Johnny Mercer's Music Shop
Johnny Mercer's Music Shop is an old-time radio program that featured popular songs. It was broadcast on NBC from June 22, 1943, until September 14, 1943, as a summer replacement for "The Pepsodent Show". A similar program with a slightly different title was broadcast in 1944. Mercer was a guest on "The Pepsodent Show"'s season finale, providing a transition to the premiere of his own program the following week. The show originated from WEAF and was sponsored by Pepsodent toothpaste. Singers Ella Mae Morse and Jo Stafford were regulars on the program , with musical support from The Pied Pipers and Paul Weston and his orchestra. Although the program's cast was white, episodes sometimes presented a black image. For example, the first episode included both the song ""Louisville Lou (That Vampin' Lady)"", which is about a black stripper, and a minstrel show skit. A review in the trade publication "Billboard" praised the program's musical performances but noted that its comedy components needed to be improved to better match Mercer's personality, which the "Encyclopedia of Music in the 20th Century" commented was "so suited to the medium." Section::::"The Chesterfield Music Shop