from 2007
RICHARD SHERMAN
talks about his work outside of Disney including "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang"

by Scott Wolf

From the time I was a kid I was a fan of the Sherman brothers. Their names appeared as the songwriters on my "Carousel of Progress" and "Enchanted Tiki Room" 45rpm records. Then I saw their name on my "Winnie the Pooh" record, and on and on.

If you think Richard is a great songwriter, he's just as great an entertainer. He's a natural onstage, he has a knack at captivating an audience, me included, with his charm, anecdotes, and singing.

As I kid I never thought I'd have the chance to know Richard M. & Robert B. Sherman. I cherish my days sitting in Bob's living room, hearing stories and I'm forever grateful for the opportunities to actually interview Richard. It delights me to share our conversations with you.

Scott Wolf: What did you work on after “Mary Poppins?”

RS: After “Mary Poppins” we worked on many, many pictures including “Jungle Book” and then we did “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” in London for Cubby Broccoli.

SW: Was that after Disney?

RS: No, we still were at Disney, we were given a leave of absence to do that, and then we came back and did “Bedknobs and Broomsticks” at Disney, and songs for “Aristocats” at Disney. Then we went pretty much independent after that. We did a lot of pictures for United Artists and people like that. We did a musical of “Tom Sawyer” and “Huckleberry Finn,” and we wrote the script and the score for those two pictures.

After that, we did “Slipper and the Rose” which was again our own script and we wrote it in collaboration with Brian Forbes who was the Director, he enhanced the script.

SW: Wasn't that shown for the queen?

RS: It was their Royal Command Performance that year. She was there along with the whole royal family. It was quite a thrilling thing. We met the queen. That was kind of cool... kind of fun.

We did a lot of films after that and television and then we did a show in New York in the middle ‘70s called “Over Here.” It was our first time on Broadway. The Andrews Sisters came out of semi-retirement to star in it and they were wonderful. It introduced huge new starts, John Travolta, his first Broadway show, Marilu Henner. Ann Reinking the great choreographer was our star dancer in this, and Treat Williams, the wonderful actor was in our show. It was a wonderful cast of young people, and that was their beginnings on the Broadway scene so that was kind of thrilling for us, too.

SW: You said Disney let you take a leave to do “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang?”

RS: We had the chance to go to England while we were under contract, but we took a leave from our contract to work on “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” because we worked on it in ’66 and ’67. We were still under contract at the studio but we had an out in our contract which was granted by Walt because he knew we wanted to do this one picture outside the studio. So we had a three month exit visa and we took it in pieces. We took one month, then we took two months. That’s how we did it and we worked on it.

SW: And he knew you were going to do “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” and was okay with it?

RS: Oh yeah, that’s why we got that clause in the contract. We had been exclusive for about eight years so it was about time we got a chance to do one outside picture. We were getting asked to do many but we just said no all the time because we were under contract. But, this was such a juicy opportunity for us and he knew it.

SW: Don’t you think that says something about him? I think a lot of people would be afraid to let you out to a different company that’s going to compete with them...

RS: I feel that he knew that this would be good for our career, and we were asked by Cubby Broccoli, who's the Producer of all the James Bond films, and the author of “James Bond” is Ian Fleming, the one who created “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.” He wrote the initial book on “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.” Walt knew that Bob & I would be perfect for this and Cubby Broccoli said, “Will you co-produce with me?” And Walt said, “I’m much too involved in other things right now to even think of doing a co-production, but I’ll grant them the right to take one outside assignment. “ So that was how we got it.

NOTE: The views and opinions expressed by the participants in the interviews are solely those of the interviewee and do not necessarily reflect the views of Mouse Clubhouse. Mouse Clubhouse accepts no legal liability or responsibility for any claims made or opinions expressed within.