Use Care in Making Promises



I heard just a snippet on NPR at lunch; I think the interview was with someone who just released a book about Johnny

Mercer. The part I heard was about his wife and his love, although not the same person. He was married to a dancer named Ginger but in love with Judy Garland. He wrote songs that are supposedly about Judy, and the person being interviewed said he considers Judy to be Johnny's muse.



Johnny kept asking Ginger for a divorce, and she kept saying no. Finally she tried to put him off just a little bit longer so she could take a cruise with her sister. On the cruise she fell sick with hepatitis and was rushed home to the hospital. The doctor told them she had three days to live. Ginger begged Johnny not to leave her then, on her deathbed. He promised he would stay with her until she died. Unfortunately for Johnny, a man of his word, she recovered and lived another 30 years.