Disney Legend Richard Sherman, one of the two songwriters for Mary Poppins, returned to Walt Disney’s office to be a part of the upcoming short Once Upon a Studio. The short celebrates 100 years of The Walt Disney Company. The short was written and directed by written and directed by Dan Abraham and Trent Correy. It also happens to feature a new rendition of the classic Disney song Feed the Birds, which also appeared in Mary Poppins.
For Once Upon a Studio, Disney brought back songwriter Richard Sherman to be a part of a re-recorded version of the song. This song was known to be one of Walt Disney’s favorite. ComicBook.com recently participated in a Q&A with producers Yvett Merino and Brad Simonsen, where more about this appearance was shared.
During the event, some video testimonials were shown. One of these came from Richard Sherman. Sherman shared how he recorded an original version of Feed the Birds in Walt Disney’s office. Decades later, he returned to record this new version. It also happened to be his 95th birthday on the day he returned to be a part of this new recording.
Upon becoming a Disney Legend, Sherman shared about Feed the Birds and Walt’s love of it. He recalled, “The point of the song—that it doesn’t take much to give a little kindness—was what really registered with Walt.”
“Yeah, there were moments [that made us emotional],” Merino said of the short’s creation. “I mean throughout, it was really every once in a while we’d just look at each other in the room. I’m like, ‘We’re doing this.’ And really, I think being in Walt’s office and recording with Richard Sherman was probably, I don’t know, there’s a lot of favorite days, but that was a big one for me.”
“This has been so emotional, this whole thing,” Correy added. “Every time we’d see the rough animation come in and we’re seeing our friends again for the first time and ‘Oh, it’s Belle and Beast and they’re still together,’ and it’s just that rough animation and ‘Wait, we can get Richard Sherman to play the what?’ It is been unreal. I think we’ve all cried of happiness.”
Along with recording music for Once Upon a Studio, Richard Sherman also shared his face in the short as a cameo. “This focuses on a hundred years of Disney animation,” Abraham said about the short. “So we definitely leaned heavily into that, but at the same time we thought it was such a win to get Richard Sherman to be part of this.”
The focus for this short really was on animated character but clearly the thought of having the legendary songwriter be a part of this short was too much to pass up. What do you think of Richard Sherman being a part of Once Upon a Studio? You can see Once Upon a Studio on ABC during The Wonderful World of Disney: Disney’s 100th Anniversary Celebration! on October 15 at 8:00 PM ET/PT and 7:00 PM CT. Share your thoughts and opinions about Richard Sherman being a part of this short in the comments below!
