Mary Poppins is a 1964 musical film starring Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke, produced by Walt Disney, and based on the Mary Poppins books series by P. L. Travers with illustrations by Mary Shepard. The film was directed by Robert Stevenson and written by Bill Walsh and Don DaGradi, with songs by the Sherman Brothers. It was shot at Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California.

Julie Andrews won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance as Mary Poppins and the film also won Oscars for Best Film Editing, Original Music Score, Best Song for "Chim Chim Cher-ee" and Best Visual Effects, and received a total of 13 nominations.

Plot[link]

The film opens with Mary Poppins (Julie Andrews) perched in a cloud high above London in Spring 1910.^[2] The action descends to Earth where Bert (Dick Van Dyke), a Cockney jack-of-all-trades is performing as a one-man band at a park entrance. The spectators watching him include: Ms. Persimmon (Marjorie Eaton), Miss Lark (Marjorie Bennett) and Mrs. Corry (Alma Lawton). He suddenly senses that his good friend is about to return. After the show, he speaks directly to the audience, introducing viewers first to Admiral Boom, who keeps his exterior rooftop "Ship Shape", by firing his cannon at 8:AM and 6:PM each day, and then to the well-to-do but troubled Banks family, headed by the cold and aloof George Banks (David Tomlinson) and the loving but highly distracted suffragette Winifred Banks (Glynis Johns).

The Bankses' latest nanny, Katie Nanna (Elsa Lanchester), is quitting out of exasperation after the Banks children, Jane (Karen Dotrice) and Michael (Matthew Garber), have run off for the fourth time this week. Ellen, the maid (Hermione Baddeley), pleads with her not to leave, but Mrs. Brill, the cook (Reta Shaw), wishes her good riddance. Mrs. Banks returns home, and engages all four women in a rousing rendition of "Sister Suffragette", before Katie Nanna stalks out. Mr. Banks returns home from his job at the Dawes Tomes Mousley Grubbs Fidelity Fiduciary Bank, and Mrs. Banks reveals the children are missing. A policeman (Arthur Treacher), arrives with the children, who ask their father to help repair their damaged kite, but he dismisses them and advertises for an authoritarian nanny-replacement. Jane and Michael draft their own advertisement asking for a fun, kind-hearted and caring person, but Mr. Banks tears up the paper and throws it in the fireplace. Unnoticed, the remains of the note float up the dark chimney.

The next day, a queue of elderly and disagreeable looking candidates await at the door. However, a strong gust of wind blows the queue away and Mary Poppins floats down, held aloft by her magical umbrella, to apply. Mr. Banks is stunned to see that this calmly defiant new nanny has responded to the children's ad despite the fact he destroyed it. Although Mary Poppins recites the ad, she also tells George that she is firm and will also lay down ground rules with the children. As he puzzles, Mary Poppins employs herself and begins work, saying that she will stay for a trial period of one week, before deciding if she will take a permanent position. The children face surprises of their own: Mary possesses a bottomless carpetbag, and makes contents of the children's nursery come to life and tidy themselves (by snapping her fingers).

The trio then meet Bert, who is a close friend of Mary, in the park at work as a screever, where Mary uses one of his chalk pavement drawings as a gateway to an outing in an animated countryside. While in the drawing, the children ride a merry-go-round while Mary and Bert enjoy a stroll through the countryside, during which Bert dances at an outdoor bistro with four penguin waiters. Mary and Bert join the children on the merry-go-round, from which the horses break loose and take their riders on a trip through the countryside. As they pass by a fox hunt, Bert maneuvers to save an Irish-accented fox from the bloodhounds. Finally the quartet finds themselves in a horse race, which Mary wins. It is here that Mary first employs the nonsense word "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious." The outing is interrupted by a rainstorm, which washes away the chalk drawing and returns the travellers to the park pavement.

That evening, the children ask Mary how long she'll stay with them. With a somber expression, she replies, "I shall stay until the wind changes". The next day, they all visit Bert's jovial Uncle Albert (Ed Wynn), who floats whenever he laughs, and join him in a tea party in mid-air, though Mary finds it childish and ridiculous. They all get down, only when one had to think of "Something Sad", when Mary firmly says: "It is time to go home."

Mr. Banks grows increasingly irate with his children's stories of their adventures, but Mary effortlessly inverts his attempted dismissal of her services into a plan to take his children with him to the Dawes Tomes Mousley Grubbs Fidelity Fiduciary Bank, where he is employed. On the way there, as they pass the bank, the children see "The Bird Woman (Jane Darwell)", of whom Mary sang to them the night before, and they want to feed the birds around her, but George will have none of it as he expresses his disinterest in what Mary Poppins says and orders his children to "come along" and not mention her name for the rest of the day. Upon arriving at the bank, Mr. Dawes Jr (Arthur Malet) and Mr. Dawes Sr (Dick Van Dyke)—Mr. Banks' employers—aggressively try to persuade Michael to invest his tuppence in the bank to the point of actually snatching it out of his hand without waiting for his permission. When Michael protests, the other customers misunderstand and start a run on the bank that forces the bank to suspend business. The Bank Guard (Jimmy Logan) chases the children causing the children to flee and wander into the slums of the East End of London. Fortunately, they run into Bert, now employed as a chimney sweep. He takes them safely home, explaining that their father does not hate them, but that he has problems of his own, and that unlike the children, has no one to whom to turn but himself.

At home, a departing Mrs. Banks employs Bert to clean the family's chimney and mind the children. Mary Poppins arrives back from her day off and warns of the dangers of this activity, but is too late as the children are both sucked up the chimney to the roof. Bert and Mary follow them and lead a tour of the rooftops of London that concludes with a joyful dance with Bert's chimney-sweep colleagues. A volley of fireworks from the Banks' eccentric neighbour, Admiral Boom (Reginald Owen), who mistakes them for Hottentots, orders Mr. Binnacle (Don Barclay) to set off the fireworks which sends the entire gathering back down a different chimney, which turns out to be the Banks' chimney. Mr. Banks arrives home, causing the chimney sweepers to depart outside the home, and out into the street, where they disappear from view within less than half a minute. Their departure conclude the festivities. Banks angrily inquires Mary Poppins what was the meaning of this, in which Mary replies that she never explains anything. Banks then receives a phone call from work ordering him to return immediately for disciplinary action. As Mr. Banks gathers his strength, Bert points out that while Mr. Banks does need to make a living, his offspring's childhood will come and go in a blink of an eye, and he needs to be there for them while he can. The Banks children approach their father to apologize, and Michael gives Mr. Banks his tuppence in the hope that it will make things all right. Banks gently accepts the offering.

A somber and thoughtful Mr. Banks walks alone through the night-time streets, for the first time noticing several of the buildings around him, including the cathedral and steps on which the bird woman was sitting earlier. At the bank, he is formally humiliated and sacked for causing the first run on the bank since 1773 (it is stated that the bank supplied the money for the shipment of tea destroyed in the Boston Tea Party). However, after being at a loss when ordered to give a statement, Mr. Banks invokes Mary Poppins' all-purpose word "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!" to tweak Mr. Dawes. He gives Dawes the tuppence, tells the old man one of Bert's and Uncle Albert's jokes, and raucously departs. Dawes mulls over the joke, finally "gets it" and floats up into the air, laughing.

The next morning, the wind has changed direction, and so Mary must depart. Meanwhile, the Banks adults cannot find Mr. Banks, and fear that he might have become suicidal. However, Mr. Banks, now loving and joyful, reappears with the now-mended kite and cheerfully summons his children. The greatly relieved Mrs. Banks supplies a tail for the kite, using one of her suffragette ribbons. They all leave the house without a backward glance as Mary Poppins watches from a window. In the park with other kite-flyers, Mr. Banks meets Mr. Dawes Jr., now in charge of the bank, who says that his father literally died laughing. Instead of being upset, the son is delighted his father died happy and re-employs Mr. Banks to fill the opening as junior partner. Her work done, Mary Poppins takes to the air with a fond farewell from Bert (who was selling kites), telling her not to stay away too long.

Production history[link]

The first book was the main basis for the Walt Disney film Mary Poppins, a musical with mixed live-action and animation which premiered on August 27, 1964, well into the first year of the British Invasion. It was the Sherman Brothers, who composed the music and song score, and who were also involved in the picture's development, who suggested that the setting be changed from the 1930s to the Edwardian era. Julie Andrews, who was making her movie acting debut after a successful stage career, got the prime role of Mary Poppins soon after she was passed over by Jack Warner and replaced with Audrey Hepburn for the role of Eliza Doolittle in his screen version of My Fair Lady, even though Andrews had originated the role on Broadway.^[3] Andrews later beat Hepburn for the Best Actress Awards in both the Golden Globes and Academy Awards for their respective roles.

