 Upon numerous delays to produce a script draft, Lerner was fired from the project on May 7, 1965 due to his endless procrastination stretching over a year as well wanting to continue work on the Broadway musical, "On a Clear Day You Can See Forever".Following Lerner's departure, Jacobs considered hiring the Sherman Brothers, who had just won for the Academy Award for Best Original Song for "Mary Poppins" (1964), but they were still under contract to Disney.Jacobs then hired Leslie Bricusse, who was in high demand after his success with the musical "Stop the World – I Want to Get Off".