The career of Frank Loesser took a much different path than that of Johnny Mercer. They had several things in common--both were born at approximately the same time, both died much too soon within a few years of each other, and both were regarded as the best idiomatically “American” lyricists. But unlike Mercer, whose career was established almost with his first lyric ("Lazybones" with Hoagy Carmichael in 1933), Loesser was relegated in his first productive decade (1935-45) to a largely secondary status as a lyricist writing with well-known composers such as Burton Lane, Jimmie McHugh and Hoagy Carmichael for songs from forgettable “B” films.