Throughout the 1950s, big-budget musicals were de rigueur for Hollywood, and there was a sudden glut of epics that sported gigantic budgets, recognizable stars, and no small amount of studio hype. Such films were exhibited as touring roadshow productions, which was a great way for films to make fistfuls of cash. Roadshow epics were also, it should be noted, a concerted ploy by studios to distract audiences from the rising threat of television. Studios felt the need to invest a lot of money into musicals and epics, hoping the massive productions could draw people into theaters and keep the industry afloat.
One might logically predict, however, that Hollywood tried to ride the trend of epics for a little longer than was healthy, and foolish overspending eventually became common. The age of the "roadshow epic" pretty much came to a close with the release of the notorious bomb "Cleopatra" in 1963.
But then,...
One might logically predict, however, that Hollywood tried to ride the trend of epics for a little longer than was healthy, and foolish overspending eventually became common. The age of the "roadshow epic" pretty much came to a close with the release of the notorious bomb "Cleopatra" in 1963.
But then,...
- 6/3/2024
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
Richard M. Sherman, a nine-time Academy Award nominee and one of the songwriting brothers behind Disney movies like 1964’s Mary Poppins and 1967’s The Jungle Book, has died at 95. Sherman died of age-related illness at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Beverly Hills on Saturday, according to a Walt Disney Company announcement. Robert B. Sherman, the other half of the duo, died in 2012. The Sherman Brothers, who had a big fan in Walt Disney himself, won two Academy Awards for Mary Poppins, taking home the trophies for Best Score – Substantially Original and Best Original Song (for “Chim Chim Cher-ee”). Richard and Robert wrote more than 200 songs for some 27 films and 24 television productions, Disney reports. Their film credits include The Absent-Minded Professor (1961), The Parent Trap (1961), Summer Magic (1963), The Sword in the Stone (1963), That Darn Cat! (1965), Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree (1966), The Happiest Millionaire (1967), The Aristocats (1970), and Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971). The brothers...
- 5/26/2024
- TV Insider
Disney Legend Richard M. Sherman, half of the Academy Award-winning songwriting team of the Sherman Brothers with his late brother, fellow Legend Robert B. Sherman, died today at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Beverly Hills at 95 from age-related illness.
Sherman was a key member of Walt Disney’s inner circle of creative talents. He garnered nine Academy Award nominations (winning two Oscars for his work on the 1964 Mary Poppins), won three Grammy Awards, and received 24 gold and platinum albums over the course of his 65-year career.
Richard and his brother were inducted as Disney Legends in 1990.
The Sherman brothers were perhaps best known for their work on Mary Poppins, for which they won Oscars for Best Score – Substantially Original, and Best Original Song for Chim Chim Cher-ee.
Another cherished song from the film, Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, became a pop hit, entering the Billboard Hot 100 in 1965, while the lullaby Feed the Birds became one of Walt’s favorite songs.
Sherman was a key member of Walt Disney’s inner circle of creative talents. He garnered nine Academy Award nominations (winning two Oscars for his work on the 1964 Mary Poppins), won three Grammy Awards, and received 24 gold and platinum albums over the course of his 65-year career.
Richard and his brother were inducted as Disney Legends in 1990.
The Sherman brothers were perhaps best known for their work on Mary Poppins, for which they won Oscars for Best Score – Substantially Original, and Best Original Song for Chim Chim Cher-ee.
Another cherished song from the film, Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, became a pop hit, entering the Billboard Hot 100 in 1965, while the lullaby Feed the Birds became one of Walt’s favorite songs.
- 5/25/2024
- by Bruce Haring
- Deadline Film + TV
Richard M. Sherman, one-half of the prolific Disney songwriting duo The Sherman Brothers, has died. He was 95.
Sherman and his brother Robert were responsible for dozens of the brand’s most memorable cinematic songs. They were most known for their work on “Mary Poppins,” which earned the duo two Oscars, the soundtrack for “The Jungle Book” and “It’s a Small World.”
“Richard Sherman was the embodiment of what it means to be a Disney Legend, creating along with his brother Robert the beloved classics that have become a cherished part of the soundtrack of our lives,” Bob Iger, CEO of The Walt Disney Company, said in a statement Saturday.
