The Case of Mary Poppins (1964)
In the summer of 1964, Walt Disney released his latest live-action film. Although his studio began by focusing on animated movies, Disney had been producing several live-action classics starting in 1950 with Treasure Island which he followed up with films like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Old Yeller. But this picture, a musical starring a young, lesser-known stage actress as the title character, would become Disney’s crown jewel. It was a film with all the right ingredients: music, magic, family, and a spoonful of sugar.
Mary Poppins became an instant classic the moment it premiered sixty years ago. Based on the books by Pamela Lyndon Travers, it was a film over twenty years in the making. Yet, it took the world by surprise. Not only was it filled with memorable songs and unforgettable performances, it also blew audiences away with its incredible visual effects. But even deeper than that, this film was riddled with deeply personal touches by Walt Disney himself, and the story touched the hearts of moviegoers everywhere. While most adults may have expected a film made for and about children, they soon found that the movie’s greatest lesson wasn’t for children at all.
So, hold on tight to your umbrellas, Cassettes; the winds of change are headed this way! Come with us on an adventure into the history of Mary Poppins.
As we listed off some of Disney’s earliest live-action films, you might have noticed a theme: they were all based on books. The story goes that it was Walt’s daughter Diane that first showed him P. L. Travers’ books about a magical nanny, and the filmmaker was determined to adapt the story to film. We’re going to start this episode by talking a little about the source material that inspired the 1964 film.
P. L. Travers published the first Mary Poppins book in 1934. It followed a magical nanny who was blown by the East wind to Seventeen Cherry Tree Lane. She looks after the Banks children, and takes them on various adventures. Each chapter acts as its own story, so there isn’t one storyline that connects them all.
Pamela Lyndon Travers was born Helen Lyndon Goff on August 9th, 1899 in Maryborough Queensland, Australia. According to her biographers, she had a difficult upbringing as her father was an alcoholic who died when Travers was only 7-years-old from Influenza, leaving the family destitute. After his death, Pamela’s mother attempted suicide. Shortly after these events, Travers’ great Aunt Ellie moved in and helped bring order to the household. Many believe that Ellie was the chief inspiration for Mary Poppins.
After Walt’s daughter Diane introduced him to the book, he was entranced by the character. But when he attempted to secure the rights from Travers, she turned him down. For twenty years Walt attempted to appeal to the author, but she had heard too many stories about films destroying the work of other authors, and she was reluctant to give up her beloved character.
In 1944, Walt tried again and sent his brother to try to persuade her. But Travers wouldn’t budge. In 1959, Walt decided he would make a housecall to see if he could convince her. This was when he finally got some permission. Production began and Walt pulled together a team of writers and animators to start work on the film. Unbeknownst to them, Disney had promised Travers final approval. After two years of work, the author arrived in Hollywood for meetings about the movie. She was not pleased with what she saw, demanding several changes.
These meetings with her from 1961 were recorded, and she told the writers that they should read the book very carefully for the atmosphere. It was also integral for her that Mrs Poppins would never be impolite to anybody.
These recordings are available in part on Youtube and we will link to them in the blog!
Travers did not want any animation in the film, and she also was displeased with the final version of the story. After she screened the finished product, she reportedly asked Disney when she could start making cuts. Walt informed her that she was only given final approval of the script and not editing rights, so the film was left unchanged.
This conflict is depicted in the 2013 film Saving Mr. Banks. While much of the film is based on true events, it is a work of fiction.
Summary
Jane and Michael Banks are two children longing for the attention of their parents, who are too busy to spend time with their kids. After the children have scared off the last nanny, Mr. And Mrs. Banks begin searching for a new one. The only one to seemingly respond to their advertisement is Mary Poppins, a whimsical woman who takes the children on incredible adventures. While the children are enamored with their new nanny, Mr. Banks believes that she is filling their heads with nonsense. With the help of Mary Poppins and Bert, a friendly street urchin, Mr. Banks begins to learn that his dedication to work has made him forget what’s really important.
Making of
Two years after P.L. Travers met with the Disney filmmakers about the script, Disney began filming the project. The entire film was shot on a soundstage at Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California.
Robert Stevenson had directed many of Disney’s live-action films before sitting in the director’s chair for Mary Poppins. He would later go on to direct Bedknobs and Broomsticks, another memorable Disney film.
Bill Walsh and Don DaGradi, two successful screenwriters of films like The Shaggy Dog and Lady and the Tramp, penned the screenplay (with the help of P.L. Travers of course).
