[Dixielandjazz] Johnny Mercer's piano

[Robert Ringwald]

Keys to the City
Piano used by Johnny Mercer will be part of Palladium collection
by Dan McFeely
Indianapolis Star, July 5, 2012
Close your eyes and picture Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly in her little New York
apartment.
What song do you hear?
No doubt, it's "Moon River," the music written by Henry Mancini, the words by Johnny
Mercer.
Now picture Mercer sitting at his piano, pen in hand, chewing over those lyrics --
"waitin' round the bend... my huckleberry friend... Moon River and me."
Like so many of Mercer's songs, "Moon River" is a permanent fixture in our musical
memories. It has easily outlived Hepburn, Mancini and Mercer, who died in 1976.
And that piano?
Well, it survived, too -- and it's now in Carmel, part of the growing collection
of musical artifacts being amassed at The Palladium.
The Feinstein Initiative, Michael Feinstein's effort to establish a museum dedicated
to the "Great American Songbook," continues to grow.
A bit battered and beaten from so many moves over so many years, the 70-year-old
piano is due for a little tender loving cleanup before it gets a permanent home inside
The Palladium.
The piano is currently in the hands of Piano Solutions on Carmel Drive, where owners
Greg Durthaler and Brian Hostetler have already begun the meticulous work of conserving
(but not restoring) the piano.
"The ribs and soundboard are good and solid and sound great, but it's out of tune
and needs some work," said Durthaler.
Mercer wrote lyrics and/or composed more than 1,000 songs, 18 of which were nominated
for an Academy Award. Four would win Oscars (including the 1961 "Moon River").
"Johnny Mercer's work dominated the charts for about 20 years, from the 1930s to
the 1950s," said Lisa Lobdell, the archivist who works for the Feinstein Initiative.
"He wrote the words to many of our most endearing songs. That's what makes this so
significant."
The songs are so recognizable -- "Hooray for Hollywood," "You Must Have Been a Beautiful
Baby," "Jeepers Creepers," "Summer Wind," "Days of Wine and Roses."
Born in Savannah, Ga., (where they renamed Back River to Moon River in his honor),
Mercer wrote for jazz musicians in the 1930s, moved to Hollywood to write for movies
and even bigger stars. In 1942, he co-founded Capitol Records.
The piano moved with him, from the West Coast home to an East Coast apartment. Then
it was passed on to family members. Finally, a nephew decided the 1942 Haddorff,
built by hand in Rockford, Ill., needed a new home. He donated it to Georgia State
University, home to the Johnny Mercer archives. Officially, the piano is on "permanent
loan" from the university.
Lobdell said conserving the piano will be a tricky job, a balancing act of helping
the old piano keys make beautiful music, without taking away any of its historic
value.
"You don't want to completely erase Johnny Mercer's work from that piano," she said,
"but you do want to make it nice and usable."
Eventually, the piano will be placed backstage at The Palladium in the conductor's
reception room.
But in the future, they hope to display this piano with another that is already in
the Feinstein collection -- a 1915 Steinway, owned by the composer Richard Whiting.
Whiting and Mercer have a connection. Mercer helped launch the career of singer Margaret
Whiting (Richard's daughter).
"Johnny was such an integral part of my family's history and music, from being a
collaborator with my grandfather on some of his most iconic songs, to launching mother's
career, to being a dear friend to our family," said Debbi Whiting, Margaret's daughter,
in an email interview from her home in New York.
"The idea that Richard and Johnny are together again in this way truly warms my heart."
The Feinstein Initiative, which aims to open a free-standing museum, has already
accepted collections of music history from 70 families. Some of them are small, such
as one consisting of a bunch of old 45s (kids, look it up), and others are large,
like 300 boxes from one avid collector of old sheet music.
One of the rarest pieces is a cocktail napkin that Gus Kahn used to scratch out the
words to "I'll See You in My Dreams."
"We find some real gems as we go through these collections," said Lobdell.
-30


--Bob Ringwald
www.ringwald.com