Editing Johnny Mercer (section)

===Hollywood years===
Mercer moved to Hollywood in 1935, and began writing music for films. His first Hollywood assignment was a B-movie college musical, ''[[Old Man Rhythm]]'', to which he contributed two songs and appeared in a small role. His next project, ''[[To Beat the Band]]'', was a commercial flop, but it led to a meeting and a collaboration with [[Fred Astaire]] on the moderately successful song "I'm Building Up to an Awful Let-Down".

Mercer landed into a hard-drinking circle, and began to drink more at parties and was prone to vicious outbursts when under the influence of alcohol, contrasting sharply with his ordinarily genial and gentlemanly behavior.{{sfn|Furia|2003|p=83}} Often he would assuage the guilt he felt for this behavior by sending roses the following day to the friend or acquaintance he had treated unkindly while drunk.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.macleans.ca/general/johnny-mercer-moon-river-and-me/ |title=Johnny Mercer, Moon River and me |work=Maclean's |first=Mark |last=Steyn |date=November 19, 2009 |access-date=October 10, 2014}}</ref> Ironically, he would later say that he found the Hollywood nightlife lacking: "Hollywood was never much of a night town. Everybody had to get up too early&nbsp;... the movie people were in bed with the chickens (or each other)."{{sfn|Lees|2004|p=115}}

Mercer's first big Hollywood song, the satirical "[[I'm an Old Cowhand from the Rio Grande]]", was inspired by a road trip through [[Texas]] (he wrote both the music and the lyrics). It was performed by Crosby in the film ''[[Rhythm on the Range]]'' in 1936, and from then on the demand for Mercer as a lyricist took off. His second hit that year was "[[Goody Goody]]", music by [[Matty Malneck]]. In 1937, Mercer began working for [[Warner Bros.]], working with the composer [[Richard A. Whiting|Richard Whiting]], soon producing his standard, "[[Too Marvelous for Words]]", followed by "[[Hooray for Hollywood]]", the opening number in the film ''[[Hollywood Hotel (film)|Hollywood Hotel]]'' (1937). After Whiting's sudden death from a heart attack, Mercer collaborated with [[Harry Warren]] and wrote "[[Jeepers Creepers (song)|Jeepers Creepers]]",<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc847493/m1/#track/5 |title = Music USA #7881-A, Interview with Johnny Mercer|date = July 28, 1976 }} UNT Digital Library.</ref> which earned Mercer his first [[Academy Award for Best Original Song#1930|Oscar nomination for Best Song]] (1938). Another hit with Warren in 1938 was "[[You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby]]". The pair also created "Hooray for Spinach", a comic song produced for the film ''[[Naughty but Nice (1939 film)|Naughty but Nice]]'' in 1939.

During a lull at Warners, Mercer revived his singing career. He joined Crosby's informal minstrel shows put on by the "Westwood Marching and Chowder Club", which included many Hollywood luminaries.{{sfn|Furia|2003|p=106}} Mercer worked on numerous duets for himself and Crosby to perform: several were recorded, and two, "Mr. Gallagher and Mr. Shean" (1938) a reworking of an old vaudville song, and "Mister Meadowlark" (1940), became hits.<ref>"Johnny Mercer", Whitburn, p. 306.</ref>

In 1939, Mercer wrote the lyrics to a melody by [[Ziggy Elman]], a trumpet player with [[Benny Goodman]]. The song was "[[And the Angels Sing]]" and, although recorded by Crosby and [[Count Basie]], it was the Goodman version with vocal by [[Martha Tilton]] and [[klezmer]] style trumpet solo by Elman that became a major hit. Years later, the title was inscribed on Mercer's tombstone.

Mercer was invited to the ''[[Camel Caravan]]'' radio show in New York to sing his hits and create satirical songs, like "You Ought to be in Pittsburgh", a parody of "You Ought to be in Pictures", with the [[Benny Goodman]] orchestra, then becoming the emcee of the nationally broadcast show for several months. Two more hits followed shortly, "[[Day In, Day Out (1939 song)|Day In, Day Out]]" and "[[Fools Rush In (Where Angels Fear to Tread)|Fools Rush In]]" (both with music by Rube Bloom), and Mercer in short order had five of the top ten songs on the popular radio show ''[[Your Hit Parade]].''{{sfn|Furia|2003|p=111}} Mercer also started a short-lived publishing company during his stay in New York. Mercer undertook a musical, ''Walk with Music'' (originally called ''Three After Three''), with [[Hoagy Carmichael]], but it was critically panned and commercially unsuccessful.

