he was the lyricist for several songs by harold spina, including "it's so nice to have a man around the house" (made famous by dinah shore). with lew quadling, he wrote "sam's song", which was a hit recording in 1950 for both bing crosby (decca 27112) and joe "fingers" carr (capitol 962). elliot also wrote songs with sonny burke for walt disney's "toot, whistle, plunk and boom" which won the 1953 oscar for best short animated feature.