'He was, to me, the hippest, coolest person that I had ever met. And he was so good. And he was so talented. It was unbelievable. He would sit there and thoughts would just come pouring out of him.' "
Few would argue with that assessment, as Gene Lees' "Portrait of Johnny" makes abundantly clear. Johnny Mercer was one of the greatest lyricists of the 20th century.
His range was astonishing. He was clever, when a tune called for bounce and fun, but mostly he is remembered for lyrics that can make your heart soar - or break it.
"And in your lonely flight, haven't you heard the music of the night?" "Skylark" is one of the loveliest songs ever written, and the collaboration of the great Hoagy Carmichael with Johnny Mercer was one of the finest combinations of talent ever.
Mercer, born and raised in Savannah, Ga., never really left the South far behind, wherever his travels took him. He teamed up with Harold Arlen for "Blues in the Night." The Train whistle he heard at Five Mile B/files/storyimages/back home come rushing through the "clickety-clack" and once again, the music and lyrics transport us to another place.
The Mercer family fell on hard times when Johnny's father's business went under. Later, Johnny was to repay all the investors in the insurance company. Southern honor, very Southern.
The young man left for New York to find a spot in the theater. He landed a few roles, met and later married Ginger Meehan, who was born Elizabeth Meltzer. They began a life filled with turmoil, alcohol, family problems and roaring success.
Ginger was not warmly welcomed by Johnny's family, especially his mother.
Ginger was Jewish, and the family had much higher hopes for Johnny than marriage to an actress, a stranger, a Jewess. But Johnny and Ginger married anyway, and had a relationship that few of their friends understood.
He adored her, but she returned his ardor with a chilly, prickly personality. Some people were devoted to her; others found her unpleasant.
At any rate, they stayed married for keeps. Johnny had a wild and pretty public affair with Judy Garland. He was absolutely crazy about her, obsessed even, and they made love anywhere and everywhere without regard to who happened to be wandering around the movie set.
The affair finally burned itself out, and the young Mercers stayed the course. The money started pouring in, as it still must be, to the trust. Royalties from his hundreds of hits piled up into the millions. They lived well, but not ostentatiously, with two adopted children.
Meanwhile, Johnny's mother, "Miss Lillian," messed into her daughter's life, just as she had done with Johnny and Ginger. She broke up her marriage to a perfectly good young man, told a few tall stories, and managed to keep her daughter and the baby to herself.
Johnny Mercer was a serious drinker, and could be mean and nasty when he was in his cups. Sober, he was courtly, kind, generous to a fault - as sweet a man as one could imagine. When he wrote "one for my baby and one more for the road," he'd been there.
Read more at voice-tribune.com [4]