Mercer, Johnny, 1909-1976

The collection consists of three compact discs made from audiotapes and a phonograph record. The recordings (circa 1967) feature Johnny Mercer vocals, accompanied by a piano or small combo, for 19 songs he composed for the unproduced musical "Mike," a musical comedy for the stage based on Mickey Spillane's hard-boiled detective Mike Hammer.

Prints, slides, transparencies, and digital images of 24 watercolor paintings by the American songwriter Johnny Mercer (1909-1976) plus one image of a manuscript. Subjects include family members and other figures, landscapes, and seascapes.

The Johnny Mercer Radio Programs Collection consists of audio recordings of more than 250 radio broadcasts, primarily dated 1934-1956. These musical radio shows feature performances from many notable entertainers of the time, but they all include either performances by Johnny Mercer, performances of his songs, or are otherwise related to his career.

The Johnny Mercer "Three Arabian Knights" collection contains materials related to the never produced 1960s musical, "Three Arabian Knights." It includes draft lyrics, screenplay, script, telegrams, reel-to-reel tapes of the songs and CDs. Materials date from around 1960 to 1969.

The Margaret Whiting collection consists of printed, visual, and audio materials relating to the careers of singer Margaret Whiting and her friend, songwriter Johnny Mercer, as well as Johnny Rotella and Emma Kelly.

The Miriam Center Collection primarily contains materials related to the dedication of the Johnny Mercer Theatre in 1978. It includes corrspondence, newspaper clippings, and a program that date from 1977 to 1978.

On September 23, 1994 Georgia State University held the "Mostly Mercer" concert and reception, featuring Margaret Whiting. The collection consists of photographs of the performers and others.

The Music Printed collection: Ephemera is an amalgmation of materials on a variety of topics relating to music and popular culture.

The Ober family lived near Johnny Mercer and his family on Lido Isle (Newport Beach, California) in the 1950s and 1960s. The two families became close friends. The collection contains correspondence, photographs, and other printed and manuscript materials, documenting the long relationship between the families, as well as collected material relating to Johnny Mercer, 1976-2000.

The Philip Furia collection contains research materials used to create the Johnny Mercer biography, Skylark: The Life and Time of Johnny Mercer. It includes cassette tapes of interviews, transcriptions of interviews, and photographs. The majority of materials date from 2000 to 2002.

Richard A. Whiting was a prominent music composer for Hollywood and Broadway productions from the 1920s-1930s. The Richard A. Whiting Collection, 1896-2006, contains files related to Whiting's life and career as a musical composer including correspondence, photographs, periodicals and sheet music.

Rose Marie (1923-2017) was a successful singer, actress, and comedienne whose career spanned more than seven decades of evolving popular entertainment, from radio to theater to film to television. The materials in this collection document the unpublished artifacts of such a career, consisting mainly of manuscript (or draft) sheet music and noncommercial audio recordings.

Sadie Vimmerstedt, who was a resident of Youngstown, Ohio, wrote a letter to Johnny Mercer in February of 1957 suggesting that Mercer write a song entitled "When Somebody Breaks Your Heart." Mercer wrote the song, ultimately sharing authorship with her on a 50/50 basis. Mrs. Vimmerstedt's collection includes Mercer's first letter to her, a few Christmas cards from Mercer, and photographs taken at the 1963 Grammy Awards banquet.

Steve Allen (1921-2000) was a well-known author, pianist, comedian, composer, and actor. He was an admirer of Johnny Mercer's lyrics. After Mercer's death, his widow Ginger Mercer and Bill Harbach encouraged Allen to write a song to a title Mercer had created, "Your Wife Is the Love of My Life." This collection consists of a lead sheet and typed lyrics for Allen's "Your Wife Is the Love of My Life."