Around 1967 Charles Tannen, actor and screenwriter, conceived of a musical comedy for the stage based on Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer. He engaged lyricist Johnny Mercer to write songs for the play. "Mike" was never produced, and most of the 19 songs Mercer composed for it went unpublished. The recordings that have been digitized for GSU feature all of the play’s songs sung by Johnny Mercer.