An Interview with the Sherman Brothers
Page 5 of 8

Q: Did I read correct in Walt’s Time, that you actually worked on some of the imitation flowers for the Jungle Cruise?

A: Yeah, yeah, years ago I worked for a company called Aldig Artificial Flowers. A friend of mine owned it and he gave me a job so I could support myself while I was trying to become a sensational songwriter. There was a long period there were Bob and I both were struggling in the field trying to stay alive while we were trying to make it. Yes, one of the jobs was they had subcontracted through Aldig was a certain amount of the leaves, weaving the leaves, the plastic leaves onto these trees and everything. I was doing that long before I ever worked for Disney as a songwriter. I was getting $2.50 an hour or $3.00, I forget what in those days.

Q: What a coincidence.

A: Life, it’s a small world after all.

Q: I’m sure you’ve heard this a million times, it’s so funny to hear that from the person that actually wrote that song.

A: There again was the good fortune of working for a great man who was doing a great project which is a salute to the children of the world and they came up with this marvelous ride except for one problem, and that is the original thought was they were going to have each group of dolls, each of these Audio Animatronic dolls, singing the national anthem of the various countries. On paper that’s a brilliant idea but in point of actuality it was a disaster. It was cacophony, unintelligible. So one day we were walking through it and halfway through it, it was just horrible, and Walt said, "stop the music," stop it because nobody could understand it. He said, "now what we need is a simple little song" and he looked at us "you see what I mean fellows? A little simple roundelay." We said, "you mean a round? That would be terribly boring." He says, "you know a roundelay." I said, "what about a counter point, two little themes that can work together and separately at the same time?" He says, "that’s what I said, a roundelay."

With this Bob and I went off and started working. We thought "it's a small world" and we said that’s kind of nice. "After all" rhymes with small, yeah after all, small world after all, yeah that sounds pretty good. We started playing with that and when we finished it, we said, it’s too simple. It’s basic, much too simple a thing even though we had two themes and the whole thing that we originally set out to do, so we tried to top it and we couldn’t. And one day, about a week and a half, two weeks after we were given this assignment we got a call from Walt’s secretary, "Walt wants to hear what you got." He knew we were pretty fast but we were taking too long getting back to him. As we heard his footsteps down the hall, coming towards us, Bob said to me, play the first one just like that. I remember the decision was to play the first one. We had written three. All of them basically the same but one was a little more complex and one was a little more lyrical. He said, play the first one and don’t even discuss it, just play the first. So we played it for him. He listened very intently and he said, "yep, that’ll work. Okay, come with me." And that’s how we played it for the guys at Imagineering and that’s how it became part of the ride. We never dreamed in a million years, in a million years that everywhere in the world they’d know that song and they all sing it and they seem to like it very much. It makes us very proud and happy about it.

Q: What would you say is there one song or accomplishment that really stands out in your mind above all others?

A: I think if someone were to ask me what was the high point I’d have to say without question I think it would have to be the score to Mary Poppins, everything we did there. We did some wonderful stuff. I love songs we’ve written for other pictures. I love the songs we’ve written for the Slipper and the Rose which is coming out on DVD at the end of the month.

Q: I’m glad you mentioned that.

A: I love that score. It’s the most romantic score we ever did and I loved Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. It’s the most fun score we ever did. But Mary Poppins happens to be absolutely Walt Disney’s classic and so we loved Disney so much and we’re so proud of having been part of it and we work with the people I mentioned - DeGradi, Walsh and Ellenshaw and Walt Disney to make that picture. That has to be the thing that I’m most proud of.

Q: What is next for the Sherman brothers, are you still actively writing?

A: Yes, we’re still active but we’re not killing ourselves any more. We take it when it sounds good to us. We have a couple of projects, theatrical projects, that sound pretty exciting. One is a show that we originally did. We talked about it in the book called Buster Alley and the writer is revising it and I think we’re going to go with that again in the next few years, in the next year or two. Also, we have a very delightful project which has been on the back burner for a long time called the Merry-Go-Round of Life and that’s another one that is being worked on. So we have a couple of shows that sound pretty exciting that we want to do again. We have other projects too. We’re not pushing as hard as we had because thank God we don’t have to.

Q: Is there anything you’d like to add? Anything you'd like to say to a bunch of Disney fans?

A: I want to say it’s always a great joy to meet them at the conventions and if anybody at the Disneyana convention this fall over in Florida or the one out here, the NFFC sees me come over and say hello and tell me that you read it on the Internet. I’d love to hear about it.

Q: I really appreciate your time.

A: Oh sure.

Richard and his wife Ursula