Let’s Fly With Mary Poppins

Album: Let’s Fly with Mary Poppins

Artist: Louis Prima and Gia Maione

Label: Buena Vista Records

Year Released: 1965

When Disney fans think of Louis Prima, they probably picture his role as the swinging, scatting primate King Louie in the 1967 animated classic The Jungle Book. His performance of “I Wanna Be Like You (The Monkey Song)” has become one of the most beloved and iconic moments in the history of Disney music.

What many fans don’t know, is that Prima already had a history of recording Disney music when he took the role of King Louie. In 1966, he and Gia Maione released a 7”, 45-RPM recording of the song “Winnie-the-Pooh” through Buena Vista Records. The year before, the duo released a full-length LP of music from Disney’s film Mary Poppins. Titled Let’s Fly with Mary Poppins, the album clocks a mere 27 minutes but packs plenty of charm into its brief runtime.

Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1910, Prima was the son of a Sicilian family who emigrated to the United States by way of Argentina. Beginning in the 1880s, the City of New Orleans saw an influx of Italian immigrants. Driven from Italy by decades of internal strife, poverty, a social chaos, they flocked to the United States. In the Crescent City, they moved to the “Little Palermo” area in the lower French Quarter. As a result, it soon became home to one of the densest populations of Sicilians in the United States.  

Coming from a musical family, Prima began studying the violin but switched to the cornet at age 15. Early in his life, his family moved to the Tremé neighborhood, one of the most important places in the history of jazz. Growing up in the area exposed him to a wealth of legendary figures, and he was deeply influenced by musicians like Louis Armstrong (which can clearly be heard in his vocal delivery) Buddy Petit, and Joe “King” Oliver. 

While a lesser-known portion of jazz history, the Italian-American community was involved in jazz’s earliest days. In fact, the first jazz record ever made (1917’s “Livery Stable Blues”) was recorded by the Original Dixieland Jass Band, fronted by Nick Laroca, himself the son of Sicilian immigrants. For his part, Prima played with a number of Dixieland bands, including his elder brother Leon’s group.

 It’s interesting to note that jazz would make its way across the Atlantic and take a firm foothold in Italy as well. According to popular history, a group of Creole jazz musicians performed at the Eden Theater in Milan in 1904, though the form would not truly take root in the country until after World War I. This was fed in part by an influx of touring musicians, as well as a large number of Italian-American musicians returning to their home country.

In the 1930s, Prima moved to New York City and formed Louis Prima and His New Orleans Gang. The group would become regulars at the Famous Door jazz club, and Prima found himself at the epicenter of the swing movement. 

The next decade saw Prima shift styles again, as he formed the Gleeby Rhythm Orchestra, recording novelty songs that played on his Italian heritage. These included titles like “Angelina,” “Felicia, No Capicia,” and “Bacciagaloop (Makes Love on the Stoop).”

He would reinvent himself yet again in the 1950s, as the public lost interest in big band-style music. During this period, he began a residency in Las Vegas and recorded some of his most popular hits, including “Just a Gigolo/I Ain’t Got Nobody” and “Jump, Jive, an’ Wail.”

With such an eclectic career, it’s little wonder that he also took up recording Disney songs. In 1964, he released recordings of “A Spoonful of Sugar” and “Stay Awake,” at which point executives at Buena Vista Records suggested he record an entire album of Mary Poppins songs. The result was Let’s Fly with Mary Poppins. Gia Maione, his fifth and final wife, joined him on the album, performing several duets with Prima, as well as taking lead vocals on several pieces.

Maione showed an early interest and aptitude for music and began formal training in both piano and vocals at age 4. The training would continue for the next 17 years. After graduating from high school, she sang and played drums in a trio. She intended to attend the prestigious Julliard School of Music in New York City and began working at the local Howard Johnson’s Restaurant to save money for her tuition. 

