Mary Poppins
An iconic Disney musical. And it so happened to have been on television both the night my brother was born, and the night I was born, twenty months later. The original book series was written by P.L. Travers. For the film, music was composed by the Sherman brothers and production was overseen by Walt Disney himself, as showcased in Saving Mr. Banks. I have seen the film and it was an interesting look into how the film was created, though a bit sad as well. Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson were excellent in it. The classic movie stars Julie Andrews (Sound of Music, The Princess Diaries) in her first major movie role (though she was already experienced on the stage) as the titular Mary Poppins. [And a note about that; Julie had starred as the original Eliza Doolittle from My Fair Lady on stage and had hoped to earn the role again in the film. But it went to Audrey Hepburn. Mary Poppins won the Oscar that year.] Her co-star was Dick Van Dyke (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang) as Bert, David Tomlinson (Bedknobs and Broomsticks) as Mr. George W. Banks, Reginald Owen (Bedknobs and Broomsticks) as Admiral Boom, and Arthur Treacher (yes, of the Fish and Chips restaurant line; he also appeared in several Shirley Temple films) as the Constable.
The establishing shots of the London skyline tell us we’re in England and we see Mary Poppins sitting on a cloud. Bert is a one-man band, entertaining a crowd, until the wind blows by: “something is brewing/ about to begin.” Then he addresses the audience, as we asked for directions to Number 17, Cherry Tree Lane. We pass by Admiral Boom, who has rigging on the top of his home, as well as a canon to mark the time. The world takes its time from Greenwich, but Greenwich takes its time from Admiral Boom. There is an argument brewing at Number 17; seems Katie Nana has lost her charges, but blames them, so she is leaving. Mrs. Banks arrives home from her Sister Suffragette rally, though it takes several tries to inform her that her children are missing. She quickly puts her things away so as to not upset her husband.
Mr. Banks arrives home cheerfully, it’s 1910, “King Edward’s on the throne/ it’s the Age of Men,” and he is pleased with The Life I Lead. Everything is on schedule, his servants and family treat him with the respect he deserves as head of the household (noblesse oblige) and it takes several minutes before he realizes his children are missing. The kindly constable brings them home and tries to encourage Mr. Banks to not be hard on them, but Mr. Banks dismisses him. With the same tune, he has his wife take down an advertisement for a new nanny. No-nonsense is the first requirement, “tradition, discipline, and rules/ must be the tools/ without them/ disorder, catastrophe, anarchy/ in short, you have a ghastly mess.” Jane and Michael have their own advertisement and though their mother follows her husband’s commands, she does insist that they listen to their children. Their first requirement is a cherry disposition, and a desire for games, all sorts. After the children are sent to bed, Mr. Banks tears up the notice and throws it into the fireplace. What he doesn’t see are the pieces float out the chimney.
There is a queue of nannies in the morning, but before Mr. Banks can begin interviewing there is a large gust of wind that blows them all away. Mary Poppins gently floats down and lands at the door. In her hand are the children’s qualifications, not Mr. Banks’ and so he wonders over at the fireplace what happened. Mary gives herself the job, but Mr. Banks seems suitably impressed and takes credit for it when his wife asks. Mary does the most extraordinary thing and rides the banister up. She quickly takes control in the nursery, putting her things away, after pulling them out of an empty carpet bag (loved that part as a kid). Michael thinks she’s tricky. Jane thinks she’s wonderful. Mary also pulls out her tape measure, to see how the children measure up. Michael is extremely stubborn and suspicious, while Jane is prone to giggling. Mary Poppins is “practically perfect in every way.” Time for their first game, tidying up the nursery. “In every job that must be done/ there is an element of fun/ you find the fun/ and snap, the job’s a game.” A Spoonful of Sugar helps the medicine go down. Snapping puts the toys and items laying about away, though it takes Michael several tries. It gets a little out of hand and Mary Poppins puts an end to it, but the children eagerly join her for a walk afterwards.
Today, Bert is a street artist and the trio arrive. He recognizes Mary Poppins and knows Jane and Michael from their adventures nearby. He tries some magic to pop the children into a drawing, but Mary Poppins steps in to do it properly. Now the children run off to a fair in new outfits and Bert remarks to Mary “it’s a Jolly Holiday…when Mary hold your hand/ it feels so grand/ your heart starts beating/ like a big brass band.” Animated animals come up to them and even join in the singing [animation style reminds me a bit of 101 Dalmatians]. The pair end up at a cafe with dancing penguins (I love this part!) Bert joins in the dancing and it’s wonderfully hilarious. He is quick to insist “cream of the crop/ tip of the top/ is Mary Poppins/ and there we stop.” They do join the children on a merry-go-round, but Mary has the horses jump off the carousel. They join a fox hunt, with Bert rescuing the Irish fox and that leads to a horse race. Mary’s manners lead her to the front and when the interviewers congratulate her, she reveals there is a word to use when one does not know what to say. Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (just about the best song of all time). “Even though the sound of it/ is something quite atrocious/ if you say it loud enough/ you’ll always sound precocious.”