Disney cast Dick Van Dyke in the key supporting role of Bert, thanks to his work on The Dick Van Dyke Show. Van Dyke also played the senior Mr. Dawes in the film. Although he is fondly remembered for this film, Van Dyke's attempt at a cockney accent is regarded as one of the worst film accents in history, cited as an example by actors since as something that they wish to avoid. In a 2003 poll by Empire magazine of the worst film accents of all time he came second.^[4][5] Van Dyke claims that his accent coach was Irish, who "didn't do an accent any better than I did".^[6]

According to the 40th Anniversary DVD release of the film in 2004, Walt Disney first attempted to purchase the film rights to Mary Poppins from P. L. Travers as early as 1938 but was rebuffed because Travers did not believe a film version of her books would do justice to her creation. In addition, Disney was known at the time primarily as a producer of cartoons and had yet to produce any major live-action work. For more than 20 years, Disney periodically made efforts to convince Travers to allow him to make a Poppins film. He finally succeeded in 1961, although Travers demanded and got script approval rights. Planning the film and composing the songs took about two years. Travers objected to a number of elements that actually made it into the film. Rather than original songs, she wanted the soundtrack to feature known standards of the Edwardian period in which the story is set. She also objected to the animated sequence. Disney overruled her, citing contract stipulations that he had final say on the finished print.

In the end, Travers was probably at least somewhat justified in her doubts. While retaining much of the flavor of the first book, the film changed the story line in a number of places. For example, Mary, approaching the house, controlled the wind rather than the other way around. Also, the father, rather than the mother, interviewed Mary for the nanny position. And so forth. Much of the Travers - Disney correspondence is part of the Travers collection of papers in the Mitchell Library of New South Wales, Australia. The relationship between Travers and Disney is detailed in Mary Poppins She Wrote, a biography of Travers, by Valerie Lawson. The biography is the basis for two documentaries on Travers, The Real Mary Poppins and Lisa Matthews' The Shadow of Mary Poppins.^[7][8][9]

A number of other changes were necessary to condense the story into feature length. In the movie, there are only two Banks children, Jane and Michael. The satirical and mysterious aspects of the original book gave way to a cheerful and 'Disneyfied' tone. Mary Poppins' character as portrayed by Andrews in the film is somewhat less vain and more sympathetic towards the children than the rather cold and intimidating nanny of the original book. Bert, as played by Van Dyke, was a composite of several characters from Travers' stories. Travers demanded that any suggestions of romance between Mary and Bert be eliminated, so lyrics were written for "Jolly Holiday" that clearly indicated that their friendship was purely platonic. (Some subtle hints of romance, however, did remain in the finished film.)

As mentioned above, Van Dyke played two roles in the film. Andrews did at least three: during "A Spoonful of Sugar," she provided the whistling harmony for the robin (which actually employed a model of a male American robin, nesting with another adult male American Robin), and she was also one of the Pearly singers during "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious." David Tomlinson, besides playing Mr. Banks, also provided the voice of Mary's talking umbrella as well as numerous other voice-over parts (including that of Admiral Boom's first mate). During the Jolly Holiday sequence, the three singing Cockney geese were all voiced by Marni Nixon, a regular aural substitute for actresses with poor singing voices. Nixon would later play one of Julie Andrews' fellow nuns in The Sound of Music; she had also provided the singing voice for Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady.

Cast and characters[link]

Mary Poppins[link]

"Practically perfect in every way", Mary Poppins (Julie Andrews, winner of the Best Actress Oscar Award) comes down from the clouds in response to the Banks children's advertisement for a Nanny. She is not only firm in her use of authority, but kind and gentle as well (a major departure from the original books, in which the character was strict and pompous). She travels to help children everywhere when they are most in need.

Bert[link]

Bert (Dick Van Dyke) as well as being a jack-of-all-trades, and Mary's closest normal friend who is notable in that he is completely accustomed to her magic. Their interaction, such as in the song "Jolly Holiday", makes it clear they have known each other for a long time, and that this kind of story has repeated itself many times. When she sails away at the end of the film, he asks her not to stay away too long, this time, possibly showing that he is accustomed to having Mary come and go as she pleases.

Bert has at least four jobs throughout the film: a one-man band, a pavement chalk artist (or "screever"), a chimney sweep, and a kite seller. Bert also hints at selling hot chestnuts. His various street-vending jobs meet with mixed financial success, but he retains his cheery disposition and a bright red nose.

Bert also indirectly assists Mary Poppins in her mission to save the Banks family, as he plays a key role in helping the Banks children and Mr. Banks to understand each other better.

Mr. Banks[link]

George Banks (David Tomlinson) is Mary Poppins' employer. He works at the Dawes Tomes Mousley Grubbs Fidelity Fiduciary Bank in the City of London, and lives at 17 Cherry Tree Lane with his wife, Winifred, and their children. He is a driven and disciplined man (he could be considered a Type A personality in modern standards) who callously dismisses the "Votes for Women" movement and tends to treat his children, wife, and servants as assets rather than people — a fact clearly evidenced in his song "The Life I Lead". By the end of the movie, Mr. Banks' attitude towards his family, job, and Mary Poppins has changed dramatically. In contrast to what his children want, George wants a strict and authoritarian nanny that will give commands to "mold" Jane and Michael into nothing more than little obedient soldiers, something that his wife agrees with until and after the children show their ad for a new nanny.

Melodies in the score punctuate the children's need for their father's attention and love, and most of the dramatic tension in the film involves his journey from disconnected family autocrat to fully engaged family man.

According to the Special Edition Soundtrack bonus disc, Mary Poppins was George's own nanny when he was a child. Travers intended to have the script hint this strongly in a few places, but it was largely left out of the movie, except for the following words in Bert's opening song, "Can't put me finger on what lies in store ... But I feel what's to 'appen, all 'appened before ...!" and George's own statement to the elder Mr. Dawes identifying "Poppins" as "my nanny". However, in Banks' initial interview with Mary Poppins, there is little or no indication that the two have ever met before, and his description of her as "my nanny" could easily mean "the nanny I have employed to look after my children during the day" or even "my maid" or "my cook".

Mrs. Banks[link]

Winnifred Banks (Glynis Johns) is the wife of George Banks and the mother of Jane and Michael. She is more fully developed in the film than in the books. She is depicted as a member of Emmeline Pankhurst's suffragette movement and appears to be so dedicated to the women's cause to the extent that she, like her husband, neglects the children. Her main outfit is a blue and orange Edwardian-style dress with a white and blue sash that reads "Votes for Women" in black letters. She wears white gloves in the film (as did most Edwardian English women) and a stylish hat. Her song in the film is "Sister Suffragette", which she sings with the other two women of the household staff. She is mostly responsible for the primary duty which is "Posts, everyone!", a simple way to protect elegant and delicate household items (such as vases or pictures) from destruction when Mr. Binnicle fires the cannon on top of Admiral Boom's house next door. She is also given yellow daisies by her son Michael one morning as he and his sister are singing "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious."

She is more sensitive to the needs of the children than her husband is, but also finds herself starved for his attention. As with the children, it is clear she loves George very much, but he is too wrapped up in his view of the way things "ought to be" to return her love satisfactorily. Mrs. Banks was originally named "Cynthia", but this was quickly changed to the more "English-sounding" Winifred after some issues with the script.

Mrs. Banks' four "Votes for Women" sashes from the film have all survived and are in perfect condition. One can be seen being "pulled out" of Richard M. Sherman's "special musicians' trunk" on the Musical Journey seen on the 2004 DVD release.

Mrs. Banks and Mary Poppins never speak to each other in the movie (possibly to show that the "man" of the household had power, and would deal with the nanny), though Mrs. Banks does mention her frequently. In the book, they do speak to one another.

The Banks children[link]

While the Banks family in the original novel had four children, only Jane (Karen Dotrice) and Michael (Matthew Garber) appear in the film (because the other two children were infants who contributed almost nothing to the plot). Katie Nanna's stormy departure suggests that the children are impossibly undisciplined, and they do demonstrate some evidence of this in their own advertisement for a new nanny, as they promise not to "hide her spectacles so she can't see, put toads in her bed or pepper in her tea" while smiling at each other in remembrance of jokes on former nannies. Once Mary Poppins arrives, the children come across as mostly sweet and innocent, albeit a tad rebellious.

All they want is for their father to love them, and they have mistakenly interpreted his indifference to their needs as disliking them. They have tried to live up to his demands on them, which has only left them with shaky self-esteem. Those elements come together in a bit of dialogue early in the film, in which they explain that they did not run away from Katie Nanna, their kite took them away from her. They say that the kite is not very good, "because they made it themselves". They suggest to their father that if he could help them with it, it would turn out better. Alas, at that point, Banks is too wrapped up in his philosophy, that a British household should be run like a British bank, to take this strongest of hints.