In 1962, she was selected to provide lead female vocals for Louis Prima and his band, The Witnesses. A year later, the pair were married and she began working with Prima to create the Prima Magnagroove record label. Three years later, she would release a solo album, This is….Gia, as well as the album Let’s Fly with Mary Poppins.

Maione’s voice smooth voice provides a perfect counterpoint to Prima’s rasp, a fact which is particularly accented on their rendition of “Jolly Holiday.” Maione’s pensive, tender vocals on “Feed the Birds” are another high-water mark for the album. Other highlights include “A Spoonful of Sugar,” and “Chim-Chim-Cher-ee.” Perhaps the most peculiar track on the album is Prima and Maione’s duet on “I Love To Laugh,” which is complete with a variety of odd laughter that would have been at home on a Spike Jones recording.

Two years later, Prima would be immortalized in Disney history with his performance in The Jungle Book. He was also considered for the parts of Little John and Alan-a-Dale in Disney’s 1973 film Robin Hood. Though he was chosen, he released an album, Let’s ‘Hear’ It for Robin Hood, through Buena Vista Records in 1974. He was also meant to portray a character in the 1977 film The Rescuers, but health issues interfered and the character was eventually cut from the movie. 

Suggested Listening:

Song: Jump, Jive, an’ Wail

Artist: Louis Prima

Label: Capitol

Year Released: 1956

Song: Sing, Sing, Sing (With a Swing)

Artist: Louis Prima and His New Orleans Gang

Label: Brunswick Records

Year Released: 1936

Song: Angelina

Artist: Louis Prima

Label: Hit Records

Year Released: 1944

Music of the Disney Parks: Compass of Your Heart

Attraction: Sinbad’s Storybook Voyage

Park: Tokyo DisneySea

Debut: March 29, 2007

One of the best Disney Parks songs might also be one of the least well-known, at least to fans outside of Japan. “Compass of Your Heart” from Sinbad’s Storybook Voyage is a gorgeous ballad that accompanies Guests as they float through an adventure rooted in the classic book of folklore One Thousand and One Nights.

While the attraction (originally called Sinbad’s Seven Voyages) opened in September of 2001, the song “Compass of Your Heart” was not added until 2007. The first version of the attraction was much more frightening, with Sinbad facing peril from creatures that included sirens, a giant, and even murder monkeys. As part of the change, these monsters were made less menacing and the attraction introduced Chandu, Sinbad’s adorable tiger companion. As a final touch, Alan Menken provided the journey with an all-new song. 

Joining Menken in the song’s composition was lyricist Glenn Slater. A graduate of Harvard, Slater previously worked with Menken on Disney’s 2004 animated musical Home on the Range. The duo collaborated again on the 2006 Broadway show Sister Act the Musical, with critics taking particular note of his lyrics.

While the two have contrasting approaches to songwriting, it is these very differences that have made them a formidable pairing. According to Slater, “We come to songwriting from two directions. Alan is all intuition. It’s just an instinct, whereas I’m all head.”

Slater further elaborated that when he sits down to write a song, he’s informed by his degree in English, focusing on things like, “..what are the counter-archs; what are the themes; how do they intersect; how can I build a theme from the beginning to the end?” He contrasts this with Menken’s approach, which he likens to bringing a “gut-punch feel” to everything he writes. For his part, Menken has likened working with Slater to his work with longtime collaborator Howard Ashman, noting Slater’s ability to “get the essence of what a musical style of songs calls for in a lyric.”

According to Menken, writing music for an attraction presented challenges that composing for stage and film did not. As he informed D23, “ One thing I learned about writing these songs for these rides was you have one room that meets up against another. You can’t add a key change because the music will clash as the boat is going through. So it is a skillset.”

 While the song was written in English, it was performed in Japanese by Kenji Sakamoto, who provides the voice of Sinbad. An accomplished stage actor, Sakamoto has performed the role of Simba in The Lion King musical, as well as notable roles in musicals such as Les Miserables and Miss Saigon. In 2006, he also released his debut album titled Colours, a 9-song record that included music from several of his stage roles.