Shortly thereafter, Mercer began working with [[Harold Arlen]], who wrote [[jazz]] and [[blues]]-influenced compositions while Mercer wrote lyrics. Their first hit was "[[Blues in the Night]]" (1941), which [[Arthur Schwartz]] called "probably the greatest blues song ever written."<ref>{{cite book|first1=Bob|last1=Bach|first2=Ginger|last2=Mercer|title=Our Huckleberry Friend: The Life, Times, and Lyrics of Johnny Mercer|publisher=Lyle Stuart|location=Secaucus, New Jersey|date=1982|isbn=0-8184-0331-4|page=98}}</ref>

They went on to compose "[[One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)]]" (1941), "Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive" (1944),<ref>{{cite news|first=Bob|last=MacKenzie|date=October 29, 1972|title='40s Sounds Return to Radio|newspaper=[[Oakland Tribune]]}}</ref> "[[That Old Black Magic]]" (1942),<ref name=pc1a/> and "[[Come Rain or Come Shine]]" (1946), among others.<ref name="furia">{{cite book
| first= Philip
| last= Furia
| year= 1992
| title=Poets of Tin Pan Alley
| publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]
| location= New York City 
| pages=151, 273–274
| isbn= 0-19-507473-4}}</ref>

"Come Rain" was Mercer's only Broadway hit, composed for the show ''St. Louis Woman'' with [[Pearl Bailey]]. "[[On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe]]" with music by Harry Warren, was a big smash for [[Judy Garland]] in the 1946 film ''[[The Harvey Girls]]'', and earned Mercer the first of his four [[Academy Award for Best Song#1940s|Academy Awards for Best Song]], after eight unsuccessful nominations.

Mercer re-united with Hoagy Carmichael with "[[Skylark (song)|Skylark]]" (1941),<ref name=pc1a>{{harvnb|Gilliland|1994|loc=cassette 1, side A.}}</ref> and, ten years later, the [[Academy Award for Best Song|Oscar-winning]] "[[In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening]]" (1951). With [[Jerome Kern]], Mercer created ''[[You Were Never Lovelier]]'' for [[Fred Astaire]] and [[Rita Hayworth]] in the movie of the same name,<ref name=pc1a/> as well as "[[I'm Old Fashioned]]".

Mercer founded [[Capitol Records]] in Hollywood in 1942, with the help of producer [[Buddy DeSylva]] and record store owner Glen Wallichs.<ref name="Georgia"/> He also co-founded [[Cowboy Records]]. As the founder active in the management of Capitol during the 40s, he signed many of its important recording artists, including [[Nat "King" Cole]]. It also gave him an outlet for his own recordings. His hit "Strip Polka" was its third release. But Mercer recorded not only his own songs but ones by others as well. His four million-sellers were his own "Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive" and "On the Atchison, Topeka, and the Santa Fe", and two by other composers, "Candy" and "Personality". One recording of a song that has lived on is his recording of "[[Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah]]", written by [[Allie Wrubel]] and [[Ray Gailbert]] for Disney's 1946 movie, ''[[Song of the South]]''. Mercer's recording was a top hit for eight weeks in December 1947 and January 1948, reaching number 8. Today it continues to be the version most played on Sirius's 40s satellite channel.

Mercer by the mid-1940s enjoyed a reputation as one of the premier Hollywood lyricists. He was adaptable, listening carefully and absorbing a tune and then transforming it into his own style. Like [[Irving Berlin]], he was a close follower of cultural fashion and changing language, which in part accounted for the long tenure of his success. He loved many words (''Too Marvelous for Words''), including puns (''Strip Polka''), and current terms ("G. I. Jive"). He employed sound effects, as well, such as the train whistle sounds in "Blues in the Night" and "On the Atchison, Topeka, and the Santa Fe".

Mercer preferred to have the music first, taking it home and working on it. He claimed composers had no problem with this method provided that he returned with the lyrics.

Mercer was often asked to write new lyrics to already popular songs. The lyrics to "[[Laura (1945 song)|Laura]]", "[[Midnight Sun (Lionel Hampton and Sonny Burke song)|Midnight Sun]]", and "[[Satin Doll]]" were all written after the melodies had become hits. He was also asked to compose English lyrics to foreign songs, the most famous example being "[[Autumn Leaves (1945 song)|Autumn Leaves]]", based on the French song "Les Feuilles Mortes".