“From films like ‘Mary Poppins’ and ‘The Jungle Book’ to attractions like ‘It’s a Small World,’ the music of the Sherman Brothers has captured the hearts of generations of audiences. We are forever grateful for the mark Richard left on the world,...
Sherman and his brother Robert were responsible for dozens of the brand’s most memorable cinematic songs. They were most known for their work on “Mary Poppins,” which earned the duo two Oscars, the soundtrack for “The Jungle Book” and “It’s a Small World.”
“Richard Sherman was the embodiment of what it means to be a Disney Legend, creating along with his brother Robert the beloved classics that have become a cherished part of the soundtrack of our lives,” Bob Iger, CEO of The Walt Disney Company, said in a statement Saturday.
“From films like ‘Mary Poppins’ and ‘The Jungle Book’ to attractions like ‘It’s a Small World,’ the music of the Sherman Brothers has captured the hearts of generations of audiences. We are forever grateful for the mark Richard left on the world,...
- 5/25/2024
- by Stephanie Kaloi
- The Wrap
The original 1964 Broadway production of "Hello, Dolly!" was considered a showcase for its star, Carol Channing, and little else. At the time, critics were not entirely kind, saying the show had "unnecessary vulgar and frenzied touches," and that they "wouldn't say that Jerry Herman's score is memorable." Despite the middling reviews, "Hello, Dolly!" won 10 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Leading Actress (for Channing), Best Direction, Best Choreography, and Best Original Score.
The mid-'60s were a weirdly fraught time for major Hollywood musicals, as the genre provided some of the era's biggest hits, but also some of its biggest bombs. In 1964, Disney had a big hit with "Mary Poppins" and Warner Bros. made bank with "My Fair Lady," so musicals were suddenly on the rise. In 1965, Fox released "The Sound of Music," adapted from the stage production by Rodgers and Hammerstein, and it proved to be one of...
The mid-'60s were a weirdly fraught time for major Hollywood musicals, as the genre provided some of the era's biggest hits, but also some of its biggest bombs. In 1964, Disney had a big hit with "Mary Poppins" and Warner Bros. made bank with "My Fair Lady," so musicals were suddenly on the rise. In 1965, Fox released "The Sound of Music," adapted from the stage production by Rodgers and Hammerstein, and it proved to be one of...
- 5/5/2024
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
"A Time For Killing" (also called "The Long Ride Home") isn't one of the best Westerns of all time, nor is it the most memorable, but the 1967 film still comes up in conversation thanks to its unique status as the very first movie role Harrison Ford was ever credited in. Ford played a young, sideburn-wearing Union soldier in the film, which followed the exploits of a group of captured Confederate soldiers on a mad dash for Mexico — none of whom realize the war has officially ended.
Aside from Ford's debut as Lieutenant Shaffer (for which he was credited as Harrison J. Ford), "A Time For Killing" is most noteworthy for its status as an abandoned Roger Corman flick. Corman started making "A Time For Killing" after already churning out cult classics like "A Bucket of Blood" and "The Little Shop of Horrors," but the low-budget filmmaker was replaced by "99 River Street...
Aside from Ford's debut as Lieutenant Shaffer (for which he was credited as Harrison J. Ford), "A Time For Killing" is most noteworthy for its status as an abandoned Roger Corman flick. Corman started making "A Time For Killing" after already churning out cult classics like "A Bucket of Blood" and "The Little Shop of Horrors," but the low-budget filmmaker was replaced by "99 River Street...
- 4/7/2024
- by Valerie Ettenhofer
- Slash Film
After Lucille Ball's spunky housewife Lucy signed off on the last episode of "I Love Lucy" but before Mary Tyler Moore did away with the nuclear family sitcom model with her own self-titled show, another actress was one of the faces of womanhood in comedy. Oscar-winning actress Donna Reed headlined "The Donna Reed Show" from 1958 to 1966, playing middle-class mother and housewife Donna Stone in the popular black-and-white series. Reed starred opposite Carl Betz, who played Donna's husband, pediatrician Dr. Alex Stone. In season 5, family friends Midge and Dave joined the fun, but for the most part, the show was all about the lighthearted hijinks of the Stone family.
