10 Things You Didn't Know About Mary Poppins
It just keeps getting better and better.
Some movies never lose their charm, no matter how many times you have seen them. For plenty of viewers, the original Mary Poppins is one of those rare classics, thanks to Julie Andrews, Dick Van Dyke, and the unforgettable songs that still stick in your head.
The remake brought a fresh take, but the 1964 film still holds a special place for fans who grew up with its magic. Behind the cheerful umbrella, the chimney sweep dance, and that famous entrance from the clouds, there is a surprising amount of behind-the-scenes history.
These are the kinds of details that make the movie even more interesting, and a few of them may catch you off guard.
They were one very lucky cast indeed
Walt Disney made sure to spoil the cast of Mary Poppins with perks like free admission to the Disneyland theme parks.
We believe they rightly deserved all those perks. Just take a look at all the joy they helped spread, plus all the money they raked in for Disney.
Disney/Kobal/ShutterstockThe biggest kid on set
Dick Van Dyke was one of the most delightful actors in the film, and behind the scenes, he was also a kid at heart. His co-star Karen Dotrice said it herself, "He's just very, very silly. He'd stick things up his nose and do whatever it took to get us to laugh."
Giphy/Walt Disney StudiosIt really raked in the awards
Mary Poppins was a huge hit for everyone. The film earned five of the 13 Academy Awards for which it was nominated in 1965.
Julie Andrews also won the Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role - Musical or Comedy. The Sherman brothers won Grammys for Best Recording for Children and Best Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or Television.
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The love song
The Sherman brothers really wanted Julie Andrews for the role, and in order to woo her, they were tasked with writing a song that she would love. They struggled, but thankfully, Robert Sherman's kids provided him with some inspiration after their pain-free polio shots.
The polio medicine was placed on a sugar cube so the kids could eat it like candy. That's where the phrase 'a spoonful of sugar' came from.
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Potluck tension alert, just like the family whose “secret chili” sparked drama when someone refused to share.
Fighting for rights
The author of the Mary Poppins books, P.L. Travers, really didn't want to sell the movie rights to her book but eventually gave in after 20 years, primarily for financial reasons.
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Disney favorite
Disney's all-time favorite song in the movie was "Feed the Birds." He would even request Richard Sherman to perform it for him from time to time.
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Not really a fan
When Travers first saw the animated sequence for the script, she didn't immediately love it. "I cried when I saw it," she reportedly said. "I said, 'Oh, God, what have they done?'"
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Double roles
David Tomlinson portrayed Mr. Banks in the movie. In addition to that, he was also the voice of the talking parrot on Mary Poppins' umbrella.
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Worth the cut
The Sherman brothers originally wrote more than 30 songs for the film, but only 17 made the final cut.
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Disney Imagineering was born
Because of the success of Mary Poppins, Disney was able to expand W.E.D. Enterprises, which focused on animatronics. W.E.D. Enterprises is now more popularly known as Walt Disney Imagineering.
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Mary Poppins was truly a delight to watch, and true fans of the film will never say no to learning more about it. In fact, many of these facts made us love the film even more.
Getting us behind the scenes allows us to see how far one of our most beloved films reached and how successful it really was, and that warms our hearts because Mary Poppins truly deserved all of that.
Do you know any other Mary Poppins facts?
Still thinking about Disney perks? Then see how one friend’s past animal neglect changed an adoption decision in Friends History of Neglect Raises Concerns About New Pet Adoption.
