Bob Merrill; Broadway Composer and Lyricist

Bob Merrill, composer and lyricist who worked on such musicals as “Carnival” and “Funny Girl” and wrote such popular songs as “(How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window,” has died. He was 74.

Merrill, who based his Broadway projects on Hollywood experience and films, committed suicide Tuesday after prolonged suffering from gastrointestinal problems, his publicist said Wednesday.

A onetime club singer, Merrill had written 25 popular songs that were in the top 10--beginning with “If I Knew You Were Coming I’d’ve Baked a Cake”--before he invaded Broadway in the late 1950s.

Merrill’s string of musicals also produced several singable and perennially recorded songs such as “Love Makes the World Go Round” from “Carnival” and “People” and “Don’t Rain on My Parade” from “Funny Girl.”

H. Robert Merrill Levan was born in Atlantic City, N.J., and grew up in Philadelphia. He served in the Army during World War II and landed a job in Hollywood as a dialogue director at Columbia.

He became CBS’ first casting director in 1948. Through it all, he continued to write songs, reaching success in 1950 with “Cake.”

The motion picture industry propelled Merrill toward Broadway. He was hired by MGM to compose musicals.

With the studio’s encouragement, Merrill took the score he had expected to become an MGM musical motion picture--Eugene O’Neill’s “Anna Christie”--to Broadway, where it opened in 1957 as “New Girl in Town” starring Gwenn Verdon.

Merrill followed that with two more MGM properties, O’Neill’s “Ah, Wilderness,” which he turned into the 1959 Broadway hit “Take Me Along,” and “Lili,” which he transformed into “Carnival.” Merrill’s “Carnival,” starring Anna Maria Alberghetti, won the 1961 best musical award from the New York Drama Critics Circle.

Working with Jerry Herman, Merrill wrote two songs, “Elegance” and “Motherhood March,” and served as “show doctor” for “Hello, Dolly!” prior to its smash Broadway opening.

Next up came his collaboration with Jule Styne on the story of Ziegfeld comedian Fanny Brice. The resulting 1964 “Funny Girl” made Barbra Streisand a star.

Merrill’s stage success declined after that, with the possible exception of “Sugar” in 1972, based on the Billy Wilder film “Some Like It Hot.”

He also taught at UCLA.

Merrill is survived by his wife, Suzanne, and brother, Lawrence.