Eleven years after the song’s debut, Alan Menken performed the song publicly for the first time at Disney’s D23 Expo, drawing rousing applause from the audience who appeared visibility moved throughout. In a career full of musical treasures untold, “Compass of Your Heart” is a hidden gem.

Disney Goes Gospel: The Ward Gospel Singers at Disneyland

Album: The Famous Ward Gospel Singers Recorded Live at Disneyland

Artist: The Famous Ward Gospel Singers

Label: Buena Vista Records

Year Released: 1963

In 2016, the Walt Disney Archives restored Walt Disney’s office at Walt Disney Studios. As part of the restoration, they recreated the room and filled it with all of the available items Walt had left in it back in 1966. Among those belongings was a shelf with a number of vinyl LP records, including The Famous Ward Gospel Singers Recorded Live at Disneyland.

Founded in 1931 by mother Gertrude Ward, the Ward Gospel Singers originally began as a family group. The members were Gertrude, her eldest daughter Willa, and her youngest, Clara. At the time they were known as The Consecrated Gospel Singers or The Ward Trio. They were a part of a movement in Philadelphia that helped give birth to modern gospel music. Alongside composers like Reverend Charles A. Tindley and groups like the Mary Johnson Davis Singers, they helped popularize a musical style that blended old spirituals, the ecstatic singing found in Holiness-Pentecostal churches, blues intervals, elements of jazz, and rural religious music.   

A little over a decade after their founding, the Ward Gospel Singers made an appearance at the 1943 National Baptist Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The performance was a huge success and led the group to begin touring nationally. Their popularity skyrocketed and even earned them a full year on the National Baptist Convention network. Their first record was an independent pressing of Mary Lou Coleman Parker’s song “Jesus.”

Willa left the group and decided to begin a family, but Henrietta Wady and Marion Williams were added to their number. In Willa Ward’s 1997 book How I Got Over: Clara Ward and the World-Famous Ward Singers, gospel historian Horace Clarence Boyer wrote, “With Clara as lead singer and arranger, the Famous Ward Singers not only defined the female Gospel sound but set about establishing the demeanor of the female group in performance.” 

The addition of Williams, whom producer Tony Heilbut called “the most lyrical and imaginative singer gospel has produced,” increased the group’s popularity with her incredible range and dynamic performances.

Their success led them to begin touring in a new Cadillac, traveling from Philadelphia to California, and making appearances on national television programs. As Boyer related, “They walked into an auditorium or church straight and proud like movie stars. . . . In the early days, they wore regular church robes but soon adopted elegant suits or dresses, which quickly gave way to elaborate sequined evening gowns. To complete their dramatic image, they often wore coiffured wigs. . . .”

This sense of grandeur would lead to one of the most enduring stories about the Ward singers and give birth to one of gospel’s greatest songs. While on their way to Atlanta, the Wards were stopped by a mob of white men who were enraged to see the Wards traveling in a luxury vehicle. The mob surrounded the car, using racial slurs and issuing threats, trapping the women inside. In a burst of inspiration, Gertrude Ward decided to act as though she were demon-possessed. She began spewing curses and incantations and the men fled in terror. Reflecting on the experience, Clara Ward penned the song “How I Got Over,” which would be immortalized by Mahalia Jackson in later years.

During the 1950s, the group regularly toured with Rev. C.L. Franklin of Detroit. The father of Aretha Franklin, the Wards (and Clara in particular) had an enormous impact on the future “Queen of Soul.” They were also influences on gospel singer Alex Bradford and rock and roll pioneer Little Richard (who adopted Marion Williams’s high-pitched “woos” into his music). Because of this, it’s not a stretch to say that the group played a seminal role in the development of modern rock and roll and soul music. 

However, as the 50s wore on, a sense of discontent developed among the group. Frustrated with low pay, Waddy, Williams, Frances Steadman, Kitty Parham, and Esther Ford all quit in 1958. They went on to form the Stars of Faith and recorded albums for Savoy and Vee-Jay. Replacements were found, and the group continued performing.