Emil Kuri and Hal Gausman were the set decorators responsible for creating the beautiful locations in The Banks’ home, the bank, and the stone-covered streets of London. Kuri had previously won an Oscar for his work on Disney’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, while Gausman would go on to create sets for films like The Blues Brothers and Back to the Future.
One of the most groundbreaking and influential aspects of Mary Poppins are the special and visual effects.
The film utilized animatronics, green screens, wires, and of course, good old-fashioned hand-drawn animation.
One of the most famous special effects was the animatronic robin bird that rests on Mary Poppins’ finger in A Spoonful of Sugar. The small robotic animal was an early version of the animatronics that would become synonymous with Disney’s theme park attractions. It was one of the first-ever uses of an animatronic in a film.
The bird’s singing was originally done by a professional whistler, but Walt thought that there was not enough personality to it. So Julie Andrews whistled for the bird instead.
The animatronic robin had a lot of wires that went up Julie’s arm. She had to hold the bird in just the right way so that the wires would not show.
In the scene where the children meet Uncle Albert, wires helped the actors “float” to the ceiling. They were only a couple of feet off the ground, but Matthew Garber, who plays little Michael, was afraid of heights. In order to entice the young boy to spend time up there, somebody had offered him a dime for every time that he did.
Some close-ups in the scene were filmed with the actors on teeter-totters so that no wires would show up in the shot.
When Bert, Mary, and the children travel to an animated world, they are served by penguin waiters. Originally they were meant to be human, but because waiters always reminded Disney of penguins, they chose to animate the animals instead.
In order to place the actors in a fully animated world, Walt Disney consulted Petro Vlahos, an engineer and inventor. Vlahos opted out of using a blue screen for the animated sequences, although that was (and still is) a popular way of inserting characters onto a different backdrop. Instead, he recommended using a white screen lit with sodium vapor lights. Why? Because sodium vapor (the same lights often used in street lamps) produces a light at an exact wavelength, one that was much smaller than the wavelength of a blue screen. Because of this, the costumes and props could be any color. This is why Bert can wear blue socks without his ankles disappearing in the shot. Sodium Vapor allowed for more accuracy when isolating subjects, and it also meant that the subjects didn’t have to be lit as perfectly as they normally would in front of a blue screen.
Blue screen effects also required special effects artists to manipulate film strips to create the final image. But Vlahos fixed this problem as well by designing a special prism that separated the specific hue of sodium vapor from the rest of the colors. This isolation happened in-camera and created a precise silhouette where the animation backdrop could be inserted.
Vlahos won an Oscar for his work on Mary Poppins and he would eventually perfect the chroma key process, the technique that uses specific color screens for visual effects. He’s considered the father of the modern blockbuster.
Dick Van Dyke enjoyed acting in the animated scenes because he thought it was a good exercise in miming, since the actors interacted with animals that weren’t there.
The kids weren’t as experienced with this, so they were reacting to cardboard cut-outs of the animals with crew members moving them around so that they children would know where to look.
Frank Thomas was the animator for the penguins. When he received the video of Dick Van Dyke, he had to come up with inventive ways for Dick to not step on them. So, he had them duck and slide out of the way.
The children were often surprised by the “magic” that Disney was able to pull with their practical effects. The medicine being two colors, the amount of items pulled out of Mary Poppins bag, and the animatronic bird were just a few. Early on in filming, the special effects team took molds of the childrens’ bottoms so that they could create a special harness for them to wear as they slid up the staircase in one of the film’s most iconic moments.
Peter Ellenshaw was asked to create 100 matte paintings for the detailed backdrops in Mary Poppins. He had worked on films like Treasure Island and 20,000 Leagues under the sea. Matte paintings were often created for scenic backdrops in films and later composited behind actors. They are still in use today, but are more often computer generated than hand-painted.
In the late afternoon cityscape for this film, Ellenshaw put small holes in the painting so that the effects artists could wire little lights that would gradually light the city.
The costumes in Mary Poppins were designed by Tony Walton, Julie Andrews’ then-husband. When Walt Disney was speaking with Julie about the role, he asked what her husband did for a living. When she told him that Tony designed sets and costumes, Disney asked to see his portfolio.
The performances in Mary Poppins left a lasting impression on the audience, with its principal stars still holding a special place in viewers’ hearts sixty years later.
Julie Andrews was cast in the breakout role of a lifetime as Mary Poppins
Others were considered for the role such as Mary Martin, Betty Davis, and Angela Lansbury. But when Disney saw an episode of the Ed Sullivan Show that featured Julie Andrews and Richard Burton singing “What do the Simple Folk do?” from the Broadway musical Camelot, he knew he found his Mary Poppins.
