Michael Writer Brown

Personal

Vocation

American producer and writer of songs and books. Of his books, the most widely known are several children's stories about Santa Mouse. Brown has served several terms as a member of the board of the Songwriters Guild of America. Starting in 1953, he produced industrial musicals for corporate clients in the United States and other countries. His biggest production was DuPont's multi-million-dollar Wonderful World of Chemistry at the 1964 New York World's Fair. Brown wrote, produced, and directed a musical involving live performers and life-sized actors on film. In over 17,000 performances it was seen by over 5.2 million people. His first work on Broadway was the song "Lizzie Borden" in Leonard Sillman's New Faces of 1952. "Indoor Girl", co-written with Harold Arlen, was sung by Pearl Bailey in House of Flowers. Brown created the score for the English musical Is There Intelligent Life on Earth?. He wrote a production number for the Carol Channing company of Sugar Babies and the book, music, and lyrics for the nineteen-day run of Different Times. Brown was married to Joy Williams Brown, a former ballerina. The couple was instrumental in the career of Harper Lee, making it possible for her to write To Kill a Mockingbird by giving her the gift of a year’s wages in 1956. Michael Brown died from lymphoma on 11 June 2014 at the age of 93 in New York City. Link to Wikipedia biography