Though "The Donna Reed Show" was popular upon release, it's now perhaps most often referenced as a pop cultural window into a time before second-wave feminism, when women were expected to spend their time cooking, cleaning, and child-rearing while men went to work.
Though "The Donna Reed Show" was popular upon release, it's now perhaps most often referenced as a pop cultural window into a time before second-wave feminism, when women were expected to spend their time cooking, cleaning, and child-rearing while men went to work.
- 3/29/2024
- by Valerie Ettenhofer
- Slash Film
The biennial D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event is set to take place this year with another fun-filled weekend that concludes with the Disney Legends Awards Ceremony, which honors artists and visionaries throughout the Walt Disney Company’s history who have pushed the envelope of creativity, challenged conventional wisdom, and broken the restraints of the status quo in search of new possibilities and excellence.
This year’s honorees include Kelly Ripa, Angela Bassett, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Miley Cyrus (“Hannah Montana”), among others. The ceremony will take place on Sunday, August 11 at 5:00 p.m. Pt from the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.
Ryan Seacrest, the host of American Top 40, as well as “American Idol” and “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” on ABC, will host the 2024 Disney Legends Awards Ceremony that will be filled with heartwarming tributes to each of the honorees, along with special guests,...
This year’s honorees include Kelly Ripa, Angela Bassett, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Miley Cyrus (“Hannah Montana”), among others. The ceremony will take place on Sunday, August 11 at 5:00 p.m. Pt from the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.
Ryan Seacrest, the host of American Top 40, as well as “American Idol” and “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” on ABC, will host the 2024 Disney Legends Awards Ceremony that will be filled with heartwarming tributes to each of the honorees, along with special guests,...
- 3/21/2024
- by Errol Lewis
- Soap Opera Network
(Welcome to Out of the Disney Vault, where we explore the unsung gems and forgotten disasters currently streaming on Disney+.) Mary Poppins was a mammoth success the likes of which Walt Disney Pictures had rarely seen in its live-action fare in the mid-1960s. And audiences seemed primed for big, splashy musicals. So in the wake of […]
The post Revisiting ‘The Happiest Millionaire,’ One of the Weirdest Disney Movies Ever Made appeared first on /Film.
The post Revisiting ‘The Happiest Millionaire,’ One of the Weirdest Disney Movies Ever Made appeared first on /Film.
- 6/14/2021
- by Josh Spiegel
- Slash Film
Just about everybody in the streaming world is laser-focused on competing with Netflix and Disney+. AT&T recently announced that it would be spinning off WarnerMedia and merging with Discovery, Inc. with that exact goal in mind. How does Disney react to such corporate posturing? By releasing one of its biggest series yet, of course!
Loki, the third and biggest arrow in Disney+’s Marvel quiver, headlines Disney+’s list of new releases for June 2021. This series about the God of Mischief encountering the Time Variance Authority is set to arrive on June 9, two days ahead of its original June 11 release date. Disney+ has enjoyed some success in the weekly release model. Now it is going to experiment with release days. Every episode of Loki will arrive on Wednesday, rather than the usual Friday for other Disney+ series.
Read more TV Loki: Owen Wilson’s Agent Mobius Reveals the Sacred...
Loki, the third and biggest arrow in Disney+’s Marvel quiver, headlines Disney+’s list of new releases for June 2021. This series about the God of Mischief encountering the Time Variance Authority is set to arrive on June 9, two days ahead of its original June 11 release date. Disney+ has enjoyed some success in the weekly release model. Now it is going to experiment with release days. Every episode of Loki will arrive on Wednesday, rather than the usual Friday for other Disney+ series.
Read more TV Loki: Owen Wilson’s Agent Mobius Reveals the Sacred...
- 5/30/2021
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
Film history buffs remember her as the winner who gave the longest Oscar acceptance speech. Perhaps she earned that right, as Greer Garson received an astonishing seven Academy Award nominations and starred in six Best Picture nominees – and only appeared in two dozen theatrical films.