Walt Disney then went to New York to see the Camelot performance. Afterwards, he approached Julie and tried to convince her to accept the part. In a recent interview, Andrews says that she explained to Disney that it wasn’t a good time for her because she was pregnant. But Disney insisted, and he told her, “that’s okay, we’ll wait.”
Andrews was not well known at this point in her career and though she had wanted to do the film version of My Fair Lady, which filmed at the same time. Although she originated the lead role in My Fair Lady on Broadway, Audrew Hepburn was cast instead.
Pamela Travers loved Julie Andrews’ performance, and her portrayal of Mary Poppins cemented Julie’s status as a pop culture icon. She would go on to star in The Sound of Music soon after.
Comedian Dick Van Dyke was perfect as Bert, the chimney sweep. He also played Mr. Dawes Sr.
Disney was reading an article in the paper about what people thought of cinema at the time. In the article, Dick Van Dyke had commented that he did not like the way in which movies were trending towards what he deemed “dirty pictures.” Disney agreed, and so he had a look at some of Dick’s work and asked him to come to the studio. They got along well and very shortly Disney was offering Dick the part.
Dick was a great addition to the cast as he had loyal viewers of his tv show and he had been in Bye Bye Birdie.
Dick tried his best at a cockney accent but in a British Magazine was named one of the top 20 worst dialecticians in the history of movies. The British did forgive him for his performance.
The character of Bert was a conglomerate of many characters from the book. Bert was made to be a jack of all trades type character. He was a one man band, a kite peddler, a chalk artist, chimney sweep, etc. He compliments Mary in the best way, and delivers some of the most heartfelt and poignant moments in the film. Bert acts as a narrator of sorts, who breaks the fourth wall and speaks directly to the audience. He has his own magic about him.
Glynis Johns played the suffragette Mrs. Banks
Walt knew immediately who he wanted to play the mother. Glynis was called and asked to come to lunch with Disney and a few writers. Glynis was convinced she was going to be asked to play the part of Mary Poppins and was disappointed to be offered the mother role instead. To entice her to join the movie, they created a song for her to sing. By the time she was back at her hotel, Disney called her up and played the first few bars of Sister Suffragette.
Johns was a very talented actress who appeared in other films like The Court Jester. She retired from acting in 1999 and passed away this year at 100 years of age.
David Tomlinson played Mr. Banks
Screenwriter Bill Walsh had seen David Tomlinosn in several English films. They ordered them up for Disney, Don DaGradi, Robert Stevenson, and the Sherman brothers to all watch together. They all agreed that David would be perfect for the part of the father, George Banks.
Karen Dotrice as Jane Banks and Matthew Garber as Michael Banks
The pair played the charming children. They had previously done a Disney movie titled “The Three Lives of Thomasina,” which was a supernatural/fantasy film about a young girl whose cat gets euthanized, only for the animal to survive and find its way back to its owner.
Both children’s parents were stage actors, and Karen’s father discovered Matthew and represented him as his agent.
Karen appeared in the sequel Mary Poppins Returns in 2018.
Matthew unfortunately passed away at the young age of 21.
Ed Wynn plays Uncle Albert, the man who laughs so much, he can’t keep his feet on the ground.
Ed Wynn was a comedian and actor who got his start on the vaudeville stage. He had a pioneering radio show and eventually his own variety show. Everyone loved working with Ed, who appeared in several of Disney’s films like Babes in Toyland and Alice in Wonderland (as the Mad Hatter).
Music/ Songs
Richard and Robert Sherman were a brother songwriting duo that composed music for many of Disney’s films like The Sword in the Stone, The Jungle Book, The Aristocats, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, and Bedknobs and Broomsticks.
The Sherman Brothers were staff songwriters at Disney. They wrote several popular songs before being hired by the studio. They are known for creating some of Disney’s most iconic music, including the song It’s a Small World Afterall.
The pair spent two and a half years writing 34 songs for Mary Poppins. Many were not used because sequences got cut. P.L. Travers was also very hard to please and had not wanted music in the film. She was, however, quite happy with Feed the Birds.
We receive a preview of the film’s music during the film’s overture. The Sherman brothers used vaudeville music as an inspiration for their songs.
Chim Chim Cheree
The film opens with Bert, a street performer who gives the audience a taste of several songs that will appear later in the movie. As he sings to random people in the crowd, he notices a change in the wind, and realizes that Mary Poppins is on her way. He sings a few lines of his signature song: Chim Chim Cheree.
