- Collection:
- Johnny Mercer Oral History Project
- Title:
- Jean Bach oral history interview
- Creator:
- Bach, Jean, 1918-2013
- Contributor to Resource:
- Paton, Christopher Ann, 1956-
- Publisher:
- Georgia State University Library
- Date of Original:
- 1995-04-25
- Subject:
- Lyricists
Popular music - People:
- Mercer, Johnny, 1909-1976
- Location:
- United States, 39.76, -98.5
- Medium:
- oral histories (literary works)
- Type:
- Text
Sound - Format:
- application/pdf
audio/mpeg - Description:
- In this interview, which took place on April 25, 1995, Jean Bach discusses her remembrances of songwriter Johnny Mercer. She speaks at some length of the occasion when she first met Mercer, at a party on board a boat on Lake Michigan in about 1939. She also discusses other events such as the Newport Jazz Festival, vacations at the beach, a New Year's vacation in Savannah, and parties hosted by the Bachs. In the course of the conversation, she talks about Mercer's personality, work habits, his friends, his social life, his relationship with other musicians (including André Previn, Judy Garland, and Ray Charles), his pride in his Southern heritage, and his fascination with African-American culture.
Jean Enzinger Bach, who was born in Chicago in 1918, was educated at Vassar College. She served as a reporter and columnist for the Chicago Times and the Chicago American (1939-46), a writer for WNEW (1946-52), a TV producer (1952-55), and a free-lance writer (1955-60). In 1960 she became a producer for WOR radio in New York. Her film A Great Day in Harlem, which she produced, achieved great notoriety and was nominated for an Oscar. She was married to the television producer and writer Bob Bach, co-author with Ginger Mercer of Our Huckleberry Friend: The Life, Times, and Lyrics of Johnny Mercer. Jean Bach made Mercer's acquaintance in the 1930s when she was a reporter, and both she and her husband remained friends with Mercer throughout his life.
Includes one 8 x 10 black-and-white photograph of Ms. Bach, seated before a photograph of the jazz musicians featured in Ms. Bach's film, A Great Day in Harlem. - Local Identifier:
- M128_BachJ
- Metadata URL:
- http://digitalcollections.library.gsu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/merceroh/id/86
- IIIF manifest:
- https://digitalcollections.library.gsu.edu/iiif/2/merceroh:86/manifest.json
- Language:
- eng
- Additional Rights Information:
- Copyright to items in this collection is owned by Georgia State University Library. Georgia State University Library has made this digital collection available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License. Please see http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ for more information.
- Bibliographic Citation (Cite As):
- Cite as: M128_BachJ, Johnny Mercer Oral History Project, Popular Music and Culture Collection, Special Collections and Archives, University Library, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA.
- Extent:
- Audio: 00:50:02, Transcript: 28 pages
- Holding Institution:
- Georgia State University. Special Collections
- Rights:
-
