Johnny Mercer medley with Steve Allen (1960)

Johnny Mercer sings a medley of his most famous songs on the Steve Allen Plymouth Show in 1960.
From Wikipedia: John Herndon Mercer (November 18, 1909 - June 25, 1976) was an American lyricist, songwriter, and singer. He was also a record label executive who co-founded Capitol Records with music industry businessman Buddy DeSylva and Glenn E. Wallichs.[1]
He is best known as a Tin Pan Alley lyricist, but he also composed music. He was also a popular singer who recorded his own songs as well as songs written by others. From the mid-1930s through the mid-1950s, many of the songs Mercer wrote and performed were among the most popular hits of the time. He wrote the lyrics to more than 1,500 songs, including compositions for movies and Broadway shows. He received nineteen Academy Award nominations, and won four Best Original Song Oscars.

[@nollaeel5697]

Talent on show. Ageless. Steve Allen needs no accolades. Johnny Mercer was one of the best lyricists and a fine composer too.

[@davidoppenheim3979]

This segment was written expressly for Steve and Johnny to perform by the late Canadian TV comedy writers, John Aylesworth and Frank Peppiatt. I spoke with John quite a few years ago before this clip was shared on TH-cam. I had the complete video taken from the black and white kinescope. I sent Aylesworth a DVD copy as he only had the audio from this great show in his collection. Unfortunately both Ayelesworth and Peppiat are now deceased.

[@mikesmith3397]

Interesting anecdote. Thanks for sharing. This clip's fantastic; I find myself coming back to it every few months. Great comedy, great showmanship, great music, and great television.

[@isorokudono]

They did such a good job! SCTV is still buried in my heart for all my life. I knew "Peter Torokvie", a little.

[@jehobden]

They also were the writers for NBC's HULLABALOO.

[@essessessesq]

great story, David, thanks

[@artanisknarf]

Mesmerizing...watched it all and saved to come back to again.

[@lla788]

Loved every second of this video. Besides being a amazing songwriter, Mercer is a wonderful singer as well. Love his version of Moon River. Thx for posting!

[@jehobden]

Thanks for posting this. I doubt it was as spontaneous as they made it out to be, as the orchestra was ready with all the right notes.

[@isorokudono]

This is entirely scripted.

[@essessessesq]

@@isorokudono everybody knew that, it was a comedy skit by the master, Steve Allen, using song lyrics....very clever and well done

[@fromthesidelines]

Originally telecast on March 28, 1960.

[@davidoppenheim3979]

It would be great if this B & W Kinescope could be colorized. The Steve Allen Show was actually broadcast in color as at least one complete show used to be available on TH-cam to view in color from the original video tape. I think that only the last 15 minutes is still up. The other segments were taken down due to legal reasons. The back drop behind Steve and Johnny is blue and is seen in this existing Steve Allen show excerpt.

[@zhikrqueen]

Fabulous! Thanks for sharing

[@tallpaul521]

WOW! Thank you for this!

[@ShakespeareCafe]

Steve wrote over 15,000 songs so he wasn’t kidding

[@isorokudono]

You mean Johnny. And Steve never won an Oscar.

[@liamcoghlan5408]

1:12

[@chuckamok12]

irrepressible entertainers