The Sherman Brothers

Robert B. Sherman was born on December 19th 1925, his brother Richard M. Sherman was born three years later on June 12th 1928. Their father was Al Sherman, a Tin Pan Alley songwriter who wrote popular optimistic standards for performers such as Eddie Cantor. As little boys, Richard and Bob would invite neighborhood kids to see plays written by Bob and performed by Richard. Bob's best friend in school was Samuel Goldwyn Jr. son of legendary film mogul Samuel Goldwyn. Bob aspired to be a writer from a young age and Dick aspired to be a songwriter. At age 17 Bob joined the army where he injured his knee after getting tangled in barbed wire. He was one of the first allied troops to liberate the Dachau Prison Camp. What he saw there scarred him for the rest of his life. The Brothers entered Bard College. Richard was briefly married to a fellow student and had a daughter. They took an apartment over a cleaning store and lived together. Their first song collaboration was called "Gold Can Buy Anything But Love" it was recorded by Gene Autrey. Richard joined the army reserve but never saw action. Robert met his future wife Joyce Sherman at a movie date and he asked her to marry him after the date. Richard met his second wife Elizabeth around this time. Richard and Bob wrote the song "Tall Paul" which was recorded by Annete Funicello, star of the Mickey Mouse Club television show which brought them into Disney's orbit. They wrote the song "You're Sixteen" originally sung by Johnny Burnette and covered by Ringo Starr formerly of the Beatles in 1973.

They were commissioned to write another song for Annette which led to their first meeting with Walt Disney. The first song they wrote for a Disney feature was called the strummin' song for a film called the Horsemasters.

Walt soon hired them as staff songwriters. They contributed the song "Let's Get Together" sung by Hayley Mills in the film The Parent Trap.

One day Walt showed the Shermans a little red book called Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers about a magical British nanny and her adventures with the Banks children. He asked them to review the book and see what chapters they can make into a film. The Sherman's selected six chapters they felt would make a good movie by an astonishing coincidence Walt himself had chosen the same six chapters.

They wrote the theme song for "Walt Disney's Wonderful World Of Color" and the songs for the animated feature "The Sword In The Stone. Their first Disneyland project was the innovative "Enchanted Tiki Room".

Before, Walt could make Mary Poppins he had to win over author Pamela Travers. She objected to the Sherman's songs and was very difficult to work with. In the end she grudgingly signed over the rights to the book to Disney. One of the numbers they had written for the movie called "Through The Eyes Of Love" was rejected and Walt asked for a new song.

One day after school Jeff Sherman, Bob's son told his father that they had given him the Salk vaccine at school where they had put the vaccine in a sugar cube. Robert immediately came up with the idea for the song "A Spoonful Of Sugar (Helps The Medicine Go Down)" It became Mary's iconic song in the film.

The song "Sister Suffragette" was written for Glynnis John's Mrs. Banks.

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious and Chim Chim Cheree were also classic songs, The Shermans won an Oscar for best song for the latter.

Mary Poppins was a phenomenal hit and made the Sherman Brothers household names for a time. The only one not pleased was P.L. Travers.

In 1963 WED Enterprises (Now known as Walt Disney Imagineering was hard at work preparing three shows for the 1964-1965 New York Worlds Fair. The Sherman's had already written the anthemic "There's A Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow" when the United Nations Children's Fund asked Walt if they could design another Pavilion at the fair. The attraction was initially called "children of the world " and would feature dolls of children from different nations singing their respective National Anthems. The result was a cacophony. Walt asked the Sherman Brothers to write a song that could sum up the attractions message of unity and be adaptable to most languages. The result was "It's a small world" which gave the pavilion it's name.

When Walt was adapting A.A. Milnes "Winnie The Pooh" He relied on the Sherman's to compose the songbook. Walt was not happy with the direction his animated adaptation of Rudyard Kipling's "The Jungle Book". was headed and brought the Sherman Brothers to write songs. "The Bear Necessities" by Terry Gilkison was kept but the Sherman Brothers wrote the rest of the film's songs including "I Wanna Be Like You" sung by King Louie played by Louis Prima and adapting a discarded Mary Poppins song "Trust In Me" sung by Kaa the Snake.

Before the film could be finished, Walt Disney passed away. The song "Feed The Birds" from Mary Poppins had been very personal to Walt. The Sherman's would meet with Walt after their conversation Walt would go to the window say "Play it" to the Sherman's and Richard would play and sing "Feed The Birds" for Walt. Right before he died he said to the Sherman's "Keep up the good work, Boys" it was the last time they ever saw him after Walt died Richard would continue to go to Walt's office and play his favorite son for a time. Eventually hostility from the studio made The Sherman Brothers leave Disney.

Their first assignment after leaving Disney was James Bond Producer, Albert Broccoli's "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" in 1968.

In the 1970s they returned to Disney to write for the animated film "The Aristocats" and the live action/animated hybrid "Bedknobs And Broomsticks. Back outside of Disney they wrote for the animated adaptation of the novel Charlotte's Web including the song "Mother Earth And Father Time" In 1975 Disney was moving the Carousel Of Progress to Walt Disney World from Disneyland and sponsor General Electric wanted a new song for the show . The Sherman's wrote "The Best Time Of Your Life".

They wrote songs for a film adaptation of Tom Sawyer as well as the Peanuts special "Snoopy Come Home". In 1982 Walt Disney World's EPCOT Center was in development. The Sherman's were commissioned to write songs for Kodak's Imagination Pavilion. They contributed three songs. "Makin' Memories" and "Magic Journeys" and "One Little Spark".

In 2000, They wrote songs for the film, "The Tigger Movie" with Kenny Loggins. In 2001, Joyce Sherman passed away. Robert was devastated and decided to move to London. Robert spent the rest of his life painting and writing his autobiography. Both "Mary Poppins" and "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" were both adapted into stage musicals. Richard continued to live in Los Angeles. Robert passed away on May 6th 2012 at the age of 86 and Richard passed away on May 25th 2024. Their legacy has touched many hearts around the world including mine and their songs will live forever.