Rare Sherman Brothers ‘Mary Poppins’ Tapes Unearthed by Historian, Featuring Conversations About Classic Disney Songs

variety.com:

Jon Burlingame The recent death of Walt Disney songwriting legend Richard M. Sherman appeared to have closed the book on the history of classic Disney tunes, as Sherman, 95, was the last link to many of them, from “Chim Chim Cher-ee” to “Winnie the Pooh” and “It’s a Small World.” But the recent discovery of previously unknown tape-recorded conversations between Sherman, his brother and songwriting partner Robert B.

Sherman, and “Mary Poppins” creator P.L. Travers, suggests there is still more to be discovered. Veteran Disney music historian Randy Thornton, now in his 37th year as the studio’s resident supervising producer of music projects, tells Variety that he worked with the Sherman brothers on several soundtrack restoration projects in the 1990s and 2000s.

He recalls Richard Sherman saying to him, “I have something you might be interested in.” It was, Thornton says, “a stack of seven-inch tape reels — story meetings between P.L.

Travers, Bob and Dick, and screenwriter Don DaGradi. The studio never had them; Richard held them in his private archives for some 60 years. “This is ‘fly on the wall’ stuff,” Thornton continues, “a snapshot in time, capturing a moment in history, behind the scenes with creative minds.