I'll be truly as American as Irish Stew!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Naturally, as it's lucky St. Paddy's Day, it's the perfect time to post a video of an Irish performance. In the past, I've shown clips of the lovely Maureen O'Hara or Gene Kelly singing about the hat his dear old father wore upon St. Patrick's Day. Both are marvelous Irish traditions, but one of my favorites is Tommy Steele's performance as John Lawless, the Irish butler in The Happiest Millionaire. So, here is "I'll Always Be Irish" by Richard and Robert Sherman. I love the lyrics in this one! So cute! I also love the philosophy behind it, that having an identity (in this instance, being an American) is "adding something; it isn't subtracting." Those guys, I tell you. Geniuses.



To be completely honest, this isn't my favorite Disney live action film. It's really weird. And when watching it, I was a little confused as to who the main character was supposed to be; the plot was so convoluted and drawn out. But, for all of that, the songs are fantastic. Other favorites include "Fortuosity" and "Let's Have a Drink On It" (which I get stuck in my head all the time!).

While the night birds sing

Isn't it odd how you can brainstorm a whole bunch of ideas for a blog post but when you sit down to write it, you can think of nothing to say? Perhaps it's odd that I brainstorm blog posts in the first place. In any case, the passing of Robert Sherman hit me harder than most celebrity passings because I really am a huge, huge fan of the Sherman brothers. I've bought movies simply because there was a featurette about them on it. I searched high and low for a copy of the boys. I consider my cd of their greatest songs to be one of the best purchases I ever made. Today, I bought their memoir, Walt's Time. I worked today and all day I kept thinking of what I'd write when I blogged about this. But now, I can't think of much to say. It is a sad, sad loss, but I'm truly glad that his legacy is sure to live on for years to come. After all, who can forget "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious," "it's a small world after all," "There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow," "Chim-Chim-Cheree," "A Spoonful of Sugar," "I Wanna Be Like You," "Winnie the Pooh," or "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang?" Save for Frontierland/Liberty Square, their songs are played in every land of the Magic Kingdom.

And so, Rest in Peace, Robert Sherman.

Finally, I leave you with Robert's own favorite of his songs - and it's one of my absolute favorites as well - "On the Front Porch With You" from Summer Magic.

You're the top, you're a Berlin ballad

More house cleaning: another post I wrote a good while back - I don't even remember when. I was going to just delete it, but there were some useful links and I didn't want to lose them. Besides, I like being able to give publicity for other websites and blogs. So, here it is: a random post about favorite songwriters. Perhaps, some day, I'll do a series on them. Goodness knows they deserve it.

So, I was going to make a list of my favorite songs from Busby Berkeley musicals. I had watched a documentary on the musicals and discovered that most of the songs were written by writing team Al Dubin and Harry Warren. Well, I looked the two up and discovered that Harry Warren wrote a lot of really fantastic songs. So, then I decided to make a songwriters series and list my favorite songs from my favorite songwriters. But first, before I do that - here is a list of (some of) my favorite songwriters (in no particular order) :

• Cole Porter
• George and Ira Gershwin
• Irving Berlin
• Jerome Kern
• Harry Warren and Al Dubin
• Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby
• Rodgers and Hammerstein
• Rodgers and Hart
• Richard and Robert Sherman
• Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz

Did I miss anyone?

Who are your favorite songwriters? I am thinking in terms of film, mostly.

P.S. I found this great site the other day that offers song catalogs that you can peruse. This is how I discovered how very much Harry Warren had written. Quite impressive, really.
P.P.S. If you love these masters, I think you should definitely trot on over to Brian Solomon's blog, Standard of the Day
P.P.P.S I discovered a very useful site years and years ago that provides a whole flock of lyrics for such songs as these.
P.P.P.P.S And then, of course, you should definitely check out Emma's blog because she often does standards and some of my favorite renditions are by her.

Coo! What a sight!

#30 Mary Poppins (1964)


I know I say this a lot, but this is one of my absolute favorite movies ever. It's so magical and beautiful and poignant and touching and fun. It's a masterpiece. When people ask me what my favorite movie is (and I work at Disney so this question does come up in conversation from time to time), I automatically think cartoons but then as I start listing them, I always have to throw this one in because I think it is one of the best made movies, and one of the best made Disney movies.

I don't think I have to give you a nutshell of the plot, so I won't. Phew! I'm off the hook for this one!


