Line #18 Music/TheShermanBrothers


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sherman_brothers_2002.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:Robert (left) and Richard (right).]]
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4	American songwriters Robert Bernard Sherman (December 19, 1925 – March 5, 2012) and Richard Morton Sherman (June 12, 1928 – May 25, 2024) wrote some of the best-loved and most recognized songs in motion picture history. One of Creator/{{Disney}}'s most successful songwriting teams, the music of the Sherman Brothers can be heard in such classics as ''Film/MaryPoppins'', ''WesternAnimation/TheJungleBook'' and ''Film/ChittyChittyBangBang'' (the last of which was a Creator/UnitedArtists film, albeit heavily inspired by Disney's success with ''Mary Poppins''). Long before Disney audiences were introduced to "A Whole New World" in the 1992 animated feature ''{{WesternAnimation/Aladdin}}'', the Sherman Brothers brought the world a little bit closer together with their universal ditty Ride/ItsASmallWorld. Today, they remain the quintessential lyrical voice of Walt Disney.
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6	Born in Manhattan, the Brothers' father was Tin Pan Alley songwriter Al Sherman, who penned such Depression-era songs as "Potatoes Are Cheaper, Tomatoes Are Cheaper, Now's the Time to Fall in Love", which became one of comedian Eddie Cantor's signature tunes, and "Livin' in the Sunlight, Lovin' in the Moonlight", made famous by Music/TinyTim (and by extension, ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'').
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8	In 1951, the Sherman Brothers' first song, "Gold Can Buy You Anything But Love" was recorded by cowboy crooner Music/GeneAutry and played daily on his radio show. Their big break came in 1958 when Mouseketeer Creator/AnnetteFunicello recorded their song "Tall Paul", which shot up to #7 on the ''Billboard'' chart and sold 700,000 singles.
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10	The Sherman Brothers continued to write a string of top ten hits for Annette, including "Pineapple Princess", as well as Johnny Burnette's "You're Sixteen" (later a #1 hit in a 1974 cover version by Music/RingoStarr) before Creator/WaltDisney took notice and hired them as staff composers. In all, the Shermans wrote over 150 songs for Disney. Many of these were featured in the studio's animated films, such as ''WesternAnimation/TheSwordInTheStone'', ''WesternAnimation/TheJungleBook'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheAristocats'', for which they cannily coaxed Creator/MauriceChevalier out of retirement to sing the film's title song. They contributed to such films as ''Film/{{The Parent Trap\|1961}}'', ''Film/BedknobsAndBroomsticks'' and the entire ''WesternAnimation/TheManyAdventuresOfWinnieThePooh'' series, including ''Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day'', as well as television shows, such as ''Franchise/{{Zorro}}'' and ''[[Series/WaltDisneyPresents Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color]]''. Among their last projects before leaving Disney were songs for EPCOT Center and Tokyo Disneyland.
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12	When Walt acquired the rights to a popular series of books by author P.L. Travers, he handed the brothers their most plum assignment. ''Film/MaryPoppins'' was the studio's most ambitious film to date, featuring one of Broadway's biggest stars, Creator/JulieAndrews, numerous visual effects, impressive combinations of live-action and animation, and, of course, music. The Shermans wrote all fourteen songs for the score, which has become one of film's most enduring soundtracks. ''Mary Poppins'' also brought the brothers' Academy Awards for Best Music Score and Best Song ("Chim Chim Cher-ee").
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14	It was another of the film's songs, "Feed the Birds", however, that proved to be Walt's personal favorite. So enamored of the song was Walt, in fact, that he never tired of hearing it.
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16	The Sherman brothers had a huge comeback in 2000 with the score to ''WesternAnimation/TheTiggerMovie'', their first major motion picture effort for Disney in over 28 years. Other significant screenplays and scores include ''WesternAnimation/SnoopyComeHome'', ''[[Literature/TheAdventuresOfTomSawyer Come Home, Tom Sawyer]]'', ''Literature/CharlottesWeb'', ''Film/TheSlipperAndTheRose'' and ''[[{{Franchise/Lassie}} The Magic of Lassie]]'', the latter two of which each earned an Oscar nomination. Richard Sherman even contributed the deliberately Disney-esque song "Make Way For Tomorrow" to ''Film/IronMan2''. The duo's only original Broadway musical was ''Over Here!'' (1974), a vehicle for the two surviving [[Music/TheAndrewsSisters Andrews Sisters]] backed by a young cast including Creator/JohnTravolta and Creator/MariluHenner, performing the brothers' pitch-perfect pastiches of 1940s big band music.
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18	With a career that spans almost 50 years, the Sherman Brothers amassed numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards (from a total of nine nominations), two Grammy Awards, 23 gold and platinum albums, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. They also earned the BMI Richard Kirk Award for Outstanding Career Achievement at the performing rights organization's 1991 Film/TV Awards.
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20	About their Disney career, Richard said, "There's a line in ''Film/MaryPoppins'' that says, 'A man has dreams of walking with giants to carve his niche in the edifice of time.' At Disney, we walked with giants."
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22	They are played by Creator/JasonSchwartzman and Creator/BJNovak in the 2013 film ''Film/SavingMrBanks'', about the making of Disney's ''Mary Poppins''.
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24	For more, go to [[AwesomeMusic/{{Disney}} this page]].

Context Music / TheShermanBrothers