As one half of the Sherman Brothers, Richard M. Sherman’s legacy today is, no doubt, his contribution to live action Disney musicals. Though that was just some of the memorable tunes Sherman wrote for films with his brother, Robert. Sherman’s father, Al Sherman, was also a composer, though his songs were mainly for singers rather than films. Al Sherman wrote such songs as “Over Somebody Else’s Shoulder” and “For Sentimental Reasons”, though one of his most famous “Livin’ in the Sunlight, Lovin’ in the Moonlight” would be sung by Maurice Chevalier in The Big Pond (1930). It only seemed natural that his two sons would follow in his footsteps with music. Richard studied music in college (and even knew André Previn), but only began writing with his brother on a suggestion from their father. The duo, however, remained outside of films until Annette Funicello sang a song of theirs, bringing them to Walt Disney’s attention.
The long partnership between the Sherman Brothers and Disney began in the early ‘60s. The two really struck a chord when they wrote the score for Summer Magic (1963), which included “On the Front Porch with You”. That was one of our favorite songs as kids and our mom would make us sing it to anyone willing to listen at family gatherings. They also wrote the songs for such films as The Sword in the Stone (1963) and The Misadventures of Merlin Jones (1964) before they really hit their mark with Mary Poppins (1964). One of the reasons the film has remained a classic is certainly because of the catchy tunes featured throughout. It was also our first favorite film that, according to our mom, we watched every day, so she had to listen to those songs a lot. The success of Mary Poppins made them the go-to Disney composers for live-action and animated films.
They followed up their memorable Mary Poppins score with the excellent title track of The Monkey’s Uncle (1965), which was sung by Annette Funicello and The Beach Boys. There was also the iconic score for Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree (1966), including the theme song still associated with the famous bear. Their work in animation led to the score of The Jungle Book (1967), which included “I Want to Be Like You” for Louis Prima. That same year, they also did the score for The Happiest Millionaire (1967), featuring such delights as “Fortuosity”, “Detroit”, and “Are We Dancing?” The latter was, you guessed it, another favorite of ours as kids. We always played it and sang it, though, being kids of the 2000’s, our friends had no idea what the song was.
Away from Disney, the Sherman Brothers also wrote all the songs for another family film classic, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968). One of our favorite critics said the songs in the film were “forgettable”. When we found that out as adults, to prove him wrong, we watched the film and sang along with every single song. None were forgotten. The duo made some more films for Disney, such as The Aristocats (1970) and the fun Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971), but they eventually began working for other companies. This resulted in score for Snoopy Come Home (1972), yet another film we watched repeatedly as kids, and Charlotte’s Web (1973) another favorite that was constantly being played.
The brothers worked more in live action with Tom Sawyer (1973) and Huckleberry Finn (1974) and did the beautiful score for yet another favorite of mine, The Slipper and the Rose (1976). Their enchanting song “When He/She Danced with Me” was nominated for an Oscar and lost to (can you believe it?) “You Light Up My Life”. They had previously won two Oscars for their work on Mary Poppins so at least they already had some under their belt. While the brothers didn’t make many more big budget films for Disney and their working relationships began to get strained, they did become the go-to songwriter for anything Winnie the Pooh with their songs still being played in more modern adaptations.
While Richard Sherman and his brother were behind the scenes of films, their music is and still is highly recognizable and respected among film fans of all ages. There are big stars of the time that aren’t as fondly remembered and have stood the test of time the way the Sherman Brothers have. Even since then, their work has been adapted for more modern films and on Broadway. They were also rewarded American National Medal of the Arts in 2008. Many music in classic films from the ‘50s-‘70s are now old-fashioned or passe, but chances are there are kids out there still annoying their parents singing songs from Mary Poppins non-stop the way we did.
~Bianca
The Tinseltown Twins 