Editing Johnny Mercer (section)

===1950s–1970s===
In the 1950s, the advent of rock and roll cut deeply into Mercer's natural audience, and dramatically reduced venues for his songs. Mercer wrote for several [[MGM]] films, including ''[[Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (film)|Seven Brides for Seven Brothers]]'' (1954) and ''[[Merry Andrew (film)|Merry Andrew]]'' (1958). He collaborated on three Broadway musicals in the 1950s—''[[Top Banana (musical)|Top Banana]]'' (1951), ''[[Li'l Abner (musical)|Li'l Abner]]'' (1956), and ''[[Saratoga (musical)|Saratoga]]'' (1959).

His more successful songs of the 1950s include "[[The Glow-Worm]]" (sung by the [[Mills Brothers]]) and "[[Something's Gotta Give (Johnny Mercer song)|Something's Gotta Give]]". In 1961, he wrote the lyrics to "[[Moon River]]" for [[Audrey Hepburn]] in ''[[Breakfast at Tiffany's (film)|Breakfast at Tiffany's]]'' and for ''[[Days of Wine and Roses (song)|Days of Wine and Roses]],'' both with music by [[Henry Mancini]], and Mercer received his third and fourth Oscars for Best Song. The back-to-back Oscars were the first time a songwriting team had achieved that feat.<ref>Roger Hall, ''A Guide to Film Music: Songs and Scores'', PineTree Press, 2007, p. 13.</ref> Mercer, also with Mancini, wrote "[[Charade (1963 song)|Charade]]" for the 1963 romantic thriller [[Charade (1963 film)|of the same name]]. The [[Tony Bennett]] classic "[[I Wanna Be Around]]" was written by Mercer in 1962, as was the [[Frank Sinatra]] hit "[[Summer Wind]]" in 1965.

An indication of the high esteem in which Mercer was held can be observed in that he was the only lyricist to have his work recorded as a volume of [[Ella Fitzgerald]]'s series of Song book albums. ''[[Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Johnny Mercer Song Book]]'' was released by [[Verve Records]] in 1964.

Mercer was humble about his work, attributing much of his success to luck and timing. He was fond of telling the story of how he was offered the job of doing the lyrics for [[Johnny Mandel]]'s music on ''The Sandpiper,'' only to have the producer turn his lyrics down. The producer offered the commission to [[Paul Francis Webster]] and the result was "[[The Shadow of Your Smile]]", which became a huge hit, winning the [[38th Academy Awards|1965 Oscar]] for [[Academy Award for Best Original Song|Best Original Song]]. However, Mercer and Mandel did collaborate on the 1964 song "[[Emily (1964 song)|Emily]]" from the film ''[[The Americanization of Emily]]'' starring [[Julie Andrews]].<ref name="wilk"/>

In 1969, Mercer helped publishers [[Abe Olman]] and [[Howie Richmond]] found the [[Songwriters Hall of Fame|National Academy of Popular Music's Songwriters Hall of Fame]]. In 1971, Mercer presented a retrospective of his career for the "Lyrics and Lyricists Series" in New York, including an omnibus of his "greatest hits" and a performance by [[Margaret Whiting]]. It was recorded live as ''An Evening with Johnny Mercer''.<ref>DRG 5176</ref> In 1974, he collaborated on the West End production ''[[The Good Companions (musical)|The Good Companions]]''. He also recorded two albums of his songs in London in 1974, with the Pete Moore Orchestra and with the Harry Roche Constellation, later compiled into a single album and released as ''[[My Huckleberry Friend|...My Huckleberry Friend: Johnny Mercer Sings the Songs of Johnny Mercer]]''.

Late in his life, Mercer became friends with pianist [[Emma Kelly]]. He gave her the nickname "The Lady of Six-Thousand Songs" after challenging her, over several years, to play numerous songs he named. He kept track of the requests, and estimated she knew 6,000 songs from memory.<ref name=sh>{{cite news|first=Julie|last=Lavender|url=https://www.statesboroherald.com/local/our-mrs-emma/|title=Our 'Mrs. Emma'|newspaper=[[Statesboro Herald]]|date=October 18, 2015}}</ref>