Don't Mess with Mister In-Between.

Lyricist Johnny Mercer, who wrote the words for "Jeepers Creepers," "Skylark," "Laura," and numerous other works, was born today in Savannah in 1909. He died in 1976.

His oeuvre encompasses more than 1,000 compositions. Mercer's contributions that appear in mystery-related films include "Cowboy from Brooklyn" (They Made Me a Criminal, 1939); "Blues in the Night" (Lady Gangster, 1942); "I Remember You" (The Glass Key, 1942); "Palsy Walsy" (They Got Me Covered, 1943); "Accentuate the Positive" (The Blue Dahlia, 1946); "Too Marvelous for Words" (Dark Passage, 1947); "One for My Baby" (Macao, 1952); and "Charade" (Charade, 1963). He won Oscars for "The Atchison, Topeka, and the Santa Fe;" "In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening;" "Moon River;" and "Days of Wine and Roses." A cofounder of Capitol Records, he also was a painter; an episode of Antiques Roadshow featured a visitor who owned one of his paintings.

To listen to clips from Mercer's works, go here. For a look at the Mercer exhibit at Georgia State University, go here.