Well, dear readers, it is time to announce our latest Kritzerland CD, a CD we are very excited about – Unsung Sherman Brothers. This all happened very quickly, like a week ago. When I’m jazzed about something no one moves faster than I do. And even though it’s not slated to ship until the third week of November, I’m guessing we’ll have them within two weeks. This all happened because I asked Richard Sherman about a promo LP from Victory Canteen. I asked him to look for it and play it, to see if it was something we might issue on CD. He found it, played it, didn’t like it (it was recorded “live” from the audience on a cassette) but in searching for it he came upon another LP, a demo of a musical film the brothers had written songs for, a film that got cancelled back in 1969. It was an adaptation of James Thurber’s The 13 Clocks. Everyone here knows that Mr. Thurber has always been my favorite humorist and that I own the original drawing for one of his most iconic New Yorker cartoons. Richard asked if he could come over with it and with a demo of a show that the brothers had written, a show that never had a production and maybe not even a proper staged reading.
He came right over and we first listened to the show demo, which I enjoyed. I told him to let me read the script and if I liked it then we could talk about me putting together a really professional staged reading. Then he left The 13 Clocks here for me to listen to on my own. He left, and I listened, and I called him about an hour later and said we had to put it out on CD but at thirty minutes we had to find something to put with it. He said there WAS another project that was also cancelled, from right around that same time, an animated film to be called Sir Puss-in-Boots. They’d voice cast it and done demos with the leads – Sammy Davis, Jr. and Karl Malden. Well, frankly I didn’t even need to hear it, but he brought it over, I heard it, it was great, and we had us a CD. But before he left he mentioned a THIRD project from that same exact time that had also been cancelled. That was three in a row that got away (four, if you can’t Tom Sawyer, which got axed, but eventually got made a few years later). The brothers had been devastated by the three cancellations. I asked him what the third project was and my jaw hit the floor when he told me it was to be a film musical of Roman Holiday. And then, unbelievably, he went to the piano and played me the three songs they’d written for it, to convince producer Dino De Laurentiis that they were right for the job (Dino thought only Eyetalians could write such a score) – the director was to be Franco Zeffirelli. They’d even managed to have arranger/conductor Irwin Kostal do orchestral tracks for the three songs, tagged onto one of the Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang sessions. And he had those tracks, so I said this was all too perfect, this trio of Unsung Sherman Brothers, which was the title I immediately suggested.
I’d already sent The 13 Clocks to Chris Malone for restoration, followed by Sir Puss-in-Boots. All that remained was to hire vocalists to do the three Roman Holiday songs over those beautiful Irwin Kostal tracks. Those had been on some kind of disc, so I had those restored first. I then hired our very own Robert Yacko and Lisa Livesay to sing the two duets, and a group of singers to do the choral number. And an album was born, and three that got way are finally seeing the light of day, albeit aurally. I can’t tell you what a treat this has been – it’s taken a lot of time to get it all done quickly, but the packaging has already gone to the printers, the audio restoration will be done mid-week and those tracks will be mastered, and then we do the vocal session and those tracks go directly to Chris and he drops them in and off it goes to the pressing plant. They will already have the print, so it’s just a matter of two or three days until we get the discs. Whew!
Richard is signing 100 booklets and we’re doing what our very own Mr. Nick Redman does with the Twilight Time signed Blu-rays: A special promotion wherein if you purchase $96 in Kritzerland product (can be CDs, Blu-rays, sheet music, the Welcome to My World script) then you get the signed copy of Unsung Sherman Brothers absolutely free of charge. Otherwise it’s ordering as usual and for Indiegogo folks you have to OPT-IN for this title. If you don’t want it, you don’t have to do anything at all. Here is the wonderful cover.
It’s already available for purchase at the Kritzerland website.
Yesterday was a wacky little day. I fell asleep around three and woke up at seven – then fell back asleep around eight and woke up at noon, so I guess I got eight hours of sleep, but it didn’t really feel like it. Once up, I answered e-mails, forwarded orders to the helper, and wrote more of the commentary until I was two-thirds through. Then I went to Gelson’s and got some stuff to make Wacky Noodles – I made six ounces of them and they were great and very filling, and whilst eating them I watched a somewhat harrowing documentary on the Flix of Net entitled Audrie and Daisy, which tells two stories of teen sexual assaults by friends of the girls who were assaulted. Of course the boys involved get off with just a slap on the wrist, while one of the girls ends her life and the other attempts to but manages to ultimately carry on – other girls eventually tell their stories, too. One strain that runs through these things is that the girls were drunk and passed out or too wasted to even know what was happening. And I just want to say, please, when you’re fourteen don’t drink EVER. Take that out of the equation. The boys, who are interviewed but disguised, are horrible – they can barely form three sentences in a row, but, you know, they’re football people and that’s all that matters in most high school cultures. It’s why I rail on about football in high school, because it IS a culture and not a good one and it really rubs me the wrong way. The fact that these morons basically get away with it is just disgusting. And the ridiculing of the victims is equally disgusting. It’s not easy to watch, but it’s an important documentary that I recommend.
After that, I did the shorter jog, then finished writing the commentary, so that’s all done now. I’m sure I’ll futz and finesse it, but the hard part is done. Then I relaxed a bit, but not really, and got everything ready for our midnight announcement, as I didn’t feel like getting up at six in the morning.
Today, I shall hopefully print out a LOT of orders, and I’m really hoping the 100 signed copies promotion works for us – we really need it to. It’s a great way for folks to catch up on titles they may not have gotten and then get this disc for free. Start spreadin’ the news, baby. I’ll eat, jog, and then we have our first Kritzerland rehearsal at five, which I’m very much looking forward to.
The rest of the week is meetings and meals, our second Kritzerland rehearsal, our stumble-through, and then our sound check and show.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, hopefully print out a LOT of orders, eat, jog, and have a rehearsal. Today’s topic of discussion: What was the very first Sherman Brothers song you ever heard? What is your all-time favorite Sherman Brothers score and song? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to be making an unsung trio sung at last.