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Post by Deleted on Mar 7, 2012 6:56:45 GMT -7
Robert B. Sherman died two days ago. For those of you who don't know who he is, Robert B. Sherman was one half of the Sherman Brothers song-writing team. He and his brother, Richard M. Sherman wrote many songs for Disney films in the '60s and '70s.
They wrote the songs for Mary Poppins, the Jungle Book, the Happiest Millionaire, The Parent Trap (original 1960s version), Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree, Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day, The Aristocats, Summer Magic, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, and the Tigger Movie. They also wrote "It's a Small World" for the attraction of the same name for Disneyland.
He was 86 years old. Despite their differences, the Sherman Brothers became the guys for music and songs for Disney during the start of it's first decline in the 1960s. They were like sons to Walt Disney, and Robert will be remembered as the guy who c-wrote "The Bare Necessities" and the Winnie the Pooh theme song.
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Post by kaylathehedgehog on Mar 7, 2012 10:36:14 GMT -7
Aww, geez. He was directly responsible for half the music of my childhood. I still catch myself humming 'Rumbly in my Tumbly' (one of my personal favorites) occasionally.
RIP
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Post by Deleted on Mar 7, 2012 11:50:14 GMT -7
Me too. Except it's "The Bare Necessities" and I full out sing it. Lol. Now there's only a handful of people left who worked on those movies. Walt died in the '60s, most of the animators, who Walt called his Nine Old Men, are gone, and now, half of the Sherman Brothers has passed on. The surviving people are at the end of their lives now.
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Post by kaylathehedgehog on Mar 8, 2012 9:48:59 GMT -7
It's the end of an era, sadly.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 8, 2012 10:14:34 GMT -7
That it is. So much that Walt, the Sherman Brothers, and the Nine Old Men did, heavily influenced the current group of Disney animators, especially the ones who started in the late '70s/early '80s and got to work with Woolie Reitherman, Ollie Johnson, Frank Thomas and Milt Kahl.
Look at Don Bluth. He took everything he learned at Disney and implemented it to form his own studio. Same with Brad Bird when he went to work for Pixar. Their work also captured and continues to capture the hearts, minds and imaginations of children everywhere. Who knew back in 1937 when it came out, that Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs would be the start of something magical? And who knew that a single cartoon mouse would open the door for animation back in 1928?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 8, 2012 10:17:02 GMT -7
The Sherman Brothers' songs set a standard for what Disney music should be. The Winnie the Pooh theme has been used in many other Winnie the Pooh features, recently performed by Zooey Deschanel on the 2011 Winnie the Pooh feature film.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 8, 2012 19:28:58 GMT -7
They also wrote "It's a Small World" for the attraction of the same name for Disneyland. An attraction which used Ken Forsse's animation technology, that he later implemented in toy form for Teddy Ruxpin, if my memory serves me correctly. Anyway, it is unfortunate, but at the same time, that's quite an age to live to - many don't get that old. I hope his life was a happy and prosperous one, and that he rests in peace. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 9, 2012 6:43:21 GMT -7
Actually Ken Forsse had nothing to do with the "It's A Small World" attraction at Disneyland, as it originally opened in 1964 at the New York City World's Fair, and at that time Ken was actually just starting to develop the concept that became Teddy Ruxpin. However, he did work on Welcome to Pooh Corner and Dumbo's Circus which led to Teddy.
The Sherman Brothers did quite well for themselves, between writing songs for Disney movies, writing songs for other films, as well as original songs for other performers. 86 is an nice old age. Though, I hope to live beyond that, to at least 95 or 100.
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Post by kaylathehedgehog on Mar 9, 2012 15:22:20 GMT -7
I thought he was responsible for the Country Bear Jamboree animatronics. Teddy bears a lot of similarities to them.
It's too bad none of them survived to see Oswald the Rabbit get back under the Disney banner. Walt would have been ecstatic that Mickey's older brother finally came home.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 9, 2012 20:17:23 GMT -7
I'm not quite sure about that. But he wouldn't've been around at the time the development on the "It's A Small World" attraction was being done, as he mentioned in his interview with Josh, he was in the army until 1962 and then when he got out, he was working on the primary development for the Teddy Ruxpin stories in '63 and '64. But, unless he worked on the refurbishment of the animatronics, whatever year the attraction was updated, Mr. Forsse couldn't've been involved with that particular project.
I know. But it was only after, or just before Michael Eisner got the boot, that Disney was able to re-acquire the rights to Oswald. I wonder if he'll make an appearance in the upcoming Mickey Mouse feature film? I doubt it, but you never know.
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Post by kaylathehedgehog on Mar 10, 2012 12:04:06 GMT -7
He had a starring role in the recent 'Epic Mickey' game.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 10, 2012 12:45:50 GMT -7
Wasn't that the game where different realities merged? I seem to recall that Sorcerer Mickey from Fantasia and Steamboat Mickey from 1928's Steamboat Willie appeared alongside the contemporary Mickey.
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Post by TRO Admin on Mar 11, 2012 10:40:20 GMT -7
Ken worked for Disney for several years - a few of them at Disneyland, and was involved in Pirates of The Caribbean among others. He did work on It's a Small World in some capacity - I don't recall exactly how other than a humorous story he told me about being one of the only people in the world who has the "It's a Small World" song memorized frontwards and backwards.
While I would be hesitant to give him absolute credit for anything - Disney was certainly a team effort, I'd be just as hesitant to matter of factly state he had no involvement at all in anything that Disney produced during that time. I had the fortune of touring Disneyland with him and wish I had a video camera with me. He had so many amazing stories.
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Post by kaylathehedgehog on Mar 11, 2012 11:59:08 GMT -7
I think that's Kingdom Hearts. Epic Mickey is the one with the paintbrush.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 11, 2012 17:57:56 GMT -7
Okay, since there's two people I need to respond to, I'll go by the order the posts came in:
Josh - Did Mr. Forsse work on the original version of "It's a Small World" and did he meet the Sherman Brothers and Walt Disney? Or did he work on a later version around the time he did "Welcome to Pooh Corner"?
kaylathehedgehog - Oops. I got the two confused. Mickey Mouse has been in starring roles for two games in recent times and I got the two confused. I hadn't realized that Oswald the Lucky Rabbit appeared in Epic Mickey. I would've thought, that since Kingdom Hearts was an anniversary Disney game, involving many of the characters created from 1928 to now, that Oswald would've cameoed in that game too.
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