After inadvertently causing a run on the bank, the children give their father their tuppence, expressing the hope that it will make things right. At that moment, Mr. Banks finally understands, and his priorities take a 180-degree turn, leading to the film's happy resolution.

Minor characters[link]

• Ellen (Hermione Baddeley), the maid of the Banks residence. Although she is fond of the children, she hates having to look after them when there is no nanny available in the household.
• Mrs. Brill (Reta Shaw), the cook of the Banks residence. She doesn't like intruders when she sees them. For example, in the musical number called "Step in Time", she sees too many chimney sweepers and screams the phrase, "THEY'RE AT IT AGAIN!"
• Admiral Boom (Reginald Owen), the Banks's neighbour and a naval officer. He has his first mate, Mr. Binnacle, fire a cannon from his roof every 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. When those firings are about to happen, the attendants of the Banks or Mrs. Banks shout "Posts, everyone!" and rush to keep fragile possessions from falling to the ground while the house rocks. The admiral is known for his punctuality. He also considers a group of mean nannies as a "ghastly looking crew".
• Mr. Binnacle (Don Barclay), Admiral Boom's first mate. He gets excited when he is ordered to give the cannon a double charge.
• Constable Jones (Arthur Treacher), a police officer who convinces Mr. Banks that the kite pulled the Banks children away when he brought them back. He is a kindhearted man that knows his duties, but hates the way George treats his family and servants, as he mutters to himself before walking out the Banks' home in his first scene.
• Katie Nanna (Elsa Lanchester), the disgruntled nanny who quits the Banks family. Mrs. Brill never liked her one bit, although Ellen begged her not to leave because then Ellen would have to watch over the children alone.
• Miss Lark (Marjorie Bennett), the Banks's neighbour. A prissy, prim and posh old woman with a dog named Andrew, who frequently runs away.
• Mr. Dawes Sr. (Dick Van Dyke), the impossibly ancient director of the bank where Mr. Banks works; he often needs a little help when he moves clumsily and literally dies laughing toward the end of the film after Mr. Banks tells him a joke. (During the film's end titles, "Navckid Keyd" is credited as Mr. Dawes Sr, an anagram of "Dick Van Dyke.")
• Mr. Dawes Jr. (Arthur Malet), the director's son and member of the board. Surprisingly, he does not mourn his father dying, as he is glad that he died happily.
• Uncle Albert (Ed Wynn), a jolly, portly gentleman who loves to laugh uncontrollably and floats up every time he does so; it also happens to other characters in the movie.
• The bird woman (Jane Darwell, in her final film appearance).
• Mrs. Corry (Alma Lawton), an old shopkeeper of a gingerbread shop. She has two daughters who were once shorter than she is, "but they grew" and are now twice her height. Mary Poppins and the children nearly visit her shop but have to change plans so that they can see Uncle Albert. She is apparently the oldest person in the world.
• The parrot handle to Mary's umbrella (David Tomlinson, uncredited) who speaks at the end of the film.
• Miss Persimmon (Marjorie Eaton), seen in the park where, after a long pause when the wind blows, her only word was a questioning "yes?". In the book she is a nurse looking after Uncle Albert.
• The doorman at the bank (Jimmy Logan), who chases after the children in the bank run.

Songs[link]

1. Overture — Orchestral medley of several of the songs from the film, including "Feed the Birds", "A Spoonful of Sugar", "Chim Chim Cher-ee" and "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious".
2. "Jolly Holiday" — A few bars of the song, played by Dick Van Dyke with his "one man band" gear.
3. "Sister Suffragette" — Glynis Johns, Hermione Baddeley and Reta Shaw, with non-singing interruptions by Elsa Lanchester. Initially heard in an a cappella rendition by Johns, just prior to singing the full, orchestra-accompanied song with the house staff; and a later instrumental version in the "Step in Time" sequence, where Mrs. Banks is flanked by chimney sweeps who act as an honor guard of sorts.
4. "The Life I Lead" — David Tomlinson (later reprised with Julie Andrews as "A British Bank" and with Dick Van Dyke as "A Man has Dreams".)
5. "The Perfect Nanny" — Karen Dotrice and Matthew Garber
6. "A Spoonful of Sugar" — Julie Andrews (the 2004 DVD release reveals that Andrews also performed the bird's whistling during this number)
7. "Jolly Holiday" — Dick Van Dyke and Julie Andrews, with Thurl Ravenscroft, Marni Nixon, Paul Frees and others
8. "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" — Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke with J. Pat O'Malley and others
9. "Stay Awake" — Julie Andrews
10. "I Love to Laugh" — Dick Van Dyke, Julie Andrews and Ed Wynn
11. "Feed the Birds" — Julie Andrews (Walt Disney's favorite song from the score, and the leadoff melody in the overture)
12. "Fidelity Fiduciary Bank" — Dick Van Dyke, David Tomlinson and other partner bankers at the bank
13. "Chim Chim Cher-ee" — Performed several times with different lyrics by Dick Van Dyke; also performed by Van Dyke with Julie Andrews, Karen Dotrice, and Matthew Garber (won the Academy Award for Best Original Song)
14. "Step in Time" — Dick Van Dyke and other Chimney Sweepers
15. "A Man Has Dreams" — David Tomlinson and Dick Van Dyke. This is a slower-paced rendition of "The Life I Lead" which incorporates a brief reprise of "A Spoonful of Sugar".
16. "Feed the Birds" — Orchestral and choral reprise, played over Mr. Banks's solitary walk to the bank at night.
17. "Let's Go Fly a Kite" — Glynis Johns, David Tomlinson, Dick Van Dyke and others.
18. Closing credits theme — Includes an instrumental reprise of "Spoonful of Sugar" followed by a choral reprise of "Let's Go Fly a Kite".

In 2004, "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" was ranked #36 in the American Film Institute's list of the 100 Greatest Songs in American film History.

Deleted songs[link]

A number of other songs were written for the film by the Sherman Brothers and either rejected or cut for time. Richard Sherman, on the 2004 DVD release, indicated that more than 30 songs were written at various stages of the film's development. No cast recordings of any of these songs have been released to the public, only demos or later performances done by the songwriters — with the exception of the rooftop reprise of "Chim-Chim-Cheree" and the "smoke staircase yodel" mentioned below.

1. "The Chimpanzoo", was originally to follow "I Love to Laugh" during the Uncle Albert "ceiling tea party" sequence, but it was dropped from the soundtrack just before Julie Andrews and company were to record it. The fast-paced number was not unveiled to the public until Richard Sherman, aided by recently uncovered storyboards, performed it on the 2004 DVD edition. The re-creation suggests it was to have been another sequence combining animation and live action.
2. "Practically Perfect" was intended to introduce Mary but instead the melody of the piece was used for "Sister Suffragette" (used to introduce Winifred (Mrs. Banks)). A different song with the same name was written for the stage musical.
3. "The Eyes of Love", a romantic ballad, was intended for Bert and Mary, but according to Richard Sherman, Julie Andrews suggested privately to Disney that this song was not suitable. In response, "A Spoonful of Sugar" was written.
4. "Mary Poppins Melody" was to be performed when Mary introduces herself to the children. Elements of the song later became part of "Stay Awake". The melody was the basis for a couple of other songs that were ultimately cut from the film.
5. "A Name's a Name". Heard on a recording taken of a meeting between the Sherman Brothers and P.L. Travers, this song was originally intended for the nursery scene that later became "A Spoonful of Sugar." The melody was reused for "Mary Poppins Melody".
6. "You Think, You Blink" was a short piece that Bert was to sing just before entering the chalk painting (and starting the "Jolly Holiday" sequence). In the film, Dick Van Dyke simply recites the lyric instead of singing it.
7. "West Wind" was a short ballad to be sung by Mary. The song was later retitled "Mon Amour Perdu" and used in the later Disney film, Big Red.
8. "The Right Side" was to be sung by Mary to Michael Banks after he gets out of bed cranky. It was recycled for the Disney Channel television series, Welcome to Pooh Corner as Winnie the Pooh's personal theme song.
9. "Measure Up" was to accompany the scene in which Mary takes the tape measure to Jane and Michael.
10. "Admiral Boom" was to be the theme song for the cannon-firing neighbor of the Banks Residence, but it was cut by Walt Disney as being unnecessary. The melody of the song remains in the film, and the bombastic theme is heard whenever Boom appears onscreen. One line from this song ("The whole world takes its time from Greenwich, but Greenwich, they say, takes its time from Admiral Boom!") is spoken by Bert early in the film.
11. "Sticks, Paper and Strings" was an early version of "Let's Go Fly a Kite."
12. "Lead the Righteous Life", an intentionally poorly-written hymn, was to have been sung by Katie Nanna (Elsa Lanchester) along with Jane and Michael prior to Mary Poppins' arrival. The melody was later reused for a similar song in The Happiest Millionaire
13. "The Pearly Song" was not deleted per se but was instead incorporated into "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious".

