Dixie Willson

Dixie Lucile Reiniger Willson (30 July 1890 - 6 February 1974) was an American screenwriter, as well as an author of children's books, novels, and short stories.

[1] In 1894 her parents moved to Mason City where her two brothers were born, John Cedric Willson and Robert Meredith Willson, who later came to prominence as the composer of the Broadway hit musical The Music Man.

Willson produced numerous children's books, as well as many short stories and poems.

[2] In Where the World Folds Up at Night, Willson chronicled the daily operations of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus, with which she performed for a brief time.

Several other circus-themed books, including Little Texas and Mystery in Spangles, owe much to her close friend Bird Millman, a high-wire artist to whom she dedicated Honey Bear.