Happy 50th Birthday To Mary Poppins

On August 27, 1964, Mary Poppins debuted at Grauman’ Chinese Theatre in Hollywood California.  Mary Poppins is one of the most beloved Disney films of all time.

poppins-premiere

The film starred Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke.  Julie Andrews went on to win the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role of Mary Poppins.  The film also won for Best Film Editing, Best Original Score, Best Song and Best Special Visual Effect.

robert_sherman_mary_poppins_cast

Many fans learned the back story to Mary Poppins from the movie Saving Mr. Banks.  We learned about P.L. Travers and her hesitation to let Walt Disney bring her books to life.  It’s reported it took Walt and Roy over 20 years to finally get Ms. Travers to agree to sell them the rights to create the film. It was always rumored she still wasn’t happy with the film and even at the premiere, for which she wasn’t invited, she told Walt things still needed to go and he told her it was too late.

The process of planning the film and composing the songs took about two years. Songs in the film were done by the great Sherman Brothers. The film features a mix of adventures and episodes taken from each of the existing novels, and new events, created for it.

In doing a search for video from the premiere, I found this great one on YouTube.  It’s a little long but honestly worth watching.  I found the video on the channel for Romano Blackk.

Scott

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