The Compass Sequence, a precursor to "Jolly Holiday", was to be a multiple-song sequence. A number of possible musical components have been identified:

1. "South Sea Island Symphony"
2. "Chinese Festival Song"
3. "Tim-buc-too" — elements of this were reused for "The Chimpanzoo" which was also cut
4. "Tiki Town" — the melody was reused for "The Chimpanzoo"
5. "North Pole Polka"
6. "Land of Sand" — later rewritten as "Trust in Me" for the animated version of The Jungle Book
7. "The Beautiful Briny" — later used in Bedknobs and Broomsticks
8. "East is East" — another variation on the unused "Mary Poppins Melody".

Deleted scores and music[link]

• The "Step in Time" sequence ends with the chimney sweeps being scattered by an onslaught of fireworks fired from Admiral Boom's house. In the final film, the scene plays out with sound effects and no music. The DVD release included the original version of the scene which was accompanied by a complex instrumental musical arrangement that combined "Step in Time", the "Admiral Boom" melody (see above), and "A Spoonful of Sugar". This musical arrangement can be heard on the film's original soundtrack.
• Andrews recorded a brief reprise of "Chim-Cheree" which was to have accompanied Mary, Bert, and the children as they marched across the rooftops of London (an instrumental reprise of "A Spoonful of Sugar" was used as a march instead; however, Andrews and Dick Van Dyke can still be seen and heard singing a reprise of "Chim-Cheree" in that sequence, just before the other chimney sweeps appear for the "Step in Time" number).
• The robin Mary Poppins whistles with in "A Spoonful of Sugar" originally sang a lyric as well.
• Andrews also recorded a brief yodel which breaks into the first line of "A Spoonful of Sugar" which was to have been used to "activate" the smoke staircase prior to the "Step in Time" number. Although cut from the film, footage of Andrews performing this exists and was included on the 2004 DVD. The DVD also indicates that an alternate version of the yodel performed by Dick Van Dyke may also exist.

Awards and honors[link]

Academy Awards[link]

The film received 13 Academy Award nominations (it shares this record with Gone with the Wind, From Here to Eternity, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Forrest Gump, Shakespeare in Love, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Chicago, and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; only All About Eve and Titanic have received more nominations, 14 each) and won 5 awards.^[10] This makes Mary Poppins the most Oscar-winning and Oscar-nominated Disney film in history.

Awards:

• Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Julie Andrews
• Best Original Song for "Chim Chim Cher-ee"-- Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman
• Best Substantially Original Score -- Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman
• Best Film Editing -- Cotton Warburton
• Best Visual Effects -- Peter Ellenshaw, Eustace Lycett and Hamilton Luske

Nominations:

• Best Art Direction (Color) -- Carroll Clark, William H. Tuntke, Emile Kuri and Hal Gausman (My Fair Lady won)
• Best Cinematography (Color) (My Fair Lady won)
• Best Costume Design (Color) (My Fair Lady won)
• Best Director -- Robert Stevenson (My Fair Lady won)
• Best Scoring of Music-adaptation or treatment -- Irwin Kostal (My Fair Lady won)
• Best Picture (My Fair Lady won)
• Best Sound -- Robert O. Cook (My Fair Lady won)
• Best Adapted Screenplay (Becket won)

American Film Institute[link]

• AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies - Nominated^[11]
• AFI's 100 Years... 100 Laughs - Nominated^[12]
• AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains:
  • Mary Poppins - Nominated Hero^[13]
• AFI's 100 Years... 100 Songs:
  • Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious - #36
  • Chim Chim Cher-ee - Nominated^[14]
• AFI's 100 Years of Musicals - #6
• AFI's 100 Years...100 Cheers - Nominated^[15]
• AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) - Nominated^[16]
• AFI's 10 Top 10 - Nominated Fantasy Film^[17]

Reception[link]

Mary Poppins was the #1 moneymaker of 1965, earning a net profit of $28.5 million.^[18][19] The Sound of Music was #2 with $20 million; Goldfinger was #3 at $19.7 million; and My Fair Lady was #4 at $19 million. The film also received universal acclaim by film critics, and holds a 100% "Certified Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes.^[18]

Critic Drew Casper summarized the impact of Mary Poppins in 2011: "Disney was the leader, his musical fantasies mixing animation and truly marvelous f/x with real-life action for children and the child in the adult. Mary Poppins (1964) was his plum. ... the story was elemental, even trite. But utmost sophistication (the chimney pot sequence crisply cut by Oscared "Cotton" Warburton) and high-level invention (a tea party on the ceiling, a staircase of black smoke to the city's top) characterized its handling."^[20]

Home media[link]

Mary Poppins was first released in the early 1980s on VHS, Beta, CED and laserdisc. In 1994, 1997, and 1999, it was re-released three times as part of the Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection. In 1998, this film became Disney's first DVD. In 2000, it was released on VHS and DVD as part of the Gold Classic Collection. In 2004, it had a 2-Disc DVD release in a Digitally Restored 40th Anniversary Edition as well as its final issue in the VHS Format. The film's audio track featured an "Enhanced Home Theater Mix" consisting of replaced sound effects (to make the soundtrack more "modern") and improved fidelity and mixing and some new music (this version is also shown whenever ABC Family airs the movie.) On January 27, 2009, the film was released on DVD again as a 45th anniversary edition, with more language tracks and special features. No Blu-ray Disk release of the film has been announced.

Soundtrack[link]

In the 1980s a compact disc was released. In 1997, an 18-track disc was released with the interview as a final track. This was re-released in 2010. In 2002, a 23-track disc was released. In 2004, as part of the 40th Anniversary (also called Special Edition), a 28-track disc (as part of a two-disc set) was released. This is the most comprehensive version. Duke Ellington also did a swing album covering the songs. Louis Prima did a jazz album covering the songs.

[edit] The Cat That Looked at a King

In 2004, Julie Andrews appeared in a live-action/animated short that was produced by DisneyToon Studios for the 40th Anniversary DVD release of the 1964 film. Titled The Cat That Looked at a King, the film was based upon part of Travers's book Mary Poppins Opens the Door, and it could be seen as something of a sequel or follow-up to the movie. The film was offered to The Answer Studio, which is partly made up of former employees of Walt Disney Animation (Japan), to be their first project.^[21] President Motoyoshi Tokunaga says that 20 artists/animators worked on the film for a period of three months.^[21]

The film opens in the modern day with two British children looking at chalk drawings at the same location where Bert did his artwork in the original movie. (According to Julie Andrews, the set was re-created, down to the last detail, using the originals.) Andrews, dressed in modern clothes, greets the children and takes them into the chalk drawing where they watch the tale unfold. A cat (Tracey Ullman) comes into the presence of a king (David Ogden Stiers) who loves the facts and figures of the world more than anything else. Unfortunately, this includes his wife, the Queen (Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York). The Cat and the King challenge each other to three questions each: if the Cat wins, she gets the kingdom but if the King wins, he will become the smartest man in the universe. The Cat wins all her questions whilst the King wins none. When the King tells them he does not know who he is anymore, the Cat shows an image of him dancing with the Queen. She declines her prize and is given a brooch as a token of thanks by the Queen. The children and Andrews return to the park entrance, where Andrews denies that she took them into the painting, as she did in the film. The Prime Minister was also voiced by David Ogden Stiers.

Whether Andrews is playing a modern-day Mary Poppins or not is left to the viewer's imagination, although some sources identify Andrews' character as Mary Poppins^{[citation needed]}. The shadow of Mary Poppins can also be seen when she looks down at the live action cat towards the end.

An orchestral reprise of "Feed the Birds" is heard to open the film and another reprise of Jolly Holiday is heard at the end. Quotes from the film such as Mary's catchphrase "Spit-spot!" and "I have no intention of making a spectacle of myself, thank you," are also featured. She also says, "A respectable person like me in a painting? How dare you suggest such a thing!" This parodies "A respectable person like me in a horse race? How dare you suggest such a thing!", which she said when Jane and Michael told her of their adventure in Bert's chalk picture in the film.

See also[link]

• Mary Poppins (musical) by Disney Theatrical
• Films considered the greatest ever
• Mark Bostridge on Mary Poppins, http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/hail-mary-547034.html

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Mary Poppins

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Mary Poppins (film)

• Mary Poppins at the Internet Movie Database
• The Cat That Looked at a King at the Internet Movie Database
• Mary Poppins at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• Mary Poppins at the TCM Movie Database
• Mary Poppins at AllRovi
• Mary Poppins at Box Office Mojo
• Mary Poppins (film) at Rotten Tomatoes
• Mary Poppins DVD Review on Kidzworld.com
• Empire - The Worst British Accents Ever - Number 11 - Dick Van Dyke singing in Mary Poppins (1964) (requires Flash)
• Mary Poppins and the Blessed Virgin Mary

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2010)

Mary Poppins is a series of children's books written by the Australian novelist P. L. Travers.^[1] Throughout the Mary Poppins series, Mary Shepard was the illustrator, and acted as a second author.^[2] The books centre on a magical English nanny, Mary Poppins. She is blown by the East wind to Number Seventeen Cherry Tree Lane, London, and into the Banks' household to care for their children. Encounters with chimney sweeps, shopkeepers and various adventures follow until Mary Poppins abruptly leaves, i.e., "pops-out". The adventures take place over a total of eight books. However, only the first three books feature Mary Poppins arriving and leaving. The later five books recount previously unrecorded adventures from her original three visits. As P.L. Travers explains in her introduction to Mary Poppins in the Park, "She cannot forever arrive and depart."

