Contracts

The Johnny Mercer papers consist of biographical materials (including an unpublished autobiography), correspondence, drafts and revisions of lyrics, music and scripts, a few business records, scrapbooks, and a sizeable group of news clippings (including reviews of many of Mercer's shows and performances), as well as non-manuscript materials that include a significant group of photographs, a few sound recordings, four paintings by Mercer, books from his personal library, and various artifacts (including his portable typewriter). Prior to being transferred to the Pullen Library Special Collections Department, they were housed in Mercer's studio at his Bel-Air, California home. The manuscript materials date from approximately 1927 through 1981, predominantly from about 1940 to Mercer's death in 1976, and focus primarily on Mercer's writing (documented by the large number of draft and revised lyrics) and his career in film, radio and theater. Other topics covered in the collection include Mercer's business and personal relationships with other show business figures (as shown in the correspondence and clippings) and, to a lesser degree, his impact as a lyricist/composer on the popular music field, and the changing nature of the field after the mid-1950s. The relatively small amount of information in the collection about Mercer's personal and family life and childhood is contained primarily in the autobiography, some of the correspondence (particularly the early correspondence), and the news clippings.