The “Rodgers and Hammerstein” of Disney Part 1
If you are a musical lover like I am, you could definitely agree that the one of the best teams to ever write musicals was Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. But what if you narrowed it down to just “Disney musicals”? Who might be characterized as the “Rodgers and Hammerstein” of Disney? There are several teams which could arguably lay claim to the title, but in this article, we’ll deal with perhaps the most obvious choice: Richard M. Sherman and his brother Robert B. Sherman.
The Sherman brothers were under contract to the Walt Disney Studios from 1958-1971, though they did additional work for the studio in the late 1990s. Together they wrote songs for the movie-musicals that the studio produced, such as The Sword in the Stone(1963), Mary Poppins (1964), The Jungle Book (1967), The Happiest Millionaire (1967), The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band (1968), The Aristocats (1970), Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971), All of the original “Winnie the Pooh,” shorts: Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree (1966), Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day (1968), Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too (1974), and Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore (1983), as well as the feature length movie The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977), Winnie the Pooh: Seasons of Giving (1999), and The Tigger Movie (2000). They also wrote songs for movies that were not musicals, but had songs sung in them that served as non-diegetic elements of the story, such as The Absent-Minded Professor (1961), The Parent Trap (1961), Big Red (1962), In Search of the Castaways (1962), Summer Magic (1963), Those Calloways (1965), That Darn Cat! (1965), and Follow Me Boys! (1966). They also wrote the songs for Disney park attractions including “It’s a Small World After All,” and “The Enchanted Tiki Room,” for the park attractions of the same name, and “There’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow,” for the Carousel of Progress. They won 2 Academy Awards for their work on Mary Poppins (1964): Best Original Score and Best Original Song: “Chim Chim Cher-ee.” They received additional Oscar nominations in the same categories for their work on Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971): Best Original Song “The Age of Not Believing.”
In addition to what they wrote for Disney, Richard and Robert Sherman composed the material for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) (Academy Award Nominee: Best Original Song “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,” the Charlie Brown animated-musical Snoopy Come Home (1972), and Charlotte’s Web (1973). Mary Poppins is their only project for Disney that was fortunate enough to be re-adapted for Broadway, though Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was adapted for Broadway as well. Mary Poppins played on Broadway from November 16th, 2006-March 3rd, 2013, for a total of 2,619 performances, and it received a total of 7 Tony Nominations, including Best Musical. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang opened on Broadway on April 28th, 2005 and ran until December 31st, 2005, after a total of 34 previews and 285 performances. It was nominated for 5 Tony Awards.
The Sherman brothers’ often said that their fondest memories of working the Walt Disney Studios were created when Mary Poppins (1964) was in production. At one of the very earliest story meetings they had for the movie, the Sherman’s played some songs they had written that they thought would work for the movie, including a song entitled “Feed the Birds (Tuppence a Bag).” At the end of the meeting Walt said, “Play me that Bird Woman song again,” and Richard Sherman played it. As they moved forward with the production, there were several Saturdays in a row where Walt called the two of them over to his office, and he would say “Play it.” They knew what he meant, and when they were done playing, he’d say “Have a good weekend boys,” and he would send them home.
Another time, when Robert was working from home, his eldest son, Jeff, came into where he was working. His father asked him how school had been, and he said that they had vaccination day at school. When his dad asked him how that went, he replied “It was fine. They gave us a spoonful of sugar to help it go down.” I’m sure you can guess the name of a certain song that was created as a result of that story. On December 5th, 2001 (Walt Disney’s 100th Birthday), a new statue of Walt Disney holding Mickey Mouse’s hand was dedicated to Disneyland, and Richard Sherman was asked to play songs that he and his brother wrote in honor of the dedication. When he finished, he then gave a surprise ending by announcing that he was going to play Walt Disney’s favorite song, and then played “Feed the Birds (Tuppence a Bag).” In the time that he played this, there was a bird that flew clear out of the sky onto the ground where he played. Richard Sherman took this as a sign that was Walt himself saying thank you.
I’m positive that we can all agree that these two men have written songs that no one will ever be able to forget. You can feel like you’re on Broadway when you watch any of the movies that these men worked on without having to go all the way to New York City. They brought numerous qualities into all of the material that they wrote for these shows, including time, effort, patience, perseverance, eloquence, theatricality, and charm. How they managed the ability to combine all of those qualities into their work, I don’t think we will ever know, but what matters is that they were able to do so, and as a result they came up with many of the most extraordinarily beautiful movies and Broadway musicals of all time, and their work will leave a most enduring and magical legacy in the history of storytelling.
Love this post and the touching stories.
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