It is likely that P.L. Travers lived in Bowral, New South Wales, when she originally came up with the character that became Mary Poppins.^[3]

The books were adapted in 1964 into a musical Disney film starring Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke. In 2004, Disney Theatrical produced a stage musical adaptation in the West End theatre. The stage musical was transferred to Broadway in 2006. It is still running there to this day, to sold-out crowds. It has been highly successful, as was the classic 1964 film.

Books[link]

[edit] Mary Poppins, published 1934

The first book introduces the Banks family, consisting of Mr. Banks and Mrs. Banks and their children Jane, Michael, and baby twins John and Barbara. When the children's nanny, Katie Nana, storms out in a huff, Mary Poppins arrives at their home, complete with her traveling carpetbag, blown in by a very strong wind. She accepts the job, and the children soon learn that their nanny, though she is stern, vain, and usually cross, has a magical touch that makes her wonderful. Among the things Jane and Michael experience are a tea party on a ceiling with Mr. Wigg, a trip around the world with a compass, the purchase of gingerbread stars from the extremely old Mrs. Corry, a meeting with the Bird Woman, a birthday party at the zoo among the animals, and a Christmas shopping trip with a star named Maia from the Pleiades cluster of the Taurus constellation. In the end, Mary Poppins is satisfied with the work she has done with the Banks family, and the West Wind carries her away.

Original and Revised Versions of the Bad Tuesday Chapter[link]

The original 1934 printing of Mary Poppins contained a version of the chapter Bad Tuesday in which Mary and the children use a compass to visit places all over the world in a remarkably short period of time. Because it contained a variety of cultural and racial stereotypes of Chinese, Inuit, Africans, and Native Americans, Travers responded to criticism by revising the chapter in 1981 to include animal representatives instead of people. At the same time, original illustrator Mary Shepard altered the accompanying drawing of the compass to show a Polar Bear at the north, a Macaw at the south, a Panda at the east, and a Dolphin at the west.

[edit] Mary Poppins Comes Back, published 1935

Nothing has been right since Mary Poppins left Number Seventeen Cherry Tree Lane. One day, when Mrs. Banks sends the children out to the park, Michael flies his kite up into the clouds. Everyone is surprised when it comes down bringing Mary Poppins as a passenger, who returns to the Banks home and takes charge of the children once again. This time, Jane and Michael meet the fearsome Miss Andrew, experience an upside-down tea party, and visit a circus in the sky. As in Mary Poppins, Mary leaves at the end, but this time with a "return ticket, just in case" she needs to return.

[edit] Mary Poppins Opens the Door, published 1943

When Mary last left the Banks children in Cherry Tree Lane, she took a "return ticket, just in case." In the third book, she returns to the park in front of Cherry Tree Lane the way she came, falling with fireworks. Once again she takes up nanny duties in the Banks household and leads Jane, Michael, John, and Barbara on various adventures. This time, they visit her uncle Mr. Twigley, befriend a statue that has come to life, go riding on peppermint horses, and experience a garden party under the sea.

[edit] Mary Poppins in the Park, published 1952

This fourth book contains six adventures of the Banks children with Mary Poppins during their outings into the park along Cherry Tree Lane. Chronologically the events in this book occurred during the second or third book (Mary Poppins Comes Back and Mary Poppins Opens the Door respectively). Among the adventures they experience are a tea party with the people who live under the dandelions, a visit to cats on a different planet, and a Halloween dance party with their shadows.

[edit] Mary Poppins From A to Z, published 1962

Twenty-six vignettes—one for each letter of the alphabet—weave unexpected tales of Mary Poppins, the Banks children, and other characters from Travers's previous novels. Each vignette is filled with fun and unusual words that start with the featured letter.

[edit] Mary Poppins in the Kitchen, published 1975

Mary Poppins comes to the rescue when the Banks' family cook has to go on an unexpected leave, teaching the young Banks children the basics of cooking in the process. The book includes recipes.

[edit] Mary Poppins in Cherry Tree Lane, published 1982

Mary Poppins takes the Banks children on yet another memorable adventure, this time on the magical Midsummer's Eve. All kinds of strange things can happen, and even mythical figures can descend from the heavens. At the back of the book is a list of the herbs that are mentioned in the story, with their botanical, local and Latin names.

[edit] Mary Poppins and the House Next Door, published 1988

The residents of Cherry Tree Lane are distressed to learn that their beloved Number Eighteen, an empty house for which each tenant has created an imaginary, wished-for tenant, is about to be occupied by Mr. Banks's childhood governess, Miss Andrew, otherwise known as the Holy Terror. Her dreaded arrival brings a pleasant surprise as well, for Luti, a boy from the South Seas, has accompanied her as both servant and student. Delighted by the prospect of a new friend, Jane and Michael are frustrated by the restrictions that the hypochondriacal Miss Andrew has placed on Luti, who grows more and more homesick for his family and tropical surroundings. When the call in his heart to return home becomes more than he can bear, it is Mary Poppins who makes the trip possible by means of a visit to the Man in the Moon.

Adaptations[link]

1964 film[link]

Mary Poppins was made into a film based on the series of children's books by Walt Disney Productions in 1964. According to the 40th anniversary DVD release of the film in 2004, Walt Disney first attempted to purchase the film rights to Mary Poppins from P.L. Travers as early as 1938, but was rebuffed because Travers did not believe a film version of her books would do justice to her creation and did not want an animated cartoon based on it. Disney finally succeeded in 1961, although Travers demanded and got script approval rights.

The relationship between Travers and Disney is detailed in Mary Poppins She Wrote, a biography of Travers, by Valerie Lawson, published by Aurum Press in the United Kingdom. The biography is the basis for two documentaries on Travers, The Real Mary Poppins and The Shadow of Mary Poppins.

The process of planning the film and composing the songs took about two years. Songs in the film are by the Sherman Brothers. Mary Poppins is played by Julie Andrews. Disney cast Dick Van Dyke in the key supporting role of Bert. The Banks children were played by Karen Dotrice and Matthew Garber. Mr. and Mrs. Banks were played by David Tomlinson and Glynis Johns. The film features a mix of adventures and episodes taken from each of the existing novels, and new events, created for it. In notable differences from the original novels, the film does not include the characters John, Barbara or Annabel Banks, and has Mary Poppins herself characterized as noticeably kinder.

1983 film[link]

In 1983, the story was adapted by the Soviet Union's Mosfilm studios into the Russian-language TV musical film Мэри Поппинс, до свидания (Mary Poppins, Goodbye), starring Natalya Andreychenko (acting) and Tatyana Voronina (singing) as Mary Poppins, Albert Filozov as George Banks and Oleg Tabakov as Miss Andrew.^[4]

2004 musical[link]

The musical 'Mary Poppins' opened in 2004 at the Prince Edward Theatre.

Main characters[link]

Mary Poppins[link]

Mary Poppins is the main character of the books, a magical nanny who sweeps into the Banks home of Cherry Tree Lane and takes charge of the Banks children. She never openly acknowledges her strange and magical powers, and feigns insult when one of the children refers to her previous adventures. She flies in on an umbrella, and departs when the children have learned enough lessons and promises to return whenever they need her. Mary Poppins was played by Julie Andrews.

Mr. Banks[link]

George Banks is Mary Poppins' employer. He works at the Bank in the City of London, and lives at 17 Cherry Tree Lane with his wife and their children. In the books he is rarely present, but is gruffly loving of his wife and children. In the film he has a more prominent role as a cross man preoccupied with work who wants order and largely ignores his children and wife, but later on his attitude changes for the better, as Bert convinces him that while he can focus on his life at the bank, his whole life - including his children's childhood - is passing him by. His role in the stage musical is similar to the film, but he has an additional back-story drawn from the original books, in which he was tormented by a cruel nanny during his childhood. In the film he is portrayed by David Tomlinson.

Mrs. Banks[link]

Mrs. Winifred Banks is the wife of George Banks and mother of Jane and Michael. In the books she is the struggling mistress of the Banks household, and is easily intimidated by Mary, who treats her with thinly-veiled contempt. In the film she is a valiant and fervent suffragette and feminist, albeit one who is treated somewhat satirically. In the stage musical she is a former actress who is under constant pressure from her husband as she struggles to enter his social circle. In the film she is portrayed by Glynis Johns.