English actress Garson was born on September 29, 1904. She led a rather unremarkable life until she started starring in local theatrical productions and making a couple of appearances in the earliest days of television. For the BBC, she starred in a 30-minute excerpt from “Twelfth Night,” which is the first known occurrence of Shakespeare being performed on television. She was discovered by MGM head Louis B. Mayer while he was scouting for talent. One of her first films was in the 1939 classic “Goodbye, Mr. Chips,” for which she earned her first Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.
SEEOscar Best Actress Gallery: Every Winner in Academy Award...
English actress Garson was born on September 29, 1904. She led a rather unremarkable life until she started starring in local theatrical productions and making a couple of appearances in the earliest days of television. For the BBC, she starred in a 30-minute excerpt from “Twelfth Night,” which is the first known occurrence of Shakespeare being performed on television. She was discovered by MGM head Louis B. Mayer while he was scouting for talent. One of her first films was in the 1939 classic “Goodbye, Mr. Chips,” for which she earned her first Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.
SEEOscar Best Actress Gallery: Every Winner in Academy Award...
- 9/29/2019
- by Susan Pennington and Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
Film history buffs remember her as the winner who gave the longest Oscar acceptance speech. Perhaps she earned that right, as Greer Garson received an astonishing seven Academy Award nominations and starred in six Best Picture nominees – and only appeared in two dozen theatrical films.
English actress Garson was born on September 29, 1904. She led a rather unremarkable life until she started starring in local theatrical productions and making a couple of appearances in the earliest days of television. For the BBC, she starred in a 30-minute excerpt from “Twelfth Night,” which is the first known occurrence of Shakespeare being performed on television. She was discovered by MGM head Louis B. Mayer while he was scouting for talent. One of her first films was in the 1939 classic “Goodbye, Mr. Chips,” for which she earned her first Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.
The powers-that-be at MGM found their niche for the talented redhead,...
English actress Garson was born on September 29, 1904. She led a rather unremarkable life until she started starring in local theatrical productions and making a couple of appearances in the earliest days of television. For the BBC, she starred in a 30-minute excerpt from “Twelfth Night,” which is the first known occurrence of Shakespeare being performed on television. She was discovered by MGM head Louis B. Mayer while he was scouting for talent. One of her first films was in the 1939 classic “Goodbye, Mr. Chips,” for which she earned her first Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.
The powers-that-be at MGM found their niche for the talented redhead,...
- 9/27/2019
- by Susan Pennington, Misty Holland and Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
Now that moviegoers are finally getting to see “Rocketman,” casual Elton John fans may wonder which key moments are fiction. That’s not easy in a film staged more as a movie musical than traditional biopic. Is the “Tiny Dancer” singer’s story riddled with tiny fibs, or should we be surprised by what it gets right? Put on your levitatin’ shoes as we dig in and separate fact from fancy.
John headed out of a concert and straight into rehab dressed as a horned demon.
True. He was so hopped up on cocaine at the time, he believed he was going to a “Fantasia” party, hence the full “Night on Bald Mountain” regalia.
When Elton was a lad, he and the other members of his family retreated to separate rooms to sing about how lonely they were, trading verses on “I Want Love.”
False. “I Want Love” would not be written for another 45 years,...
John headed out of a concert and straight into rehab dressed as a horned demon.
True. He was so hopped up on cocaine at the time, he believed he was going to a “Fantasia” party, hence the full “Night on Bald Mountain” regalia.
When Elton was a lad, he and the other members of his family retreated to separate rooms to sing about how lonely they were, trading verses on “I Want Love.”
False. “I Want Love” would not be written for another 45 years,...
- 6/3/2019
- by Chris Willman
- Variety Film + TV
Everyone who left the Samuel Goldwyn Theater Wednesday night was humming. It might have been “A Spoonful of Sugar,” “Winnie the Pooh,” “It’s a Small World” or any of a dozen other tunes written over the past 50 years by Richard M. Sherman and his late brother Robert B. Sherman, but they were humming something.
The Motion Picture Academy’s two-and-a-half-hour salute to the songwriters, billed as “The Sherman Brothers: A Hollywood Songbook,” may have been the most joyous celebration in that theater in recent memory. Multiple standing ovations and a warm, infectious feeling of Disney-fueled happiness were the order of the evening.