Although the song gets a much larger feature later in the movie, it resurfaces throughout. It acts as Bert’s leitmotif, and each time he sings it, the lyrics change. It’s essentially the theme song of the movie, capturing the sweetness of the story, but also the mystery and magic.
When Mary Poppins and the children come across Bert in the park, he sings the same melody again to a song called, “Pavement Artist.”
Bert sings about being a screever, which he says is an artist of highest degree. Bert then shows the children the magic of putting themselves into the chalk drawings.
At a pivotal moment in the film, the children run into Bert after having issues with their father. Bert explains to the kids that their father might need a little help, and as he walks the children home, he sings a longer version of Chim Chim Cheree, a sweet song about how lucky a chimney sweep is. Though the job is messy and difficult, his outlook on life is positive.
The idea for this song came about from a sketch of a chimney sweep whistling and carrying the broom over his shoulder. The Sherman brothers saw it when they went to meet Walt about the songs.
This tune won the Sherman brothers an Oscar for best song.
Sister Suffragette
In this rousing first (official) number Jane and Michael’s mother comes home singing Sister Suffragette, establishing her as a woman within the movement.
During the song Mrs. Banks recruits the cook and the maid while Katie Nanna is trying to let her know that the children are missing.
The Life I Lead/A British Bank/A Man Has Dreams
When Mr. George Banks arrives home at the beginning of the movie, he’s singing “The Life I Lead.” Like Chim Chim Cheree, the melody of this song resurfaces throughout the film to illustrate Mr. Banks’ character change.
The song “A British Bank” is another iteration of “The Life I Lead.”
Mr. Banks sings this song because he feels as though the children are not aware of the seriousness of life and have been going on frivolous outings. He believes they should learn his trade at the bank.
Near the end of the movie, Mr. Banks gets a call from his boss and learns that he will likely lose his job. He sings, “A Man Has Dreams,” as he realizes that his life’s ambitions are slipping away. Bert is present at this moment, and joins in, forcing Mr. Banks to come to terms with the cost of prioritizing his job over his children. Using the same melody that Mr. Banks has been singing throughout the movie, Bert sings, “you’ve got to grind grind grind at that grindstone, while childhood slips like sand through a sieve.” Bert’s use of Mr. Banks’ song illustrates how he’s finally getting through to him.
The Perfect Nanny
At the beginning of the movie, Mr. Banks arrives home to find that the children’s nanny has quit and they must find a new one.
As Mr. Banks lays out his requirements for a nanny in a Times advertisement, little Michael and Jane want to have a say in what their next nanny will be like. They would like a nanny that plays games with them, has rosy cheeks, and to be kind to them. Frustrated, Mr. Banks rips up their advertisement, but Mary Poppins receives it anyway.
A Spoonful of Sugar
After meeting the children and taking their measurements, they begin a game. She calls it “Well Begun is Half Done,” or “Let’s Tidy up the Nursery.” She turns cleaning into fun, a skill we all wish we had (hehe).
The Sherman brothers wrote a clever juxtaposition in the song. Mary sings down on a higher note, so essentially she goes up when she says “down,” because Mary always does the unexpected.
Jolly Holliday
During an outing with the children, Mary and Bert magically jump into a chalk painting and explore an animated world.
Once in the chalk drawing of a beautiful English countryside, Bert and Mary Poppins send the children off to explore while the pair catches up.
Dee Dee Wood, one of the choreographers, thought it would be wonderful to have the umbrella and cane do the same dance as Mary and Bert. She said that someone should stop her from making these suggestions because that was impossible! But, someone told Dee Dee to never say the word impossible at Disney. They made the cane and umbrella move.
Super-cali-fragilistic-expi-ali-docious
Mary, Bert, and the children compete in a horse race, where Mary wins first place. To describe how she feels after winning, Mary Poppins uses Super-cali-fragilistic-expi-ali-docious!
The music style for the song was “Boiled Beef and Carrots” which is an old english folk song as well as “Any Old Iron”
This amazing word came from the Sherman Brothers’ youth when at a summer camp they had held a contest to find a word longer than the longest word in the dictionary which was: antidisestablishmentarianism. They wanted Jane and Michael to come back with a non-tangible memento from their adventure, and this word came to mind.
This scene took so many takes to film that the props department let Karen and Matthew (Jane and Michael) choose what flavor of toffee apples they would like. By the end of shooting, they had tried raspberry, chocolate, and cinnamon but were tired of them all after two weeks of filming.