The Banks' children[link]

In the books there are five Banks children: Jane, Michael, John, Barbara and Annabel. Jane and Michael are the eldest and go on most of the magical adventures with Mary Poppins. John and Barbara are toddler twins who only start going on adventures in the second book. Annabel is the youngest and joins the family midway through the second book. Only Jane and Michael appear in the film and stage musical. In the film they are portrayed by Karen Dotrice and Matthew Garber.

Bert[link]

Bert is Mary Poppins' best friend in the film. In the books, when the weather is fine, he draws life-like pictures on the pavement with chalk (and so is a screever), but when it rains he instead sells matches and is thus known as the Matchman. Mary sometimes goes on outings with Bert on her Second Tuesday off. In the film Bert is a combination of the Matchman and the Sweep and has a more prominent role in the children's adventures, including taking care of Mary's Uncle Albert. In the stage musical he acts as a narrator and far-away friend of Mary and the Banks children. In the film he is portrayed by Dick Van Dyke.

Miss Lark[link]

Miss Lark lives next door to 17 Cherry Tree Lane. She is the owner of two dogs: Andrew and Willoughby. Originally she only had Andrew, who is pure-bred, but the mongrel Willoughby joined the family at Andrew's request. She constantly appears throughout the books and is usually appalled by the magical antics of Mary Poppins. She appears in the film and stage musical as a minor role. In the film she is portrayed by Marjorie Bennett.

Admiral Boom[link]

Admiral Boom also lives along Cherry Tree Lane. He is a former Naval Officer, but now lives in a house shaped like a ship with his wife Mrs. Boom and his assistant Binnacle, who is a former pirate. Admiral Boom often appears in the Banks children's adventures, but he is never fazed by the unusual happenings that surround Mary Poppins. He is remarkable for his use of colourful sailor's language, although, as the books are intended for children, he never actually swears; his favourite interjection is Blast my gizzard! In the film he is a neighbour of the Banks family who fires his cannon to mark the time; this version of the Admiral is far less salty and more of a proper, "Shipshape and Bristol fashion" kind of sailor, insistent on order and punctuality. In the film he is portrayed by Reginald Owen.

The Domestics[link]

In the book there are three servants of the Banks house: Ellen, Mrs. Brill and Robertson Ay. Ellen is the maid and although she loves the children, she hates having to look after them when there is no nanny in the house. Mrs. Bill is the cook; she particularly dislikes Ellen. She is often grumpy for no reason. Robertson Ay is the butler. He is a young boy (mid-teens) and is very lazy and forgetful. He is often known to sleep on the job. In Mary Poppins Comes Back, it is hinted that he is a character in a story that Mary Poppins tell the children about a king who is led astray by The Fool (Jester), it is hinted that he is the fool. The film depicts Mrs. Brill and Ellen (played by Reta Shaw and Hermione Baddeley, respectively), but not Robertson Ay; the musical depicts only Mrs. Brill and Robertson Ay, without Ellen.

Anniversary celebrations[link]

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of P.L Travers living in Bowral, an attempt was made to break the world record for the world's largest umbrella mosaic on Bradman Oval, Bowral, at 2:06pm on 7 May 2011. The event was organised by the Southern Highlands Youth Arts Council.^[5] The record was achieved, with 2115 people.^[6] An aerial photograph was taken by helicopter.^[3]

See also[link]

• Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

References[link]

Further reading[link]

Mark Bostridge on Mary Poppins, http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/hail-mary-547034.html

Julie Andrews
Julie Andrews, March 2003
Born	Julia Elizabeth Wells (1935-10-01) 1 October 1935 (age 76) Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, England
Nationality	British
Occupation	Actress, singer, author
Years active	1945–present (stage) 1949–present (screen)
Spouse	Tony Walton (m. 1959–1967) «start: (1959-05-10)–end+1: (1967-11-15)»"Marriage: Tony Walton to Julie Andrews" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Julie_Andrews) (divorced) Blake Edwards (m. 1969–2010) «start: (1969-11-12)–end+1: (2010-12-16)»"Marriage: Blake Edwards to Julie Andrews" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Julie_Andrews) (his death)
Children	5

Dame Julia Elizabeth Andrews, DBE (née Wells;^[1] born 1 October 1935)^[2] is an English film and stage actress, singer, and author. She is the recipient of Golden Globe, Emmy, Grammy, BAFTA, People's Choice Award, Theatre World Award, Screen Actors Guild and Academy Award honours.

Andrews is a former child actress and singer who made her Broadway debut in a 1954 production of The Boy Friend, and rose to prominence starring in musicals such as My Fair Lady and Camelot, both of which earned her Tony Award nominations. In 1957, she made her television debut with the title role in Cinderella, which was seen by over 100 million viewers.

Andrews made her feature film debut in Mary Poppins (1964), for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress. She received her second Academy Award nomination for The Sound of Music (1965). Adjusted for inflation, these two films are the 25th and 3rd highest grossing films of all time, respectively.^[3] From 1964 to 1967, Andrews was the biggest film star in the world, with the additional box office successes of her films The Americanization of Emily, Hawaii, Torn Curtain, and Thoroughly Modern Millie.

In the 1970s, Andrews' film career slowed down following the commercial disappointments of Star!, Darling Lili, and The Tamarind Seed. She returned to prominence with the critical and commercial successes of 10 (1979) and Victor Victoria (1982), for which she received her third Academy Award nomination. During the remainder of the 1980s, Andrews starred in critically acclaimed but commercially unsuccessful films such as That's Life! and Duet for One, before her career went into eclipse in the 1990s.

Andrews' film career had a major revival in the 2000s with the successes of The Princess Diaries (2001), its sequel The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (2004), the Shrek animated films (2004–2010), and Despicable Me (2010). Her voice, which originally spanned four octaves, was damaged by a throat operation in 1997. In 2003 Andrews revisited her first Broadway success, this time as a stage director, with a revival of The Boy Friend at the Bay Street Theatre, Sag Harbor, New York (and later at the Goodspeed Opera House, in East Haddam, Connecticut in 2005).

Andrews is also an author of children's books, and in 2008 published an autobiography, Home: A Memoir of My Early Years.

Early life[link]

Julia Elizabeth Wells was born on 1 October 1935 in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, England.^[4] Her mother, Barbara Ward Wells (née Morris), was married to Edward Charles "Ted" Wells, a teacher of metalwork and woodwork, but Andrews was conceived as a result of an affair her mother had with a family friend.^[5][6]

With the outbreak of World War II, Barbara and Ted Wells went their separate ways. Ted Wells assisted with evacuating children to Surrey during the Blitz, while Barbara joined Ted Andrews in entertaining the troops through the good offices of the Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA). Barbara and Ted Wells were soon divorced. They both remarried: Barbara to Ted Andrews, in 1939; and Ted Wells to a former hairstylist working a lathe at a war work factory that employed them both in Hinchley Wood, Surrey.^[7][8]

Andrews lived briefly with Ted Wells and her brother John in Surrey. In about 1940, Ted Wells sent her to live with her mother and stepfather, who, the elder Wells thought, would be better able to provide for his talented daughter's artistic training. According to her 2008 autobiography Home, while Julie had been used to calling Ted Andrews "Uncle Ted", her mother suggested it would be more appropriate to refer to her stepfather as "Pop", while her father remained "Dad" or "Daddy" to her. Julie disliked this change.