Rain ruins their day and they’re back in London in their regular clothes. Mary shows further magic when her medicine changes color and flavor for each person’s preference. When the children insist they are much too excited to go to sleep, Mary lulls them to Stay Awake. Of course, they drift off, but are cheerful the next morning, to their father’s chagrin. He feels Mary Poppins is undermining the discipline in the house; indeed, everyone is in a good mood except him. But he goes off to work and Mary takes the children out on errands. The dog, Andrew, barks he needs Mary’s help; so the children meet Uncle Albert. Bert is already there, and oddly, Uncle Albert is floating near the ceiling. I Love to Laugh, he declares, “loud and long and clear.” “The more I laugh/ the more I fill with glee/ and the more the glee/ the more I’m a merrier me.” Everyone joins him on the ceiling, though Mary simply floats up. She raises the tea table, but a little later, insists they must get home. And that is the secret to getting down; one must think of something sad. Bert stays with Albert.
Mr. Banks confronts Mary Poppins at home about the nature of her outings. He dislikes filling his children’s heads with silly nonsense. If they must have outings, they should be practical. Like taking them to the bank, suggests Mary. She tells the children that she never puts notions in someone’s head; it’s just the logical following of what they were saying. She urges the children to look for the bird lady at St. Paul’s Cathedral and to hear her cry of Feed the Birds (one of Walt Disney’s favorite songs). The song lulls the children to sleep again. They eagerly accompany their father, but he won’t let them use their money to feed the birds. Instead, he shows them to the leaders of the bank; several old men who use financial terms that confuse the children. The eldest, Mr. Dawes Sr (played by Dick Van Dyke as well) wants Michael to give his tuppence to the Fidelity, Fiduciary Bank. One must think prudently, thriftily, frugally, patiently, and cautiously. Of course, these all go over the children’s heads (and mine). When Michael is a bit confused, Dawes Sr. grabs the tuppence. So Michael shouts “give me back my money.” The other customers hear and start demanding their money as well. In the chaos, Michael and Jane run off. It’s a bit scary for a moment and they run into a man covered in soot. Luckily, it’s Bert. He calms them down and leads them home. Today he is a chimney sweep, “you may think a sweep’s/ on the bottom-most rung/ though I spends me time/ in the ashes and smoke/ in this whole wide world/ there’s no happier bloke.” Chim-Chim-Cheree “Good luck will rub off/ when I shake hands with you/ or blow me a kiss/ and that’s lucky too.” At the house, Mrs. Banks is off for another rally and asks Bert to look after the children since it’s Mary Poppins’ day off. The children are interested, until Michael shoots up the chimney when Mary walks in. Jane quickly follows, so Bert and Mary join them.
They get a beautiful view of the rooftops of London and march about. They run into Bert’s pals, all of whom are chimney sweeps as well and they entertain their visitors with a Step in Time (love this dance). Mary even joins in with a rising spin [I wonder what effects they used to film the sequence, since it had to be safe for the dancers.] Admiral Boom spots the dancers and has his assistant shoot firecrackers at them, chasing them off the roof. They all end up in the Banks’ home until Mr. Banks returns. After the exodus of chimney sweeps from his house, Mr. Banks gets a call from the bank; they want him to return later. He has a conversation with Bert, who points out that it is admirable to want to provide for your family, but soon they will grow and he won’t know them. Jane and Michael apologize to their father and Michael gives him his tuppence.
The board wants to dismiss Mr. Banks, for causing a run on the bank. They invert his umbrella, tear his flower, and punch out his hat. When they ask if he has anything to say, he recalls “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.” He even repeats the joke Michael taught him; for he’s seen what good Mary Poppins has done in his family and has made the decision that they are more important. He gives the tuppence to Dawes Sr, who starts pondering the joke and then begins to laugh. He laughs so much, he begins floating and his grown son cries out “Daddy! Come back!”
Mr. Banks gives his family a bit of a scare; they’ve called the constable because they can’t find him, until he emerges singing from the cellar. He’s mended the kite and asks Jane and Michael to join him. Mrs. Banks adds a sash for a tail and they are all excited to Let’s Go Fly a Kite, an absolutely heartwarming number. The wind has changed, and it’s time for Mary Poppins to go. The children are sad at first that she’s leaving, but their father’s good mood cheers them up and Mary leaves once the family does. Bert nods to her and she smiles at her friend. Her talking parrot umbrella insists that Mary Poppins does love the children, but she states it is proper that they love their father. “Practically perfect people never permit sentiment to muddle their thinking,” and she rises back to the clouds.