Stay Awake
Since the children are excited from the day's events they insist that they cannot fall asleep. Mary Poppins sings this lullaby to help them settle down. It works very well!
I Love to Laugh
On the way to buy some fish, Andrew the dog alerts Mary Poppins about the condition of Uncle Albert, a man she and Bert both know, but that the children do not. He has laughed himself into a frenzy and is floating in the air. The group then joins him as they cannot help being filled with joy.
Feed the Birds
The children have a big bank outing planned with their father, and the night before, Mary Poppins puts the children to bed with this song. She sings about a woman that sits on the steps of the church and feeds the birds.
The Sherman brothers asked for 30 minutes of Walts time where they could play the song ideas that they had for the movie. At the end of the 30 minutes, Walt wanted them to play Feed the Birds again. Walt would ask them to play it many times over the course of filming.
Fidelity Fiduciary Bank
Mr. Dawes Sr. (Mr. Banks’ boss) and Mr. Banks both explain why Michael should invest his money in the bank during their bank outing.
Michael refuses, but when the money is taken from Michael, he accidentally causes a little run on the bank as other customers hear that they don’t want to give him his money back.
Gilbert and Sullivan was the inspiration for this number. (There is actually an International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival, and it is in its 30th year!)
Step in Time
A busy Mrs. Banks asks Bert to watch children while she attends a meeting. The children are pulled up the chimney and Bert and Mary Poppins must follow them.
The song is based on a classic English folk dance, “Knees Up Mother Brown.”
There were 6 weeks of rehearsal for this dance!
This scene was almost cut down to two minutes, but after taping and editing a rehearsal video of the dance, Walt showed the video to the person that wanted it cut down. He explained that it had to be done just like in the video and he wanted to add some scarier elements too. The final length of the scene ended up being about 14 minutes!
Let’s Go Fly a Kite
The upbeat finale of the film features this lovely song about quality family time (and flying kites). Mr. Banks has rejoined his family after losing his job and had a change of heart toward his children.
The Sherman brothers drew a lot of inspiration from their father who had also written songs like “You gotta be a Football Hero” in the 20’s and the 30’s. Their fathers hobby was to make beautiful kites, which truly inspired this song.
Reception/awards
Mary Poppins’s budget was about 6 million and it grossed an impressive 102 million in the US and Canada.
Mary Poppins has won 22 awards. The film won an Oscar for best film editing, best effects, best original score, best original song (Chim Chim Cher-ee), and Julie Andrews won for best actress. Julie Andrews also won a BAFTA for the Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles.
The film's music has entranced many and won two Grammys. One was for best original score and the other for best recording for children.
A long-awaited sequel called Mary Poppins Returns came out in 2018. It starred Emily Blunt and followed Michael’s family after the death of his wife and mother of his children.
Saving Mr Banks came out in 2013. This movie outlined and dramatized the struggle Walt had in securing the rights to make Mary Poppins and Pamela’s reaction to it.
Fun Facts
The film was an instant phenomenon with wonderful reviews.
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious was a pop hit and made it onto the Billboard top 100!
Inventor Petro Vlahos was never able to recreate the prism required for the sodium vapor process. Because of this, there was only one camera that could achieve this special effect in all of Hollywood! Other studios fought to use it for several years after Mary Poppins premiered, because the visuals were so stunning. The camera was also used in Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds.
In Julie Andrews’s acceptance speech at the Golden Globes, she thanked Jack Warner (of Warner Brothers) for making her win possible. Everyone laughed knowing that he was the driving force behind hiring Audrey Hepburn over Julie for My Fair Lady that year, making it possible for her to be Mary Poppins!
At the reveal of the Walt Disney statue on Walt’s 100th birthday Richard Sherman was asked to play a few songs. One that he played just for Walt was Feed the Birds. During the song you can see a bird fly down right past the piano out of the clear blue sky.
Mary Poppins is one of those movies that will never truly get old. It has a timeless quality to it that always manages to tug at the heartstrings of its audience. There’s something so reassuring about Julie Andrews’ demeanor as she (literally) swoops in, ready to fix everything. She’s a representation of the heroes of our youth, the people that we were convinced had all the answers, the adults that navigated life and somehow made it look easy. But it’s not until we ourselves are in those positions do we understand what it takes to pull off such an illusion.
The lesson that Mary Poppins teaches Mr. Banks is one that stays with you well after the film is over. It’s a gentle reminder of how precious our time is, and how it’s the greatest gift we can give to the ones we love. So, if you’re wondering how Mary Poppins measures up after sixty years, the answer is that it’s still practically perfect in every way.