By the early 60s, the interest in gospel music was reaching a fever pitch. Clara Ward signed a contract to perform in Las Vegas in 1961, and groups like the Grandison Singers made waves by taking their performances from the church house to clubs. Around this time, Della Reese and the Meditation Singers began performing regularly at the Flamingo Hotel in Vegas. 

In 1962, the Famous Ward Gospel Singers began a regular engagement at the Golden Horseshoe in Disneyland. The move, and similar moves to secular establishments, was decried by traditionalists. While their largely African American, religious audience began to fade, interest in their music (and gospel music as a whole) skyrocketed among secular, white audiences. This commercial movement peaked in 1963 when a gospel nightclub called the Sweet Chariot opened in New York City on Times Square.

That was the same year that the Famous Ward Gospel Singers recorded their album at Disneyland’s Golden Horseshoe. Curiously, neither Clara Ward nor Gertrude Ward performed on the album, though Clara is credited in the liner notes for the arrangements, and Gertrude is credited as directing. The performing group consisted of Viola Crowley, Geraldine Jones, Vernetta Royster, Malvilyn S. Statham, and Clara Thomas, all of whom delivered stirring performances on the recording. 

The Famous Ward Gospel Singers would remain regulars at Disneyland throughout the 60s, performing at the Golden Horseshoe, during the Dixieland at Disneyland event, on Grad Nites, and at the Summer Hootenanny shows. 

Suggested Listening:

Song: How I Got Over

Artist: Mahalia Jackson

Label: Apollo

Year Released: 1951

Song: I’m Going to Wait on the Lord

Artist: The Mary Johnson Davis Gospel Singers

Label: Atlantic

Year Released: 1949

Song: Packing Up

Artist: The Famous Ward Singers

Label: Savoy Records

Year Released: 1958

Well Done, Sister Suffragette: Remembering Glynis Johns

On January 4, the great Glynis Johns, best known for her role as Mrs. Winifred Banks in Disney’s 1964 classic Mary Poppins, took her final curtain call. At 100 years old, she left behind an incredible body of work that spanned six decades, as well as a host of grateful fans whose lives were forever bettered by her talent.

Born in Pretoria, South Africa on October 5, 1923, Johns seems to have been destined for show business. Her mother, Alice Steele was a concert pianist who performed under the name Alys Steele-Payne, and her father was the celebrated actor Mervyn Johns, himself a stage and film star. As though foreshadowing her life as an entertainer, she is said to have been carried onto the stage at the tender age of three weeks.

 Her ascent to stardom began quickly, making history by earning a degree to teach dance at age 10 and winning 25 medals for her dancing by the age of 12. A year later, she appeared in her first movie, South Riding, which hit the big screen in 1938. At the age of 19, she made history yet again, becoming the youngest actress ever cast in the role of Peter Pan on the stage.

In 1953 she worked with Disney, taking on the formidable role of Mary Tudor in The Sword and the Rose. That same year, she would also star in the Walt Disney/RKO picture Rob Roy: The Highland Rogue (the final film that Disney released through RKO). 

Her next venture with Disney would be in the timeless classic Mary Poppins. In the role, she played the part of Mrs. Banks to perfection, though it was not the character she originally hoped to portray. In the book Walt’s Time, written by Robert and Richard Sherman, the brothers recount that Johns initially believed that she was being cast in the role of Mary Poppins. To lessen her disappointment, Walt promised that a “terrific new song” had been written for her character. 

Walt then called the Shermans, and as they relate, stated that he was “just about to take Johns to lunch and how she was looking forward to hearing the new song following the meal.” The sudden announcement forced the duo to work frantically through their own lunch to try and complete the number in time. Fortunately, they were up to the task, and “Sister Suffragette” was ready by the time Disney and Johns had finished their meal.

