Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman

Richard M. Sherman (b. 12 June 1928, New York, USA) and Robert B. Sherman (b. 19 December 1925, New York, USA) followed in their father, Al Sherman's footsteps as songwriters who collaborated on complete scores, mainly for Walt Disney movies of the 60s and 70s. After providing Johnny Burnette with the hit song "You're Sixteen", they contributed to several films in the early 60s, including The Parent Trap, In Search Of The Castaways, Summer Magic and The Sword In The Stone. Massive success came in 1964 with the music and lyrics for Mary Poppins. The Oscar-winning score included "A Spoonful Of Sugar", "Feed The Birds", "Jolly Holiday", "Let's Go Fly A Kite" and "Chim Chim Cheree" (which won the Academy Award for Best Song). When the brothers accepted their award they commented: "There are no words. All we can say is: 'Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious'" - which was the title of another famous song from the film. Mary Poppins was dubbed the "best and most original musical of the decade", and "the best live-action film in Disney's history". The soundtrack album went to number 1 in the US and remained in the charts for 18 months. Julie Andrews, appearing in her first feature film, was voted Best Actress for her performance in the title role. Another British performer, Tommy Steele, was not so fortunate in The Happiest Millionaire. It was called "miserable and depressing" despite a lively score by the Shermans, which included "Fortuosity'. The film was the last to be personally supervised by Walt Disney before he died in 1966. Much more to the critics' liking was the delightful animated feature, The Jungle Book, which was inspired by the Rudyard Kipling Mowgli stories. The Shermans" songs, including "I Wan'na Be Like You" and "That's What Friends Are For", were amusingly delivered by the voices of Phil Harris, Sebastian Cabot, Louis Prima, George Sanders and Sterling Holloway. The songs and much of the dialogue were released on a lavishly illustrated album. The late 60s were extremely fertile years for the Sherman brothers. Among the films to which they contributed music and lyrics were The One And Only Genuine Original Family Band (another highly acclaimed animal animation), The Aristocats, Bedknobs And Broomsticks, and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. In 1974 the Sherman brothers' score for the Broadway musical Over Here, starred the two survivors from the Andrews Sisters, Maxene and Patti. The show, which echoed the styles and sounds of World War II and the swing era, ran for a year. Throughout the 70s, and beyond, the Shermans continued to write songs and scores for films, including Charlotte's Web, Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, The Slipper And The Rose and The Magic Of Lassie. Several songs from those films were nominated for Academy Awards, and the Sherman brothers were also involved in writing some of the screenplays. In 1995, Stage Door Charley (later known as Busker Alley), a musical adaptation of the 1938 Vivien Leigh-Charles Laughton movie St. Martin's Lane, for which they wrote the music and lyrics, toured the US regions. Despite having Tommy Tune as its star, it failed to reach Broadway.