60 Years of Mary Poppins!

That’s right last week marked 60 years since the release of Mary Poppins in cinemas and it has stayed around and delighted many generations from that moment forward. This is one of those films that I find strange if someone has not seen it, I think I exhausted my VHS tape (yes, I am that old) from watching and rewinding and watching again. Julie Andrews is practically perfect in every way as Mary Poppins and you cannot help but love the character. This was Julie Andrews big break after the controvesary of her not being cast in My Fair Lady having played the role to perfection on stage, and she started filming Poppins in 1963 ahead of the 1964 release date, I mean I guess it all worked out nicely in the end though given that she walked away with an Oscar for her efforts on the film.

Over the years we have had many different additions and further adaptations from Mary Poppins. It took all the way to 2004 for the stage musical version to be first performed and since then it has not only played on Broadway and in London’s West End but on tours around the world. I caught it in Newcastle on a UK tour in 2016 and it certainly manages to capture so much magic and transfer to the stage, but for me the special nature of the original film will always be difficult to beat.

In 2013 we had Saving Mr Banks which was loosely based around Walt Disney attempting to get the rights to the film from P.L. Travers who managed to resist for many years and often claimed that she did not like the film due to it being so different from her books. As a huge Mary Poppins fan I did enjoy that film though as it was just more to learn around the film being made. In 2018 we eventually got an always wanted sequel in Mary Poppins Returns with Emily Blunt taking over from Julie Andrews in the title role of Mary.

Facts/Trivia

1. None of the scenes were filmed in London.
2. Won 5 Oscars from 13 nominations.
3. Julie Andrews first feature film.
4. Dick Van Dyke showcased his versatility by bringing to life both the affable chimney sweep Bert and the strict, yet ultimately kind-hearted banker Mr Dawes Sr.
5. Angela Lansbury and Bette Davis were also considered for the role of Mary. 
6. Cary Grant was Walt Disney’s favourite for Bert.
7. The Sherman Brothers wrote 30 songs for the movie.
8. “A Spoonful of Sugar” was inspired by the polio vaccine.
9. Walt Disney’s favorite song was “Feed the Birds.”
10. P.L. Travers hated the movie with a passion.
11. It took Disney 20 years to get the movie rights.
12. David Tomlinson voiced Mary Poppins’ parrot umbrella.
13. Walt Disney regarded this movie to be one of the crowning achievements of his career.
14. The “Step in Time” sequence had to be filmed twice because of a scratch on the film from the first take. The entire sequence took a week to film.
15. At the time, this was the most expensive movie produced by Walt Disney Pictures, with an estimated budget of four million four hundred thousand dollars to six million dollars. It has since grossed over one hundred two million dollars, and is one of the most profitable movies of the 1960s.
16. P.L. Travers wanted the animated chalk-drawing sequence removed from this movie, but Walt Disney refused.
17. Original choices for Mr. George W. Banks included Richard Harris, Terry-Thomas, George Sanders, James Mason, and Donald Sutherland.
18. Julie Andrews was determined to nail the lullaby “Stay Awake.” She took nearly fifty takes in the Disney recording studio to create the perfect “soft” voice quality for the song. Dick Van Dyke, on the other hand, took only one take to record his verses as Mr. Dawes, Sr. on “Fidelity, Fiduciary Bank”.
19. The planning and composing of the songs took about two and a half years.
20. The top-grossing movie of 1964, and the top-grossing Disney movie for twenty years.
21. The houses on Cherry Tree Lane were built on a diminishing scale, getting smaller as the lane progressed.
22. Songwriters Robert B. Sherman and Richard M. Sherman wrote over thirty songs during the various stages of this movie’s development.
23. Filmed entirely indoors in all four soundstages on the Walt Disney Studio lot in Burbank, California. Cherry Tree Lane, the park, and the exterior of St. Paul’s Cathedral filled the entire Stage Four of Walt Disney Studio.
24. Walt Disney Pictures’ first DVD release. The movie was released on the format in the spring of 1998.
25. Walt Disney first attempted to purchase the movie rights from P.L. Travers as early as 1938. She rejected his offer, as she didn’t believe a movie version would do justice to her creation. Another reason for her initial rejection would have been that, at that time, Walt Disney Studios had not yet produced a live-action movie.
26. Originally, there was a scene in which all of the toys in the nursery come alive. Since it proved to be too scary for children, it was cut out.
27. The only Best Picture Oscar nominee that year to be also nominated for Best Visual Effects.

I know a lot of the talking point over the years is the terrible cockney accent from Dick Van Dyke but hasn’t that now become something we just love about the film? You know that whole, love to hate aspect? Well, I think so! I mean as a kid that isn’t even anything that you notice, that voice is just Bert isn’t it! Something else I love about the film is that watching it throughout your life and at different stages makes you enjoy and understand different aspects of it.

As an adult I found that the ending makes me cry from the moment Mr Banks utters “With tuppence for paper and string …” the floodgates open and having the trusty parrot umbrella utter to Mary that they didn’t even say goodbye is all just so sad!

What do you love about Mary Poppins? If you haven’t seen it, head to Disney+ instantly!!!