Bob Merrill

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Bob (Robert) Merrill (born Henry Lavan May 17 1921? or ? 1923?- February 17 1998) was an American composer and lyricist. His most famous works included "How Much Is That Doggie In The Window?"

The IMDb says that Merrill was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Others sources say that he was born and raised in Philadelphia in 1923. In any case he moved to New York City and later to Hollywood.

Throughout the 1940s and 1950s Merrill was responsible for penning a whole string of chart hits including "Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania", "Love Makes the World Go 'Round", "Sparrow in the Tree Top", and "Mambo Italiano," the last of which in particular remains a favorite, particularly in movies, to this day. Many of the songs he wrote were recorded by Guy Mitchell.

Merrill later returned to Broadway to pen musicals. His first major musical success was A New Girl in Town - directed by George Abbott, which won a New York Drama Critic prize in 1964. He biggest hit was the Barbra Streisand vehicle Funny Girl, which spawned the enduring Don't Rain on My Parade and People.

According to the Internet Broadway Database entry on Merrill, he sometimes penned works under the pseudonym of "Paul Stryker".

Merrill became progressively more ill in the mid-1990s. He finally shot himself and died in February 1998.