The Sherman Brothers Wrote an Oscar-Winning Score for Disney but Weren't Always a Harmonious Pair

Richard Sherman and his brother Robert wrote two hit songs — "Tall Paul" and "You're Sixteen, You're Beautiful (And You're Mine)" — before Walt Disney hired them to write exclusively for him. 

In 1965, they won an Oscar for Best Original Score for the film "Mary Poppins." The score included "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" and "Chim Chim Cher-ee." The latter also won Best Original Song.

The Sherman Brothers wrote "It's a Small World" for a 1964 New York World's Fair ride that later became a Disneyland attraction. It's been deemed the most played song ever. Here's a not-quite 2-minute version, appropriately starring kids.

If you'd like to hear Disney's first big star Annette Funicello singing "Tall Paul," go here. And here's Johnny Burnette singing "You're Sixteen" in 1960.

Finally, for a fun and sweet diversion, check out this MsMojo video of "Top 10 Best Mary Poppins Moments." If you lean toward nostalgia, you might get a little teary during some of those moments. 

The image in the thumbnail and closing remarks for this episode is of Richard Sherman in 2014. In the chapters, there's a public domain photo of the Sherman Brothers receiving the National Medal of Arts from President George W. Bush in November 2008. It's credited to the Presidential Press Corps and is available on Wikimedia Commons. 

This tribute is one of 41 stories that Sheldon Zoldan, a longtime journalist, has written and recorded in honor of the music notables who passed away in 2024. He's written tributes for other years as well. You can listen to the ones from 2023 on Everyday Creation. We'll have the 2022 tributes available later this year.

Sheldon also is the creator of Song of the Day, a story that he sends by email to a list of subscribers. To get on his subscriber list, email shzoldan@comcast.net with the subject line ADD ME TO SOTD.

This is Kate Jones. Thank you for listening to Everyday Creation, available on YouTube and in podcast directories including Apple, Audible, iHeart and Spotify.

Chapters

• 0:00 The start of two songwriting careers
• 0:50 First couple of hits, then Disney
• 1:14 Oscar winners who squabbled
• 1:43 "It's a Small World (after all)"
• 2:26 Closing remarks

Transcript

Sheldon:
00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.220
If it wasn't for Richard Sherman's father challenging

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him and his brother to write and sell

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a song,

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we might not have songs from "Chitty Chitty

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Bang Bang," "Mary Poppins,"

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"Jungle Book," or the earworm

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"It's a Small World (after all)."

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Sherman and his brother Robert

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became the go-to songwriters

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for Walt Disney.

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Sherman died May 25th in Los Angeles from

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age-related illnesses,

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according to his obituary in The Hollywood Reporter.

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He was 16 days short of his 96th

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birthday.

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Sherman graduated from Beverly Hills High where he

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and fellow senior André Previn

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played a duet at their graduation.

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Both would win Academy Awards in the same

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year.

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The brothers had their first hit in 1958,

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"Tall Paul,"

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sung by Disney Mouseketeer Annette Funicello.

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"You're Sixteen,

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You're Beautiful (and You're Mine)"

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became a Billboard Top 10 hit.

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Walt Disney hired them as staff writers and

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they wrote exclusively

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for him until Disney died in 1966.

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The brothers,

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in 1965,

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won an Oscar for Best Original Score, which

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included "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" and

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"Chim Chim Cher-ee."

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The brothers didn't always get along

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despite their writing success.

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Their families didn't socialize,

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and they sat on opposite sides of the

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theater during premieres.

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Robert died in 2012.

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Disney asked the brothers to write "It's a

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Small World (after all)" for the ride Children

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of the World at the 1964 

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New York's World Fair.

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The Library of Congress blog

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described the exhibit

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as a water ride that would take visitors

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through models of different nations.

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Disney moved the ride to Disneyland after the

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fair ended and changed the name to It's

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a Small World.

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Time magazine said it is the most played

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song ever.

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It was estimated

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in 2014

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that the song had played 50 million

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times worldwide

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just on the attractions.

Kate:

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That was Song of the Day creator Sheldon

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Zoldan. And I'm Kate Jones, host of Everyday

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Creation.

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Thank you for joining us today.