John Rox

John Jefferson Rox (1907–1957) was an American composer and lyricist. He was born in 1907 in Des Moines, Iowa.

He wrote music for Broadway shows and the recording industry. His song It's a Big Wide Wonderful World (1939) was used in the soundtrack of multiple films. His holiday tune I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas (1953) was a popular family entertainment song, originally sung by 10-year old Gayla Peevey. Many other artists also covered it. In 1948, he married actress Alice Pearce. Pearce was Gladys Kravitz in the 1960s television situation comedy Bewitched.

Career
The first song that he authored and copyrighted was Weep No More, Willow in 1938. The following year, he wrote and copyrighted It's a Big Wide Wonderful World (1939). It has been used in the soundtrack of several different films over the span of over 50 years.

The song premiered in All in Fun (1940) on Broadway, of which he was the lyricist for the show. Walter Cassel and Wynn Murray introduced the song. The show had opened at the Majestic Theater on Broadway and featured Imogene Coco as a cast member.

Major Motion Picture Films with

It's a Big Wide Wonderful World

in the soundtrack: 

In 1946, he wrote the song Ridin' Double for the soundtrack of the 1946 film Sioux City Sue starring Gene Autry.

He later wrote I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas (1953) with Gayla Peevey singing the original version. It was a popular song with 39 artists singing the cover for it. That same year, he was one of several songwriters and lyricists for the Broadway show John Murray Anderson's Almanac (1953). The following year, he and fellow songwriter and lyricist from the show, Michael Grace, wrote the song Let a Little Time Go By (1954).

In 1956, he and Dean Fuller wrote the music for New Faces of 1956, which premiered at the Ethel Barrymore Theater on Broadway with Maggie Smith and Jane Connell as a cast members.