Reasons for why this movie is a masterpiece: 1) the story. It's really quite perfect. It has a complete arc that's filled with emotion and entertainment and poignancy and, importantly, it ends with hope (I like that Bert bids Mary Poppins farewell; it makes her character, and his, seem less lonesome). 2) the technology. I know that movie makers, and Walt Disney in particular, had been experimenting with combining cartoon and live action for decades before Mary Poppins (the Alice comedies of the 1920's), but the combination of the two blend so beautifully together, it's hard to imagine them separated. 3) the characters. Every one in the film from the practically perfect Mary Poppins, the mysterious but friendly Bert, jolly Uncle Albert, suffragette Mrs. Banks, stoic Mr. Banks, to the "adorable" children, the servants, the policeman, and the sweeps are colorful and thoroughly enjoyable characters. There isn't a dislikeable one among the lot. Although Mr. Bank has his moments, he is, in general, a pitiable character and he gets some fantastic numbers, which leads to #4.... 4) the music. You all know how much I love the Sherman Brothers. I think they were geniuses and I do wish they got more credit and recognition for their work. But, at the very least, they get a good amount of press for their work here. These songs are classic and they are classic Sherman magic. I love the way each song has a story behind it and every song has a philosophy or observation behind it. 5) the performers. this really goes hand in hand with #3, but I feel there should be something said about how amazing all of the actors are in this. There isn't a bad pick in the entire cast. Everyone is a perfect fit. 6) Finally, the magic. You just can't deny it. The movie is pure Disney magic from beginning to end. It's charming and touching, philosophical and entertaining.


Now, for some trivia. And these ones I know from watching documentaries and reading bits and pieces from time to time so I really can't cite them off-hand like I usually do. Like I said earlier, a lot of the songs have stories behind them which are very entertaining. One of my personal favorites is the story of "Sister Suffragette." When Walt Disney called Glynis Johns in to offer her the role, she thought he planned to make her the title character and was completely overjoyed. When he told her he actually wanted to make her the mother, she said she wasn't interested. So, Walt Disney told her that they'd written a song for her in this role and she told him that she'd think about it after she'd heard the song. So, Walt Disney called up the Sherman brothers and told them to think up a song for Mrs. Banks and fast. They had, luckily, already been playing with a tune for Mary Poppins about her being "practically perfect in every way." After changing the lyrics, it became "Sister Suffragette." The rest of the trivia that I know is in bits and pieces:
- "Feed the Birds (Tuppence a Bag)" was Walt's favorite song
- "Step in Time" was more or less inspired by "Knees Up, Mother Brown"
- The Sherman brothers originally wrote a song for the character Admiral Boom but Walt requested the song be taken out. The tune of the song is still the Admiral's theme and you can hear it whenever he has a scene (sing to yourself "Admiral Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom Boom" when he comes on and you'll pick up on the tune).


I could go on and on. If I'm not careful, I will!! I'm having to stop myself from waxing too eloquent on this movie. I'm in no way an expert but I have watched the documentary on it and I read the book written by the Sherman brothers and paid especial attention to this chapter. If you ever get a chance, I highly recommend both. I'll post a new poll up too - which is your favorite song in Mary Poppins?

I leave you with this little bit of silliness and one of my favorite quotes.





"There's the whole world at your feet. And who gets to see it but the birds, the stars, and the chimney sweeps."

Then you'll see roses in the snow. Joi de vivre will make them grow...

Heigh-ho! Hello everybody! It seems as though I'm often explaining about my negligence in posting, tardiness in commenting. I apologize for my lack of discipline lately. Work has been crazy. I'm generally working 45-50 hours, at least that's how it's been the past few weeks, and I'm barely getting my movie-watching in, let alone my blog posting! But I'm working to redeem that right now. I cleaned my room tonight, which is a step in the right direction. And this past week I had an unusual opportunity to sit in a quiet room for 4 hours at a time (I was proctoring) several times a week, so I wrote several blog posts. It's all very exciting, I just have to get these posts from paper to blogger and I have to add photos and find videos and whatnot. But, I'm working on it. Work in progress. In the meantime, I want to continue with my segment posts. Tonight, I'm due for a spotlight on a musical number, so here we go...

There are some incredibly famous composer teams in movie history: Rodgers and Hammerstein, Rodgers and Hart, Gershwin and Gershwin, Gilbert and Sullivan... but one of my all-time favorite writing duos ever has got to be the Sherman brothers: Richard and Robert.


Those guys were geniuses, no way around it. They wrote some of the most recognizable songs and a great deal of the classic Disney numbers: "It's a Small World," "In the Tiki-Tiki-Tiki Room," "There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow," and the songs from The Jungle Book, The Aristocats, The Parent Trap, That Darn Cat, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, The Adventures of Winnie-the-Pooh, and, of course, Mary Poppins... and much, much more! They were brilliant. So, today, I'd like to feature one of their less known songs, one from In Search of the Castaways, called "Enjoy It!" This was written for Maurice Chevalier (who also worked with their father) and it's one of my favorites of his (and theirs). This song makes me happy every time I hear it.



By the way, I absolutely must see the documentary about them. I just now discovered it. It will happen. I'm a little nervous by its description as "heartbreaking" and "moving" but I'll brace myself accordingly. I've become a bit of a fangirl for them and I'm determined to learn as much as possible about them.