The song itself took the melody of an abandoned piece titled “Practically Perfect,” transforming the lyrics to tackle the historical struggle that granted women the right to vote (even making reference to Emmeline Pankhurst, co-founder of the Women’s Social and Political Union). 

As with most Sherman Brothers tunes, it’s a delightful piece, but it’s hard to imagine it would be anywhere near the same without Johns performing the role. The song, and her performance, are among the most memorable in the film, and Johns’ gestures, expressions, and dynamic performance make it seem that she plays a much larger role in the movie than the mere six minutes of screen time her character actually possessed.

Her character was a bundle of contradictions. The militant feminist fighting for her rights, as described in the song, and the meek and subservient personality that she displayed in front of her husband (including her insistence that they not mention “the cause” in front of Mr. Banks, because it upsets him). Despite these somewhat contradictory traits, she has become something of an icon of the movement. As Helen O’Hara noted for The Telegraph, “The campaign for women’s vote may be one of the most significant events in modern history, yet few popular films have tackled it…In this big-screen vacuum, generations of children first encountered women’s suffrage through, of all things, Walt Disney’s 1964 classic Mary Poppins. Somehow, the arch-conservative Walt Disney and his tale of a magical nanny provided the struggle’s most significant big-screen depiction for 51 years, until Sarah Gavron’s Suffragette in 2015.”

After news of her passing went public, many fans flocked to social media to thank Johns for introducing them to feminism. One stated, “Glynis Johns taught me and many others in my generation (and beyond!) about feminism in Mary Poppins.” Another noted, “You’ll laugh, I know, but the character of Mrs Banks introduced me to the concept of feminism, and the history of how women fought for their right to vote. I can’t imagine Mrs Banks as anyone other than Glynis Johns. What a remarkable career she had.”

Less than a decade later, Johns would earn a Tony Award for her role as Desiree Armfeldt in Stephen Sondheim’s classic musical A Little Night Music. It was there that she performed the song “Send in the Clowns” which has since become a standard. According to Sondheim, he wrote the song specifically with Johns in mind, noting, “Glynis had a lovely, crystal voice, but sustaining notes was not her thing. I wanted to write short phrases, so I wrote a song full of questions…” Her performance of the piece perfectly captured the pathos of the lyrics, as well as the melancholy and regret experienced by Armfeldt in the scene. 

In 1998, Johns was named a Disney Legend. It was a fitting capstone to the career of the woman whom a press agent once said had a voice, “like the sound of a brook burbling over a pebbled bed.” In total, she starred in over 60 films and 30 plays, in addition to appearing on several records, but for those who knew her, it is her mind and heart that remain her greatest legacy.

As her manager Mitch Clem said, “Glynis powered her way through life with intelligence, wit, and a love for performance, affecting millions of lives. She entered my life early in my career and set a very high bar on how to navigate this industry with grace, class, and truth. Your own truth. Her light shined very brightly for 100 years. She had a wit that could stop you in your tracks powered by a heart that loved deeply and purely.”

Annette Funicello: Disney’s First Superstar

Album: Annette

Artist: Annette Funicello

Label: Buena Vista Records

Year Released: 1959

On October 3, 1955, The Mickey Mouse Club debuted on ABC. The hour-long program aired every weekday and featured musical performances, skits, newsreels, and Disney cartoons. Actor, singer, and songwriter Jimmy Dodd served as the master of ceremonies for the show, as well as the leader of the Mouseketeers, a group of child performers who starred in the show. 

While several of the original Mouseketeers gained quick popularity and went on to future success, such as Bobby Burgess and Cubby O’Brien, it’s safe to say that none rocketed to such immediate stardom as Annette Funicello. By the end of the first season, she was receiving 6,000 letters a month from fans, the most of any Mouseketeer. 

Born in Utica, New York on October 22, 1942, Funicello was the daughter of Italian-American parents Joe and Virginia Funicello. At four years old, the family relocated to California. While still young, her parents enrolled her in dance lessons, hoping that it would help her gain confidence and overcome the natural sense of shyness that she possessed.