Mary Poppins is a lovely family film and is cherished in our home. We did watch the late sequel, Mary Poppins Returns, which stars Emily Blunt and Lin-Manuel Miranda, with appearances by Dick Van Dyke, Angela Landsbury, Ben Whishaw, Julie Walters, Colin Firth, and Meryl Streep. Did not like it. It was trying too hard and didn’t have the charm that the original had; there’s just no repeating the magic.
Up Next: The last musical, The Sound of Music
through their father’s buildings. They cause mayhem and are chastised by Seti afterwards. He expects a lot from Rameses, who will succeed him as Pharaoh. Moses pleads for his father to not blame Rameses and suggests that his older brother only needs an opportunity to prove himself. Rameses is granted that opportunity at a banquet that night; Rameses in turn elevates Moses’ position. Priests Hotep and Huy are told to give the princes a gift; they have captured a foreign young woman. Moses is not the kindest to her upon meeting, but that night, he distracts guards to let her escape. He follows her to the slave quarters where he encounters Miriam and Aaron. Miriam thinks her brother has knowingly come, but he is unaware of his true heritage. Aaron pleads for mercy, but it’s not until Miriam repeats their mother’s lullaby that Moses realizes the woman speaks truth when she declares “I know who you are, and you are not a prince of Egypt.” She suggests he asks the man he calls father.
wedding. But she is waylaid by an old hag who wants to bestow a wedding wish. She pushes the maiden into the wishing well. The hag transforms into the queen and tells her stooge, Nathaniel, that she is sending Giselle to a world where there are no happy endings (similar to the premise of Once Upon a Time). The fall through the well transports Giselle to modern Times Square, in live action New York City. Giselle is terribly lost and confused. Help arrives in the form of Robert Phillip and his daughter, Morgan. He’s kind enough to take Giselle home with him, but on the condition that she calls for help. His resolve softens when Giselle falls asleep.
The next morning Moana discovers a stowaway, Heihei the chicken (and the funny scene of the screaming and coconut). The journey is not easy. Her boat turns over again in a storm and she asks the ocean for help. She wakes on a shore – the island where Maui has been marooned. Moana meets the demi-god who insists that he stole the heart to help mortals, he’s their hero. He brought them fire and the breeze and the sun. You’re Welcome. Then he traps Moana in a cave and tries to steal her boat. Moana escapes and the ocean puts her on the boat, even after Maui tries to throw her off a few times. The stone is a magnet for danger, he claims. And they’re soon set upon by the Kakamora (which look like evil coconut people). Moana further demonstrates her cleverness and her determination to see the mission through.
that the mission is truly hopeless and begs the ocean to choose someone else. The spirit of her grandmother comforts her; she should have never put all the pressure on Moana. If she wants to return home, her grandmother will help. “The people you love will change you, the things you have learned will guide you,” does Moana know who she is? “I am a girl who loves my island, I am the girl who loves the sea, it calls me.” Spirits of the old voyagers appear around her. “And the call isn’t out there at all, it’s inside me…come what may, I know the way. I Am Moana!” [that song gives me goosebumps] She swims down to the stone and when she pops back up, the spirits have vanished. But she knows what to do. She repairs her boat and sets off for Te Fiti again.
the palace and meet little princesses Elsa and Anna. Anna begs her older sister to “do the magic!” so they can play in snow. They sneak to a ballroom and Elsa freezes the floor. We briefly glimpse Olaf, who likes warm hugs. But Anna goes too fast jumping from snow mound to snow mound that Elsa creates. When Elsa trips, her shot goes too high and hits Anna. Their parents rush in from the commotion, their father demanding “Elsa, what have you done?” and they immediately head out of the capital, Elsa still trailing ice.
generally postulated that the queen of Arendelle and queen of Corona are sisters. And the king and queen of Arendelle were heading to Rapunzel and Eugene’s wedding when their ship went down. This is supported by Rapunzel and Eugene showing up at Elsa’s coronation (if you’re watching closely, it is distinctly them) and further supported by Frozen releasing three years after Tangled, and Elsa comes of age three years after her parents’ death. It is further theorized that the Arendelle ship is the shipwreck Ariel is exploring at the beginning of The Little Mermaid. This stems from the fact that both original fairytales were written by Hans Christen Anderson and there is a statue of a mermaid in Denmark, which lies along the route Anna and Elsa’s parents would have taken from Norway to Germany (Rapunzel being a German tale). Another option is that the Arendelle ship was blown 
don’t feel/ don’t let them know. Well now they know!” She Let[s] it Go. She’s able to use her power freely; and it’s beautiful. She creates a magnificent ice castle and to match her new mood, she creates a new (iconic) dress. The cold never bothered her, so she’s comfortable where she is. She’s never going back and tosses away her crown. According to Disney trivia, this song was the turning point the in the development of the film. At this point, the Snow Queen was not longer the villain. The song has also topped the Billboard list and that was the only song we heard on repeat for about a year, I think (Piano Guys did a beautiful crossover between this song and Vivaldi’s Winter; as I have often found, I prefer Piano Guys’ covers to the original). It was during this song that I figured out Idnia Menzel voiced Elsa, because the singing tone matches Defying Gravity from Wicked. I personally believe that the lyrics to this song are an aid to those who bottle up their emotions and worry about being themselves.
