler, big game hunter and the guy who built Breezy Point Resort on Pelican Lake.

Wilford Hamilton Fawcett was born on April 27, 1885 in Canada to John and Hannah Maria (Bird) Fawcett. He was the third of eight children.

According to a 2009 story by Curt Eriksmoen (with information provided by Bruce Gjovig, entrepreneurial coach and founding director of the Center for Innovation at the University of North Dakota), “At the time of Wilford’s birth, John was superintendent of the Winnipeg school system While superintendent, John also completed his medical degree at the University of Manitoba.

Wilford Hamilton Fawcett grew up in Grand Forks and later became a millionaire publisher and resort owner

Photo Provided/Minnesota Historical Society/Hennepin Public Library

John Fawcett graduated, and when Wilford was just 3, the family moved to Cando, North Dakota, and then to Grand Forks. Dr. Fawcett specialized in women’s diseases and made a name for himself for his work in abdominal surgeries.

Their life was comfortable, but young Wilford craved adventure. He dropped out of Central High in Grand Forks when he was just 16. He somehow tricked the US military into thinking he was 18 and was sent to the Philippines in 1902 to help put down an insurrection there. But he was shot in the leg and eventually returned to Central where, arguably, he told the best stories in class.

When he was 20, the Fawcett family moved to Minneapolis where Wilford married Viva Meyers, a countrywoman from Iowa. He soon found work as a reporter with the Minneapolis Tribune and later the Winnipeg Free Press.

When World War I broke out, he enlisted and was stationed in Virginia where he wrote for Stars and Stripes, the US Army magazine. He achieved the rank of captain and his forever nickname was born – Captain Billy.

Wilford Fawcett first served in the United States Army as a teenager during the Philippine Uprising of 1902. He later became a captain in World War I.

Journals.com

When the war ended, he returned to Robbinsdale, Minnesota, having learned a valuable lesson from his time in the military: Soldiers love a wicked humour. And now that they were off base, away from their buddies, maybe they missed it.

So Fawcett figured it was time to launch a new magazine that appealed to the debauched interests of returning “doughboys.”

He called it Captain Billy’s Whiz Bang. (“Whiz bang” was the name Allied forces gave German artillery shells during World War I.) According to the Minnesota Historical Society, the first issue came out in October 1919. In 1923, the magazine sold 425 000 copies per month.

Captain Billy’s Whiz Bang was inspired by Wilford Fawcett’s time in the US Army, when he realized that some soldiers enjoyed bawdy, sometimes risque humor. So, upon returning home, he began publishing the men’s humor magazine that made him a millionaire.

Contribution / Minnesota Historical Society

Hot Presses at Breezy Point

In 1920, the two Fawcett brothers, Roscoe and Harvey, moved to Minneapolis to help run Fawcett Publications. Two years later, they launched another successful magazine, True Confessions, followed by Modern Mechanics, Inventions and Triple-X Western.

Magazines made Fawcett a rich man. He purchased land at Breezy Point on Pelican Lake near Pequot Lakes, Minnesota, which he built into a popular resort town.

“Captain Billy” and Antoinette Fawcett ran a casino, of sorts, during Prohibition at Breezy Point on Pelican Lake. Antoinette is rumored to have had an affair with Minnesota Governor Floyd Olson and is the person who introduced mobster Isadore Blumenfeld to journalist Walter Liggett before Liggett was beaten by Blumenfeld’s men.

Photo Added/Minnesota Historical Society

Fawcett was now divorced from his first wife, Viva, and married to his second wife, Antoinette. The couple became the ultimate Breezy Point hosts – rubbing shoulders with all the beautiful people – from politicians like Harry Truman to movie stars including Clark Gable and Carol Lombard. At Breezy Point, the Fawcetts’ guests hunted, fished, swam, and drank illegal liquor.

Minnesota, even Breezy Point, was not safe from the criminal underworld during the Prohibition era. Antoinette is believed to have introduced muckraking journalist Walter Liggett to Isadore Kid Cann Blumenfield, who eventually stood trial for Liggetts’ murder.

In 1924, Fawcett craved more action, and Captain Billy took on new roles that took him around the world.

According to the Minnesota Historical Society, he participated in trap shooting (shotgun shooting at clay targets) at the 1924 Paris Olympics, hunted in Africa, took vacations around the world, and bought the boxing clubs of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

Wilford “Captain Billy” Fawcett is pictured with a shotgun. Fawcett was captain of the U.S. trap team at the 1924 Olympics.

Photo Provided/Minnesota Historical Society/Hennepin Public Library

Perhaps world travel has created problems on the home front. He was again divorced and remarried in 1935, this time to his secretary Marie Frances Robinson. A year later, he ceased publishing the magazine that made his fortune, Captain Billy’s Whiz Bang.

Ballantine Books, a division of Random House Publishing, eventually acquired Fawcett Publications.

Fawcett died of a heart attack on February 7, 1940 in Hollywood after what was obviously a life-altering blow.

BACK IN TIME WITH TRACY BRIGGS

Tracy Briggs, “Back Then with Tracy Briggs” columnist.

The forum

Hi, I’m Tracy Briggs. Thanks for reading my column! I love going “Back Then” every week with stories about interesting people, places and things from our past. Check out a few below. If you have a story idea, email me at [email protected].

Tracy Briggs is an Emmy-nominated news, lifestyle and history reporter with Forum Communications with over 35 years of experience in broadcast, print and digital journalism.

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