By Cailin Acosta
ANAHEIM, California—While up at Disneyland celebrating my niece’s 18th birthday and my husband’s family joining us from El Paso, Texas, I was on the hunt for Jewish tidbits while walking the park.
I stopped at the Main Street Cinema which was honoring the work of the Sherman Brothers.
Robert and Richard Sherman were sons of Russian-Jewish immigrants. Song writing was passed down by their father and the brothers wrote many songs together.
They won two Academy Awards, three Grammy Awards, five Golden Globe Awards and in 1976, they earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Robert and Richard wrote more motion-picture musical scores than any other songwriting team in film history.
So, why is Disneyland honoring these two talented brothers? In 1960, Walt Disney hired them to create scores at the Walt Disney Studios. They created the song “It’s a Small World (After All)” for the New York World’s Fair and has become one of the most performed songs of all time.
Since then, some have claimed that “It’s A Small World (After All)” has become the most translated and performed song on Earth. However, if you ride the ride at Disneyland, by the same name, It’s a Small World (After All), it is played continuously on loop.
From 2002, Robert lived in London, England where he died in 2012. Richard remained in Los Angeles, California where he died in 2024.
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Cailin Acosta is the assistant editor of the San Diego Jewish World.