What was the relationship of "Marion the Librarian" to the writer of "The Music Man" in real life?

Question

"The Music Man," written by Meredith Willson, featured a heroine named Marion Paroo, or "Marion the Librarian." Apparently, she was based on a real life medical librarian named Marion Seeley of Provo, Utah.

I can imagine Willson, the Iowa boy casting himself as Harold Hill, the traveling salesman and (pretended) "musician." (Willson was a real one.) And Willson was married three times, but never to "Marion."

So what made him cast "Marion the librarian" as his leading lady in the play (1957) that was later made into a film (1962)? Was she a (secret) mistress? Did he have a platonic "crush" on her? Did he owe her some emotional debt, perhaps because of her medical expertise?

Answer 1

I am writing on behalf of a movie critic, whom I contacted, because he had published several articles on "The Music Man."

The critic had visited Meredith Willson's boyhood home in Mason City (read River City), Iowa, and found that just across the street was, you guessed it, the library.

If you "personify" these buildings, then the library was the "girl next door." So Willson's visceral feelings may have been for the library, rather than the librarian. But he had to use a real life librarian he had met for this personification.