Johnny Mercer b. Savannah, Georgia, November 18. 1909. Mercer's gift for idiomatic, regional lyrics was well suited to such Broadway musicals St. Louis Woman, Texas, L'il Darilin' and L'il Abner. He received four Acdemy Awards for his lyric writing, and he collaborated with such notable composers as Henry Mancini, Harold Arlen, Robert Emmett Dolan and André Previn.