In that instant I knew there was a little less magic in the Kingdom.
Bob Sherman is a name many people outside of the Disney fan community probably don't know. But as I've said repeatedly today, there's no one who doesn't know his work. Nobody that can say they can't sing the words of at least one (or realistically three or four) Sherman brothers songs. From Disney movies to classic Disney park attractions, if it was recorded between the mid-50's right on through the 80's, it's very likely "the boys" had something to do with it. And even on into the 90's they would still pop-up on new Disney recordings, penning new classics for hits like The Tigger Movie.
Beyond their phone book sized catalog of work, what I find fascinating and heartbreaking is the relationship between Robert and his brother & partner Richard "Dick" Sherman. A relationship I confess I knew little about until the superb documentary The Boys was released a few years ago. The first time I rented if from Netflix, I watched three times in a row. They were brothers, and yet they were complete strangers. And polar opposites. Younger brother Dick seemed blithe and effervescent, happy to talk a mile a minute about his work and his life, while Bob was brooding, dark, and quiet, carefully choosing each word he spoke.
When they were at the height of their success, working with Walt, some rift was hammered between the Sherman boys. A falling out that was never, as far as we know, to be repaired. Even their biographical documentary never clearly explains what happened between them, but while they could still work together and create modern symphonies of tunes and jingles, they had no personal relationship. Their children, who lived within walking distance of each other, wouldn't get to know each other until they were adults.
Perhaps it was the war that changed Robert Sherman, having been wounded in combat as a young man. Does it ever not change anyone? Some injuries are visible, others are not. Whatever it was, some unseen phantom seemed to haunt Robert Sherman the rest of his life. Yet it could never stay his hand from composing brilliant tunes with his brother, most famously and successfully for Walt Disney.
It's fair to say that much of the Disney legacy owes a great deal to the Shermans. Walt knew it, and valued them greatly. I think though he was older and was famously never too warm or chummy with the staff, Walt respected them and counted them as kindred spirits. There's a great story told by Bob in The Boys of how Walt gave them a copy of P.L. Travers' Mary Poppins book. He told them to read it and see what they thought. Bob went through the book and after reading the collection of stories, circled the handful he felt could be somehow turned into a feature film. When he showed Walt what he'd done, Mr. Disney smiled and retrieved his own copy in which he'd circled all the same chapters.
(Dick Sherman, Julie Andrews, Dick Van Dyke, and Robert Sherman)
Dick Sherman seems like the guy I'd like to sit around with a group, throwing back pints, and listening to the ribald adventures of his life and career. Yet, Bob Sherman is the one I wish I could sit with at a dark table with a bottle of wine, and ask a thousand questions.
Robert Sherman was a thinker. An artist. A frustrated novelist. And, it is said, a romantic in the truest sense. I wish I could recall the name of the gentleman in The Boys who paraphrased a great quote by F. Scott Fitzgerald to sum up Bob Sherman. He was explaining that Bob was a romantic, while Dick was sentimentalist.
As Fitzgerald said "a sentimental person thinks things will last, a romantic person hopes against hope that they won't."
For those unfamiliar with Robert or the legacy of the Sherman brothers, rent The Boys immediately. You'll find new respect.
For those who knew and loved the work they created, you are surely feeling a slight emptiness in the world tonight.
Rest easy Bob. Your work is finished. You improved the lives and dreams of millions. I hope you have found the peace on the other side that seemed elusive on this one.
No comments:
Post a Comment