only to find her not there. Merida steps out, hair freed from its wimple, annoucning “I’ll be shootin for my own hand!” She has to tear the dress at the seams in order to allow arm movement, then proceeds to shoot three bull’s-eye in a row, splitting Dingwall’s arrow. Elinor is furious and throws Merida into a room in the castle. They shout at each other and Merida calls her mother a beast; she will never be like her, and slashes a tapestry. In retaliation, Elinor throws Merida’s bow into the fire. Merida rushes off in tears and Elinor realizes what she did. She pulls the bow out, but it’s too late; it’s cracked.
(sings) her daily schedule, which includes a lot of painting and brushing her hair, and wonders When Will My Life Begin? Mother Gothel returns home and calls for “Rapunzel, let down your hair!”, the classic line. And I further dislike the hag for her use of mean teasing; it’s a pet peeve of mine. One has to wonder how Rapunzel turned out sweet and kind with that kind of influence.
Once Gothel is gone, Rapunzel puts her plan into action. Flynn wakes thanks to Pascal’s tongue in his ear, to find himself strapped to a chair, by hair. Rapunzel reveals herself, asking “Who are you and how did you find me?”, believing that he is there for her hair. Flynn starts very charming, then falls into more modern flirting, which is a bit humorous (I do like that he is not like any other prince or leading man and he’s very sarcastic). But he’s concerned for his satchel. He guesses Rapunzel’s hiding spot, so she knocks him out again (that never gets old) and he’s woken by Pascal’s tongue again. Rapunzel feels that fate or destiny brought them together, Flynn cracks “a horse,” and points out that it’s terrible idea to simply trust him (works out this time, but not a theory to be tested often). She strikes a deal with Flynn once she finds out he’s not after her hair; he takes her to see the lanterns, she’ll return his satchel; without her help, he will never find it. Flynn attempts his “smolder” [I side with Rapunzel; not terribly impressed]. He agrees, Rapunzel drops him on his face: “You broke my smolder!” [ha ha! That is always funny].
into the kingdom. It’s quickly discovered that incredibly long loose hair is not good in a town center; Eugene enlists the help of a few young girls to braid Rapunzel’s locks. They have wonderful little adventures throughout the day; Rapunzel showing off her art skills, reading books in the sunshine, learning about the lost princess in front of mosaic of the royal family, culminating in a dance [my favorite part of the soundtrack]. Eugene and Rapunzel finally end together at the end of the dance, but before they have a chance to act, the call goes out to head to boats for the lanterns.
passed and witness Jim take off on a hoverboard of some sort, weaving about bits of machinery. He’s clearly ecstatic, until robotic cops catch up. He’s taken home to his mother’s inn, filled with a variety of odd creatures. Sarah Hawkins is overworked and we can tell times have been difficult and she’s not terribly pleased to have her teenage son brought home by cops, again. She had just been telling a family friend, Dr. Delbert Doppler, that Jim was turning around. The cops inform her, and Jim, that one more stunt will land him in juvenile detention. Then the stupid bots call him a loser. Sarah just doesn’t want to see Jim throw away his entire future; Jim’s retort is “what future?” We find out, from a conversation between Dr. Doppler and Sarah, that Jim is very bright, but he took his father leaving them as a boy very hard (as has been pointed out, that is rare for a Disney movie, for a parent to have left, instead of died).
they won’t tell his mother about the life-threatening bits of their adventure. Jim discovers Silver a few minutes later, attempting to steal the last skiff. He aids Silver, but turns down the man’s offer to go with him; following Silver’s earlier advice to chart his own course. Silver is proud of the lad, telling the lad he’s glowing; “you’ll rattle the stars,” he tearfully encourages. They share a last embrace and Silver tells Morph to keep an eye on Jim. One last token, Silver tosses Jim a handful of treasure, for his mother to rebuild her inn. The movie ends with the inn being rebuilt; Amelia and Delbert are married, with four children; the cops show up with Jim, showing off his new uniform. Bonus features reveal that Jim went on to become a captain. Where You Are closes out the film.
Dreamer in the Mirror 