 Those lessons would pay off in a big way. Over Easter weekend in April 1955, a twelve-year-old Annette performed in a school recital. The show, titled Ballet vs. Jive, included a piece from Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake. Annette danced the lead role. The show took place at the Burbank Starlight Bowl and had a notable guest in attendance. Walt Disney himself watched the show and was impressed by Funicello’s performance. 

She signed a seven-year contract with Disney, and made her television debut on July 17, 1955, as part of Dateline Disneyland, the live national broadcast of Disneyland’s opening day celebrations. Three months later, she began her stint on The Mickey Mouse Club. 

Over the course of the program’s run, Funicello was featured in a number of prominent segments, including Adventure in Dairyland, the Spin and Marty serials, and Walt Disney Presents: Annette. She also featured in Disneyland’s 4th-anniversary special, which included a sneak peek into a Wizard of Oz film that was to have starred Annette and other Mouseketeers. It was a performance on The Mickey Mouse Club that would launch her recording career. 

In an episode of the “Annette” serial, she performed a song titled “How Will I Know My Love?” It was so popular that the number was released as a single, and Funicello was offered a recording contract. Her first album was simply entitled Annette.

The album featured 12 songs, including “How Will I Know My Love?” and “Tall Paul,” a song penned by Disney’s legendary songwriting duo the Sherman Brothers. The pair had begun writing songs together in 1951 in response to a challenge from their father, Tin Pan Alley composer Al Sherman. “Tall Paul” became their first true hit, and caught the attention of Walt Disney, establishing a relationship that would lead to some of Disney’s greatest music.

For her part, “Tall Paul” helped Funicello make history. The song was released and climbed all the way to #7 on the Billboard charts. It represented the first time that a female artist had a Top 10 rock and roll hit. 

Her success lead to an appearance on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand, where she performed the song “First Name Initial.” The song did not appear on the album Annette but was featured as the A-side on a 7” record released that same year and credited to Annette and the Afterbeats. The B-side was “My Heart Became of Age,” a song which was included on the album Annette, and like “Tall Paul,” was written by the Sherman Brothers.

A modern listener could be justified in questioning whether or not the album truly deserved the label of “rock and roll.” Many of the songs owe more to Tin Pan Alley and traditional pop than the rock and roll being performed by artists like Chuck Berry or Elvis Presley. Funicello’s album and her subsequent success were part of the teen idol movement sweeping the world of popular music.

Performers like Frankie Avalon, Pat Boone, Paul Anka, Bobby Rydell, and Dion rocketed to stardom performing a sanitized version of rock and roll that didn’t offend the sensibilities of the more mainstream, conservative culture of the time. Young, clean-cut, and non-threatening, they presented a sort of compromise for young fans. Their music contained elements of the upbeat tempos that made them danceable but did not threaten the status quo as much as performers like Little Richard or Fats Domino.

Segregation was still the law of the land, and would not be legally abolished until the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and it’s not unreasonable to see the ascendance of teen idols related to the fact that they presented an alternative to the rising influence of African American culture on music. At the same time, the teen idols helped move rock and roll from the fringes and onto Main Street, ultimately helping broaden the fanbase for rock and roll and make it a lasting phenomenon. 

While it might be easy to dismiss Annette and records like it as “bubblegum music,” there’s no denying the good-natured charm of the music and the pure fun of the album. Other entertaining albums would follow (such as Hawaiiannette, and Dance Annette) with the Sherman Brothers continuing to provide songs for Funicello. 

Song: Pineapple Princess

Artist: Annette Funicello

Label: Buena Vista Records

Year Released: 1960

Song: Wild One

Artist: Bobb Rydell

Label: Cameo

Year Released: 1960

Song: A Teenager In Love

Artist: Dion and the Belmonts

Label: Laurie

Year Released: 1959