Well, George has ordered it, so here it is.
RICHARD AND ME
A Supercalifragilistic Friendship
Bruce Kimmel first heard and fell in love with the songs of the Sherman Brothers when he was just thirteen and saw The Parent Trap—the first show on opening day, June 23, 1961, at the Vogue Theater in Hollywood. He became an instant lifelong fan of their songs, whether they were written for the movies, the pop charts, or the theater.
What he never could have imagined was that thirty-seven years later he’d meet Richard M. Sherman through a bizarre and mind-boggling set of circumstances, the odds of which were probably a million to one. Or perhaps it was simply fate.
From the moment they met, it was a mutual admiration society that quickly blossomed into a close, magical, and unique friendship that lasted for a quarter of a century, until Richard passed away, a month before his ninety-sixth birthday. Along the way, they wrote two songs together, and Bruce brought the unproduced Sherman Brothers musical, Levi!, the story of Levi Strauss (with a book by prolific screenwriter and director Larry Cohen) to the stage, directing its world premiere production, almost forty years after it had been written. He directed the big, all-star ninetieth birthday concert for Richard at the Wallis Annenberg Center in Beverly Hills. He also issued an entire CD of never-heard-before Sherman Brothers songs from unrealized projects, called Unsung Sherman Brothers.
You’ll read about their many adventures, the people they worked and interacted with, the meals, Christmas Eve parties, birthdays and anniversaries, spent with Richard and his beautiful wife Elizabeth. As Richard often remarked, he thought that he and Bruce were like the same person.
Richard and Me is filled with humor, heart, and fortuosity, the story of a truly scrumptious and supercalifragilistic friendship.
