the Sherman Brothers to help on the project, feeling the story was too flat. The Shermans wrote the song "The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band", which ultimately became the title of the motion picture. After hearing the song, Disney decided to add more songs to the film and turn it into a musical. In all, the Sherman Brothers wrote eleven songs for the film, though Robert Sherman reportedly did so under protest, believing the subject matter too mundane to be made into a feature-length musical film. The film reunited Lesley Ann Warren and John Davidson as the romantic leads in a Disney live-action musical, having previously been paired in The Happiest Millionaire (1967). Disney brought back Walter Brennan from The Gnome-Mobile (1967) (starring the Mary Poppins kids Karen Dotrice and Matthew Garber) to play Grandpa Bower because the actor reminded Walt of his father. Theatrical release and reception The film premiered at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Originally intended to run 156 minutes, the Music Hall requested 20 minutes of cuts. Disney responded by cutting the film to 110 minutes, excising the songs "Westerinʼ", sung by Calvin (Buddy Ebsen) and "I Couldn't Have Dreamed it Better", sung by Katie (Janet Blair). The Sherman Brothers and producer Bill Anderson objected, but the studio heads told them the cuts would be just for the Music Hall's engagement. Robert B. Sherman pointed out that the Music Hall is where New York film critics screen musical films, arguing that the cuts weakened the characters' dramatic motivation. He also predicted that those cuts would result in negative reviews. Radio City Music Hall got its way, and the 110-minute version is the only one that ever saw a release. Sherman's predictions came true when the New York Times''' critic Renata Adler panned the film after seeing it at the Music Hall, calling the film "about as pepless and fizzled a musical as has ever come out of the Walt Disney Studios." As of 2014, Disney has made no attempt at a reconstruction of the originally intended cut, but sheet music of the two cut songs was included in the book Disney's Lost Chords, Volume 2. Reception from other critics The film fared no better among most other major critics. Variety described it as "an overly-contrived feature which soon forgets its promise and premise and turns instead to a political mishmash of