The Andrews family was "very poor and we lived in a bad slum area of London," Andrews recalled, adding, "That was a very black period in my life." In addition, according to Andrews' 2008 memoir, her stepfather was an alcoholic. Ted Andrews twice, while drunk, tried to get into bed with his stepdaughter, resulting in Andrews putting a lock on her door.^[9] But, as the stage career of Ted and Barbara Andrews improved, they were able to afford to move to better surroundings, first to Beckenham and then, as the war ended, back to the Andrews' home town of Hersham. The Andrews family took up residence at the Old Meuse, in West Grove; Hersham (now demolished) a house where Andrews' maternal grandmother happened to have served as a maid.^[8]

Andrews' stepfather sponsored lessons for her, first at the Cone-Ripman School, an independent arts educational school in London, then with the famous concert soprano and voice instructor Madame Lilian Stiles-Allen. "She had an enormous influence on me", Andrews said of Stiles-Allen, adding, "She was my third mother – I've got more mothers and fathers than anyone in the world." In her memoir Julie Andrews – My Star Pupil, Stiles-Allen records: "The range, accuracy and tone of Julie's voice amazed me ... she had possessed the rare gift of absolute pitch"^[10] (though Andrews herself refutes this in her 2008 autobiography Home).^[7][11] According to Andrews: "Madame was sure that I could do Mozart and Rossini, but, to be honest, I never was".^[12] Of her own voice, she says "I had a very pure, white, thin voice, a four-octave range – dogs would come for miles around."^[12] After Cone-Ripman School, Andrews continued her academic education at the nearby Woodbrook School, a local state school in Beckenham.^[13]

Career[link]

Early career in the United Kingdom[link]

Julie Andrews performed spontaneously and unbilled on stage with her parents for about two years beginning in 1945. "Then came the day when I was told I must go to bed in the afternoon because I was going to be allowed to sing with Mummy and Pop in the evening," Andrews explained. She would stand on a beer crate to reach the mic and sing, sometimes a solo or as a duet with her stepfather, while her mother played piano. "It must have been ghastly, but it seemed to go down all right."^[14][15]

Julie Andrews got her big break when her stepfather introduced her to Val Parnell, whose Moss Empires controlled prominent venues in London. Andrews made her professional solo debut at the London Hippodrome singing the difficult aria "Je Suis Titania" from Mignon as part of a musical revue called "Starlight Roof" on 22 October 1947. She played the Hippodrome for one year.^[7][16] Andrews recalled "Starlight Roof" saying, "There was this wonderful American person and comedian, Wally Boag, who made balloon animals. He would say, 'Is there any little girl or boy in the audience who would like one of these?' And I would rush up onstage and say, 'I'd like one, please.' And then he would chat to me and I'd tell him I sang... I was fortunate in that I absolutely stopped the show cold. I mean, the audience went crazy."^[17]

On 1 November 1948, Julie Andrews became the youngest solo performer ever to be seen in a Royal Command Variety Performance, at the London Palladium, where she performed along with Danny Kaye, the Nicholas Brothers and the comedy team George and Bert Bernard for members of King George VI's family.^[18][19]

Julie Andrews followed her parents into radio and television.^[20] She reportedly made her television debut on the BBC programme RadiOlympia Showtime on 8 October 1949.^[21] She garnered considerable fame throughout the United Kingdom for her work on the BBC radio comedy show Educating Archie; she was a cast member from 1950 to 1952.^[19]

Andrews appeared on West End theatre at the London Casino, where she played one year each as Princess Badroulbadour in Aladdin and the egg in Humpty Dumpty. She also appeared on provincial stages across United Kingdom in Jack and the Beanstalk and Little Red Riding Hood, as well as starring as the lead role in Cinderella.^[20]

In 1950 at the age of 14, Andrews was asked to sing at a party of a family friend, Katherine Norwalk, and it was then that she learned that Ted Wells was not her biological father.^[7][8]

Early career in the United States[link]

On 30 September 1954 on the eve of her 19th birthday, Julie Andrews made her Broadway debut portraying "Polly Browne" in the already highly successful London musical The Boy Friend.^[2] To the critics, Andrews was the stand-out performer in the show.^[22] Near the end of her Boy Friend contract, Andrews was asked to audition for My Fair Lady on Broadway and got the part.^[23] In November 1955 Andrews was signed to appear with Bing Crosby in what is regarded as the first made-for-television film, High Tor.^[24]

Andrews auditioned for a part in the Richard Rodgers musical Pipe Dream. Although Rodgers wanted her for Pipe Dream, he advised her to take the part in the Frederick Loewe and Alan Jay Lerner musical My Fair Lady if it were offered to her. In 1956, she appeared on stage in My Fair Lady as Eliza Doolittle to Rex Harrison's Henry Higgins. Rodgers was so impressed with Andrews' talent that concurrent with her run in My Fair Lady, she was featured in the Rodgers and Hammerstein television musical, Cinderella.^[22] Cinderella was broadcast live on CBS on 31 March 1957 under the musical direction of Alfredo Antonini and attracted an estimated 107 million viewers.^[25][26]

Andrews married set designer Tony Walton on 10 May 1959 in Weybridge, Surrey. They had first met in 1948 when Andrews was appearing at the London Casino in the show Humpty Dumpty. The couple filed for a divorce on 14 November 1967.^[19][27]

Between 1958 and 1962, Andrews appeared on such specials as CBS-TV's The Fabulous Fifties and NBC-TV's The Broadway of Lerner & Loewe. In addition to guest starring on The Ed Sullivan Show, she also appeared on The Dinah Shore Chevy Show, What's My Line?, The Jack Benny Program, The Bell Telephone Hour, and The Garry Moore Show. In June 1962 Andrews co-starred in Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall, a CBS special with Carol Burnett.

In 1960 Lerner and Loewe again cast her in a period musical as Queen Guinevere in Camelot, with Richard Burton and newcomer Robert Goulet. However film studio head Jack Warner decided Andrews lacked sufficient name recognition for her casting in the film version of My Fair Lady; Eliza was played by the established film actress Audrey Hepburn instead. As Warner later recalled, the decision was easy, "In my business I have to know who brings people and their money to a cinema box office. Audrey Hepburn had never made a financial flop."^[28]

Andrews and her husband headed back to Britain in September 1962 to await the birth of daughter Emma Katherine Walton, who was born in London two months later.^[29]

Film superstardom[link]

In 1963, Andrews began her work in the title role of Disney's musical film Mary Poppins. Walt Disney had seen a performance of Camelot and thought Andrews would be perfect for the role of the British nanny who is "practically perfect in every way!". Andrews initially declined because of pregnancy, but Disney politely insisted, saying, "We'll wait for you."^[30]

Mary Poppins became the biggest hit in Disney history. Andrews won the 1964 Academy Award for Best Actress and the 1965 Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for her performance. She and her co-stars also won the 1965 Grammy Award for Best Album for Children. As a measure of "sweet revenge," as Poppins songwriter Richard M. Sherman put it, Andrews closed her acceptance speech at the Golden Globes by saying, "And, finally, my thanks to a man who made a wonderful movie and who made all this possible in the first place, Mr. Jack Warner."^[30] Warner Bros. passed over Andrews in favour of Audrey Hepburn for the starring role of Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady.^[31]

Julie Andrews in the trailer for Mary Poppins (film).

In 1964, Andrews starred opposite James Garner in The Americanization of Emily (1964), which she has described as her favourite film.^[32]

In 1965, Andrews starred in The Sound of Music, which was the highest-grossing film of the year and was the biggest hit in 20th Century Fox history.^[33] As of 2012, it is the 3rd highest-grossing film of all time.^[3] For her performance as Maria Von Trapp, Andrews won her second Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy and was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress.

After completing The Sound Of Music, Andrews appeared as a guest star on the NBC-TV variety series The Andy Williams Show, which gained her an Emmy nomination.^[34] She followed this television appearance with an Emmy Award-winning color special, The Julie Andrews Show, which featured Gene Kelly and the New Christy Minstrels as guests. It aired on NBC-TV in November 1965.

In 1966, Andrews starred in Hawaii. It became the highest grossing film of 1966.^[35]

Also in 1966, she starred opposite Paul Newman in Torn Curtain, which was directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The following year, she played the eponymous character in Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967), for which she received a Golden Globe nomination. At the time, Thoroughly Modern Millie and Torn Curtain were the biggest and second biggest hits in Universal Pictures history, respectively.

By the end of 1967, after six hit films in a row, Andrews was the world's most successful film star.

Mid-career[link]

Julie Andrews' star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Andrews next appeared in two of Hollywood's most expensive and infamous flops: Star!, a 1968 biopic of Gertrude Lawrence, and Darling Lili (1970), co-starring Rock Hudson and directed by her soon-to-be second husband, Blake Edwards (they married in 1969). The couple stayed married for 41 years until Edwards' death in 2010.^[36] She made only two other films in the 1970s, The Tamarind Seed (1974) and 10 (1979).

In the 1970s, Edwards and Andrews adopted two daughters; Amy in 1974 and Joanna in 1975.^[37][38] Edwards' children from a previous marriage, Jennifer and Geoffrey, were 3 and 5 years older than Emma, Andrews' daughter with Tony Walton.^[39]

Andrews continued working in television. In 1969, she shared the spotlight with singer Harry Belafonte for an NBC-TV special, An Evening with Julie Andrews and Harry Belafonte. In 1971 she appeared as a guest for the Grand Opening Special of Walt Disney World, and that same year she and Carol Burnett headlined a CBS special, Julie and Carol At Lincoln Center.

In 1972–73, Andrews starred in her own television variety series, The Julie Andrews Hour, on the ABC network. The show won seven Emmy Awards, but was cancelled after one season. Between 1973 and 1975, Andrews continued her association with ABC by headlining five variety specials for the network. She guest-starred on The Muppet Show in 1977, and the following year, she appeared again with the Muppets on a CBS television variety special. The programme, Julie Andrews: One Step Into Spring, aired in March 1978, to mixed reviews and mediocre ratings. In February 1980, Andrews headlined "Because We Care", a CBS-TV special with 30 major stars raising funds for Cambodian Famine victims. Later that year, she starred in the film Little Miss Marker.