The Shermans — Dick, who just turned 90, and his brother Bob, who died in 2012 — penned some of the most memorable movie songs in history, many of them for Walt Disney. As Dick Van Dyke, reminiscing about being on the set of “Mary Poppins,” put it, “there was...
The Motion Picture Academy’s two-and-a-half-hour salute to the songwriters, billed as “The Sherman Brothers: A Hollywood Songbook,” may have been the most joyous celebration in that theater in recent memory. Multiple standing ovations and a warm, infectious feeling of Disney-fueled happiness were the order of the evening.
The Shermans — Dick, who just turned 90, and his brother Bob, who died in 2012 — penned some of the most memorable movie songs in history, many of them for Walt Disney. As Dick Van Dyke, reminiscing about being on the set of “Mary Poppins,” put it, “there was...
- 6/21/2018
- by Jon Burlingame
- Variety Film + TV
If film buffs know the name Marc Breaux, it’s likely because he and his partner Dee Dee Wood choreographed the ageless Mary Poppins; they were married at the time. Their other high-profile screen credits include The Sound of Music, The Happiest Millionaire, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and The Slipper and the Rose. I was sorry to read of his passing today and reminded of a tidbit I learned when I hosted a Poppins reunion some years ago at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. During the “Step in Time” number, a choreographic tour-de-force, I found myself thinking of the boisterous dancing in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Following the screening, I asked Dee Dee Wood if that...
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- 11/21/2013
- by Leonard Maltin
- Leonard Maltin's Movie Crazy
Richard and Robert Sherman on the set of Mary Poppins with Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke.
Song writer Robert B. Sherman has passed away in London at age 86. Sherman and his brother Richard worked as a team to create some of most memorable film songs of all time including the Disney classics "Chim Chim Cher-ee", "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" and "A Spoonful of Sugar". They also wrote the song "It's a Small World (After All)" for the legendary Disney theme park ride. The Sherman brothers also wrote the songs for the classic 1968 musical "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" and worked on the recent stage production of the film. Sherman also created memorable songs for such hit Disney films as "The Jungle Book", "The Parent Trap", "The Gnome Mobile" and "The Happiest Millionaire". He was nominated for nine Oscars and won two for "Mary Poppins". In 2008, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts from President George W. Bush.
Song writer Robert B. Sherman has passed away in London at age 86. Sherman and his brother Richard worked as a team to create some of most memorable film songs of all time including the Disney classics "Chim Chim Cher-ee", "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" and "A Spoonful of Sugar". They also wrote the song "It's a Small World (After All)" for the legendary Disney theme park ride. The Sherman brothers also wrote the songs for the classic 1968 musical "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" and worked on the recent stage production of the film. Sherman also created memorable songs for such hit Disney films as "The Jungle Book", "The Parent Trap", "The Gnome Mobile" and "The Happiest Millionaire". He was nominated for nine Oscars and won two for "Mary Poppins". In 2008, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts from President George W. Bush.
- 3/6/2012
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Chicago – Lesley Ann Warren is familiar to TV viewers for her recurring role on “Desperate Housewives” as Sophie Bremmer and her portrayal of Jinx Shannon on “In Plain Sight.” She also has a rich career spanning five decades, with classic film and television characters along the way.
Born in New York City, Warren studied under Lee Strasberg at the famed Actors Studio, the youngest student to ever be accepted at 17 years of age. A year later she made a huge debut in the television remake of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Cinderella” musical. This led to a contract with Walt Disney Studios, in such films as “The Happiest Millionaire” (1967). After leaving Disney, she did one season on the TV show “Mission: Impossible” and several roles in the mini-series era in the 1970s. She was nominated for an Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role in “Victor Victoria” (1982) and went on to...
Born in New York City, Warren studied under Lee Strasberg at the famed Actors Studio, the youngest student to ever be accepted at 17 years of age. A year later she made a huge debut in the television remake of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Cinderella” musical. This led to a contract with Walt Disney Studios, in such films as “The Happiest Millionaire” (1967). After leaving Disney, she did one season on the TV show “Mission: Impossible” and several roles in the mini-series era in the 1970s. She was nominated for an Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role in “Victor Victoria” (1982) and went on to...
- 8/24/2011
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
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