I finally got to watch the definitive documentary on two of the most famous behind the scenes men at the Walt Disney animation Studios, the Sherman brothers. Even if you don’t know much about the brothers themselves, you know their music. They are responsible for a lot of the great Disney songs of the time before Walt’s passing and even a few afterwards. They are most famous for their music in Mary Poppins, the Jungle Book and the theme songs for the Carousel of Progress and It’s a Small World in the theme parks. Their songs get stuck in your head whether you want them to or not. (My apologies now for It’s a Small World being stuck in your head for the rest of the day). But one of my favorite parts of the film is where Dick is talking about It’s a Small World and how it’s a prayer for peace as opposed to a silly novelty. Listen to the lyrics in their entirety some time.
Like all true behind the scenes work done about Disney, it’s not all about the music and the pixie dust. The story of Bob and Dick Sherman or The Boys as they were called around the studio is rather tragic. As close as they seemed as a song writing dynamic duo for the ages, they are incredibly distant. In fact, after they stopped writing for the studio, they stopped speaking or really interacting outside of that required for polite society gatherings until the making of the documentary. Their sons barely knew each other until they sort of rediscovered each other while making this film. It’s a very true representation of what naturally happens when you put two very brilliant people in the same room for too long.
The movie tells of their struggles to succeed apart from one another in their respective fields of composition and writing. Dick wanted to be a composer for concert halls and Bob wanted to write the great American novel. Their father finally challenged them by saying that if they put their talents together he bet that they couldn’t come up with a good song. Well, we all know what happens when we are challenged…and so the dynamic musical duo of Disney was born.
It’s a beautiful story of how even if people don’t get along personally, they might still be brilliant business partners. It also does an amazing job of describing the phenomenon of the emotional artist. It’s well known that while all artists have art as their creative outlet, it’s occasionally hard for us to keep our emotions in check and sometimes artists lash out at those closest to them. You get the feeling that the results of artists are beautiful but the artists themselves can be hard to live with. 
It’s also unfortunately clear that Walt was one of the things that held the Sherman brothers together and when he passed away, it was too much for the boys to handle and that was definitely on of the things that drove them apart. They no longer had the magical glue that inspired them to create such beautiful music. It’s beautiful when they say that they believed they were writing songs that would not last. They believed that they would fade into history when in fact, they are so beautifully simple and singable that they have become timeless treasures. They are still surprised at how much their music is engrained in the hearts of people of all ages all over the world. Unfortunately we only have one of the great Sherman brothers alive with us today. Bob Sherman passed away in 2012, but he left a collection of paintings here as his legacy along with his music. He used painting as a way to cope with the intense pain of having fought in WWII and the results are breath taking.
I loved every part of this movie and it was truly an eye opening experience to learn about the difficult story of the legendary Sherman brothers, or the Boys. There are so many beautiful stories in the film and it’s a great companion to another Disney documentary, Waking Sleeping Beauty. Both tell the hard but true story of the great Disney heritage that we still enjoy today! I sifted through quite a few library shelves to find this one and I’m sure glad I did. “There’s a great big beautiful tomorrow shining at the end of every day”. Keep sifting through shelves!
getting to the mall or getting to the museum in Orlando. I loved driving through the area because it always kind of looked like time had left it behind. The cars always seemed a bit out of place as did the music that was playing in my car. I decided to go to Windermere pretty much on a whim one day after I completed my new hire paperwork for my new job. However, the video got corrupted and is gone, I do have a little bit. This area is seriously a gem in its own right. It contains a beautiful memorial to 9/11 created by a local Eagle Scout in memory of the many countries that lost citizens in the 9/11 attacks on New York City. There is a tile dedicated to each country that lost their people. 
so has a historic library, a preserved school building a beautiful library and the original town hall. I took pictures of all of it and spent a fair amount of time just walking around. I managed to acquire an Orange County Library card which makes me a Floridian I guess. I hope you enjoy the pictures and can feel the same amount of history surrounding the area as I did. I love historic towns and hope to visit lots more of them! All of the photos are published in the gallery called My Digital Adventure Book. Adventure is out there, off we go! 
ondered how Disney does it? What they could possibly say to their cast members to make them so kind, and guest-experience centered? Well, if you would like to know, you may want to crack the binding of Disney U: How Disney University Develops the World’s Most Engaged, Loyal, and Customer-Centric Employees. The title tells it all, the book is a business guide to those in charge of training employees. It unlocks the secrets to what makes Disney cast members tick, what they are taught in training. No, it’s not brainwashing or abuse of pixie dust. Disney has a tendency to attract a certain type of people to work for them; from the very beginning, it started with Walt, of course. He employed a certain type of people to work at his theme parks and for his company and those people created amazing memories for children of all ages in the theme parks and in turn those people want to create those type of memories for children of the next generation and so on, as a domino effect. Of course, the love of Disney movies and park memories created by other cast members cannot possibly be the only thing that makes the cast members of the Disney Company tick, and as Disney U points out, it’s not. It explains the core of training that the cast members go through at an actual location called Disney University from the Traditions Class to the rest of their training as they are “Earning Their Ears” and not only what makes them great in the beginning but what keeps them motivated and what keeps them with the company for years to come. 
So…fairly shortly after it came out into the theaters, I saw the film Jersey Boys with my roommate. Now, I will admit, I don’t listen to Frankie Valli, or any of the old Four Season’s records often. I know the music, it’s just not in my iTunes repertoire. I also had never seen the Broadway show before seeing the film, so I was basically just going in totally blind. I had no idea what it would be about, who it was about (despite the Tony win…I know…I’m a bad Broadway nerd) or anything about it. I was only sort of excited about seeing it when I approached the theatre. However, with amazing music, incredible acting and a fantastic cinematography style and story, I’m SO glad I went to see it.
Nerdy Vagabond 