1953 Chance Encounter on the Set of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ Led to One of Rock’s Greatest Duos

In July 1968, Simon & Garfunkel weren’t just dominating the charts; they owned them.

After their legendary soundtrack to The Graduatespent seven weeks at No. 1, the folk-rock duo followed it with Bookends in May, creating a rare musical showdown that kept two of their biggest albums battling atop the Billboard 200 for a staggering 16 weeks.

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The story behind one of the most unforgettable runs in music history began 15 years earlier, when Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel first met as grade schoolers. The future legends were cast in their sixth-grade graduation production ofAlice in Wonderland, with Garfunkel playing the Cheshire Cat and Simon taking on the role of the White Rabbit.

Bonding over their love for rock and roll, the two friends formed a partnership that would quietly—then loudly—change the course of music forever.

By their early teens, Simon and Garfunkel were performing under the band name Tom & Jerry—”Arty was the most famous singer in the neighborhood,” Simon told NPR in a 2004 interview. Their first song, “That Girl for Me,” became a “hit” with their friends and family, and two years later, they broke out of small-time Queens, New York, and into American Bandstand.

“We were discouraged from having written our own tunes for a couple of years and not being lucky enough to get on the radio, which was our goal,” Garfunkel explained of the duo’s early days, just before their big break, in the same joint interview. “We thought, ‘We have this one last song, ‘Hey Schoolgirl.’ … We went to the demo studio and paid $7 for an hour of recording … it was our swan song.”

The singer-songwriter thought they’d record the song and, at the very least, have a fun memory to look back on. But fate had other ideas: Music promoter Sid Prosen, who was in earshot, heard them, liked them, and signed them to Big Records. “Hey Schoolgirl” then reached No. 49 on the Billboard Hot 100, sold more than 100,000 copies, and earned them a spot on the music-and-dance television show.

In 1963, the two regrouped as Simon & Garfunkel. Recognizing the public’s growing interest in folk music, the pair signed with Columbia Records and began laying the foundation for their signature sound. Despite some setbacks, an electric remix of their 1964 song “Sound of Silence” hit No. 1 on the charts and turned the duo into superstars.

Their cultural footprint grew even bigger after their songs were featured in Mike Nichols’ The Graduate, which included the mega-hit “Mrs. Robinson.” By 1970, with the release of their final studio album, Bridge Over Troubled Water, Simon & Garfunkel became one of the best-selling acts in the highest tier of global music.

“What a song,” Garfunkel said of “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” with Simon adding, “I was playing my guitar alone one night … and all of a sudden I sang that. I couldn’t believe it. I was dumbstruck. I have no idea where that came from. It was a gift. And I was just emotionally very moved by it.”

Today, the two continue to perform separately, decades after their childhood friendship changed music forever. Garfunkel recently surprised fans by joining pop star Charlie Puthonstage at Madison Square Garden, and Simon’s performances continue to move fans around the world.

And to think, one of the greatest partnerships in music history began not in a recording studio, but on the set of a stage play—it’s the kind of story that sounds almost too perfect to be true. Like a fairy tale.

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