In 1981, she appeared in Blake Edwards' S.O.B. (1981) in which she played Sally Miles, a character who agrees to "show my boobies" in a scene in the film-within-a-film. That was Andrews's first on-screen nude scene and got much attention as she poked fun at her own squeaky clean image.

In 1982, Andrews played a dual role of Victoria Grant and Count Victor Grezhinski in the film Victor Victoria. Her performance earned her a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, as well as a nomination for the 1982 Academy Award for Best Actress, her third Oscar nomination.^[2][40]

In 1983, Andrews was chosen as the Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year by the Harvard University Theatrical Society.^[41] That year, she co-starred with Burt Reynolds in The Man Who Loved Women. Her next two films were That's Life! and Duet for One, both of which were released in 1986 and earned her Golden Globe nominations.

In December 1987, Andrews starred in an ABC Christmas special, Julie Andrews: The Sound Of Christmas, which went on to win five Emmy Awards. Two years later, she was reunited for the third time with Carol Burnett for a variety special which aired on ABC in December 1989.

In 1991, Andrews made her television dramatic debut in the ABC made-for-TV film, Our Sons, co-starring Ann-Margret. Andrews was named a Disney Legend within the year.

In the summer of 1992 Andrews starred in her first television sitcom, Julie, which aired on ABC and co-starred James Farentino. In December 1992 she hosted the NBC holiday special, Christmas In Washington.

In 1993, she starred in a limited run at the Manhattan Theatre Club in the American premiere of Stephen Sondheim's revue, Putting It Together. Between 1994 and 1995 Andrews recorded two solo albums – the first saluted the music of Richard Rodgers and the second paid tribute to the words of Alan Jay Lerner. In 1995, she starred in the stage musical version of Victor/Victoria. It was her first appearance in a Broadway show in 35 years. Opening on Broadway on 25 October 1995 at the Marquis Theatre, it later went on the road on a world tour. When she was the only Tony Award nominee for the production, she declined the nomination saying that she could not accept because she felt the entire production was snubbed.^[42]

Andrews was forced to quit the show towards the end of the Broadway run in 1997 when she developed vocal problems. She subsequently underwent surgery to remove non-cancerous nodules from her throat and was left unable to sing.^[2] In 1999 she filed a malpractice suit against the doctors at New York's Mount Sinai Hospital, including Dr. Scott Kessler and Dr. Jeffrey Libin, who had operated on her throat. Originally, the doctors assured Andrews that she should regain her voice within six weeks, but Andrews' stepdaughter Jennifer Edwards said in 1999 "it's been two years, and it [her singing voice] still hasn't returned."^[43] The lawsuit was settled in September 2000.^[44]

Despite the loss of her singing voice, she kept busy with many projects. In 1998, she appeared in a stage production of Dr. Dolittle in London. As recounted on the Julie Andrews website, she performed the voice of Polynesia the parrot and "recorded some 700 sentences and sounds, which were placed on a computer chip that sat in the mechanical bird's mouth. In the song "Talk To The Animals," Polynesia the parrot even sings."

The next year Andrews was reunited with James Garner for the CBS made-for-TV film, One Special Night, which aired in November 1999.

In the 2000 New Year Millennium Honours List, Andrews was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) for services to the performing arts. She also appears at No.59 on the 2002 List of "100 Greatest Britons" sponsored by the BBC and chosen by the public.^[45]

In 2001, Andrews received Kennedy Center Honors. The same year she reunited with Sound of Music co-star Christopher Plummer in a live television performance of On Golden Pond (an adaptation of the 1979 play).

Career revival[link]

In 2001, Andrews appeared in The Princess Diaries, her first Disney film since 1964's Mary Poppins. She starred as Queen Clarisse Marie Renaldi and reprised the role in a sequel, The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (2004). In The Princess Diaries 2, Andrews sang on film for the first time since having throat surgery. The song, "Your Crowning Glory" (a duet with Teen idol Raven-Symoné), was set in a limited range of an octave to accommodate her recovering voice.^[46] The film's music supervisor, Dawn Soler, recalled that Andrews, "nailed the song on the first take. I looked around and I saw grips with tears in their eyes."^[46]

Andrews continued her association with Disney when she appeared as the nanny in two 2003 made-for-television films based on the Eloise books, a series of children's books by Kay Thompson about a child who lives in the Plaza Hotel in New York City. Eloise at the Plaza premiered in April 2003, and Eloise at Christmastime was broadcast in November 2003. The same year she made her debut as a theatre director, directing a revival of The Boy Friend, the musical in which she made her 1954 Broadway debut, at the Bay Street Theatre in Sag Harbor, New York. Her production, which featured costume and scenic design by her former husband Tony Walton, was remounted at the Goodspeed Opera House in 2005 and went on a national tour in 2006.

From 2005 to 2006 Andrews served as the Official Ambassador for Disneyland's 18-month-long, 50th anniversary celebration, the "Happiest Homecoming on Earth", travelling to promote the celebration, and recording narration and appearing at several events at the park.

In 2004 Andrews performed the voice of Queen Lillian in the animated blockbuster Shrek 2 (2004), reprising the role for its sequels, Shrek the Third (2007) and Shrek Forever After (2010). Later, in 2007, she narrated Enchanted, a live-action Disney musical comedy that both poked fun and paid homage to classic Disney films such as Mary Poppins.

In 2004, she also was the host/narrator of "Broadway: The American Musical", a six part PBS documentary series about the history of Musical Theater in America.

In January 2007 Andrews was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Screen Actors Guild's awards and stated that her goals included continuing to direct for the stage and possibly to produce her own Broadway musical.^[40] She published Home: A Memoir of My Early Years, which she characterised as "part one" of her autobiography, on 1 April 2008. Home chronicles her early years in Britain's music hall circuit and ends in 1962 with her winning the role of Mary Poppins. For a Walt Disney video release she again portrayed Mary Poppins and narrated the story of The Cat That Looked at a King in 2004.

In July through early August 2008, Andrews hosted Julie Andrews' The Gift of Music, a short tour of the United States^[47] where she sang various Rodgers and Hammerstein songs and symphonised her recently published book, Simeon's Gift. These were her first public singing performances in a dozen years, due to her failed vocal cord surgery.^[48]

On 8 May 2009, Andrews received the honorary George and Ira Gershwin Award for Lifetime Achievement in Music at the annual UCLA Spring Sing competition in Pauley Pavilion. Receiving the award she remarked, "Go Bruins. Beat SC ... strike up the band to celebrate every one of those victories."

2010–present[link]

In January 2010, Andrews was the official USA presenter of the New Year's Day Vienna concert.^[49] This was her second appearance in this role, after presenting the previous year's concert.^[50] Andrews also had a supporting role in the film Tooth Fairy, which opened to unfavourable reviews^[51] although the box office receipts were successful.^[52] On her promotion tour for the film, she also spoke of Operation USA and the aid campaign to the Haiti disaster.^[53]

On 8 May 2010, Andrews made her London comeback after a 21-year absence (her last performance there was a Christmas concert at the Royal Festival Hall in 1989). She performed at the O2 Arena, accompanied by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and an ensemble of five performers.^[54] Previous to it she appeared on British television (on 15 December 2009 and on many other occasions), and said that rumours that she would be singing were not true. Instead, she said she would be doing a form of "speak singing".^[55] However in the concert she actually sang two solos and several duets and ensemble pieces. The evening, though well received by the 20,000 fans present, who gave her standing ovation after standing ovation,^[56] did not convince the critics.^[57]

On 18 May 2010, Andrews' 23rd book (this one also written with her daughter Emma) was published. In June 2010 the book, entitled The Very Fairy Princess, reached number 1 on the New York Times Best Seller List for Children's Books.^[58]

On 21 May 2010, her film Shrek Forever After was released; in it Andrews reprises her role as the Queen.^[59]

On 9 July 2010, Despicable Me, an animated film in which Andrews lent her voice to Marlena, the thoughtless and soul-crushing mother of the main character Gru, voiced by Steve Carell), opened to rave reviews^[60] and strong box office.^[61]

On 28 October 2010, Andrews appeared, along with the actors who portrayed the cinematic Von Trapp family members, on Oprah to commemorate the film's 45th anniversary.^[62][63] A few days later, her 24th book, Little Bo in Italy, was published.^[64]

On 15 December 2010, Andrews' husband Blake Edwards died at the age of 88, of complications of pneumonia at the Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California. Andrews was by her husband's side when he died.^[65][66]

In February 2011, Andrews received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and, with her daughter Emma, a Grammy for best spoken word album for children (for A Collection of Poems, Songs and Lullabies), at the 53rd Grammy Awards ceremony.^[67][68]

Filmography[link]

Film[link]