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Evelyn Kennedy

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Evelyn Kennedy
Born1915
Died1990
Other namesEvelyn Kennedy Myers
OccupationMusic editor
Years active1955–1981
Musical career
Instruments
  • Piano
  • accordion

Evelyn Kennedy Myers (1915 – 1990) was a music editor for the Walt Disney Company, where she contributed to over 100 movies, including Lady and the Tramp (1955), Sleeping Beauty (1959), Mary Poppins (1964), and The Jungle Book (1967).

Biography

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Early life

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Evelyn Kennedy was born in Amarillo, Texas. She studied at the Amarillo School of Music. There, she became a pupil of Lila Austin, who had studied under E. Robert Schmitz and Joseph Lhevine.[1] On July 12, 1936, Kennedy married Austen Myers.[2]

Kennedy was an accomplished pianist and accordionist, and began teaching at her alma mater. Kennedy held recitals for her students performing keys on stage. During World War II, Kennedy joined the United States Navy and was hired to be a stenographer typist for Walt Disney Productions, where they were commissioned to provide wartime propaganda.[3]

Career at Disney

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Because of World War II, the gender shift in the workforce had changed with women taking a larger role in the workplace. Breaking into the film industry, which was heavily male dominated, was difficult; however, Kennedy's skill solidified her position. She was hired by Walt Disney Productions in 1954, with her first film being Lady and the Tramp (1955). The film earned an estimated $6.5 million in distributor rentals within the United States and Canada.[4] Over the next three decades, Kennedy collaborated with several musical composers, editing and compiling recorded dialogue, sound effects, and instrumental score music to match every visual cue for over 100 films.[3][5]

In an interview with Richard Sherman (of the Sherman Brothers), he talks about his work-relationship with Evelyn Kennedy. "She was a bit older than me, so I was kind of like 'the kid' wandering around, but I was so interested in how she did it. She never let anybody [else] into her editing room where she worked with the Moviola – switching and pushing the film around to make it work. She had a little sign that said, 'Nobody can enter except Richard Sherman.' I was the one guy she would let come in. I was not supposed to talk, so I could just stand there and watch how she worked and how she did it. I was fascinated by it.... It was 'lessons' for me. I was learning so much in those days."[citation needed]

In 1977, when discussing her job as a film music editor, Kennedy's only lament was that she "there were more openings for young people looking for a career".[3]

Filmography

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Year Title Notes
1955 Lady and the Tramp
The African Lion (Documentary)
Men Against the Arctic
1956 Secrets of Life
1957 Public Pigeon No. 1
Perri (Documentary)
Old Yeller
1958 The Light in the Forest
White Wilderness (Documentary)
Tonka
1959 Sleeping Beauty
The Shaggy Dog
Darby O'Gill and the Little People
1960 Toby Tyler or Ten Weeks with a Circus
Pollyanna
Jungle Cat (Documentary)
The Hound That Thought He Was a Raccoon (Short)
Ten Who Dared
1961 One Hundred and One Dalmatians[6]
The Absent-Minded Professor
The Parent Trap
Nikki, Wild Dog of the North
Babes in Toyland
1962 Moon Pilot
Bon Voyage!
Big Red
The Legend of Lobo (Documentary)
1963 Son of Flubber
Summer Magic
Savage Sam
The Incredible Journey
The Three Lives of Thomasina
The Sword in the Stone
1964 The Misadventures of Merlin Jones
A Tiger Walks
Mary Poppins
1965 Those Calloways
That Darn Cat!
1966 The Ugly Dachshund
Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree (Short) Uncredited
Lt. Robin Crusoe, U.S.N.
Follow Me, Boys!
1963–1981 Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color (TV series) Archive footage
1967 Monkeys, Go Home!
The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin
The Gnome-Mobile
The Jungle Book
The Happiest Millionaire
1968 Blackbeard's Ghost
The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band
Never a Dull Moment
The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit
Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day (Short) Uncredited
The Love Bug
1969 Rascal
The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes
1970 King of the Grizzlies
The Boatniks
The Aristocats
The Wild Country
The Courtship of Eddie's Father (TV series)
1971 The Barefoot Executive
Scandalous John
The Million Dollar Duck
Bedknobs and Broomsticks
The Biscuit Eater
1972 Napoleon and Samantha
Now You See Him, Now You Don't
Run, Cougar, Run
Snowball Express
1973 The World's Greatest Athlete
Charley and the Angel
One Little Indian
Robin Hood
Superdad
1974 Herbie Rides Again
The Bears and I
The Castaway Cowboy
The Island at the Top of the World
Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too (Short) Uncredited
1975 The Strongest Man in the World
Escape to Witch Mountain
The Apple Dumpling Gang
1976 No Deposit, No Return
Treasure of Matecumbe
Gus
The Shaggy D.A.
Freaky Friday
1977 The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
The Rescuers
A Tale of Two Critters (Documentary)
Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo
Pete's Dragon
1978 Return from Witch Mountain
The Cat from Outer Space
Hot Lead and Cold Feet
The Small One (Short)
1979 The North Avenue Irregulars
The Black Hole
1980 The Last Flight of Noah's Ark
Herbie Goes Bananas
1981 The Fox and the Hound
1982 Tex Supervising music editor
Credited as Eve Kennedy
1983 Never Cry Wolf Supervising music editor
1984 Splash Supervising music editor

References

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  1. ^ "Lila Austin Myers Returns from Studies in Denver". The Amarillo Globe-Times. September 1, 1937. p. 8. Retrieved April 27, 2021 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  2. ^ "Ex-Students Wed on July 12 in Amarillo". Canyon News. July 23, 1936. p. 5. Retrieved April 27, 2021 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  3. ^ a b c Kennedy, Evelyn (March 1977). "Film Music Editor". Music Educators Journal. 63 (7): 71. doi:10.2307/3395214. ISSN 0027-4321. JSTOR 3396097. S2CID 221051320.
  4. ^ "1955's Top Film Grossers". Variety. January 25, 1956. p. 1 – via Internet Archive.
  5. ^ Brown, Ray (October 14, 1975). "Eight wins don't add up to much". Regina Leader-Post. p. 5 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  6. ^ Holt, Nathalia (2019). The Queens of Animation: The Untold Story of the Women Who Transformed the World of Disney and Made Cinematic History. New York: Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 978-0-316-43916-9. OCLC 1124852972.
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