February 27, 2026 • 17 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, more than half a century after Mary Poppins premiered in 1964, it still sits near the top of the list of most beloved family films. But getting it made took years of persistence and a long fight over rights, creative control, and what the story should look like on screen. Our own Greg Hengler shares how Mary Poppins came to life and the filmmaking breakthroughs that helped turn it into a classic that continues to reach new generations.
Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)
Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Listen
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
the show where America is the star and the American
people coming to you from the city where the West begins,
Fort Worth, Texas. More than a half century after Mary
Poppins premiered on August twenty seventh, nineteen sixty four, it
is still one of the most beloved films of all time.
(00:33):
Here's Greg Hengler with the story.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
You may have seen the twenty thirteen period drama Saving
Mister Banks starring Emma Thompson and Tom Hanks as filmmaker
Walt Disney, who attempts to obtain the screen rights to p. L.
Travers Mary Poppins novels. Whether you've seen the movie or not,
we thought we'd kick it up a notch and hear
from the people who are actually there. Now, let's begin
(00:59):
with television and scream legend Dick Van Dyk.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
I think all would agree that Mary Poppins truly is
Walt Disney's crowning glory. Like Mary Poppins herself, the film
was practically perfect in every way, the perfect creative team,
perfect songwriters, the perfect cast, and the perfect person to
put it all together, Walt Disney. But getting started. Wasn't
that easy.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Here's Disney animator Andreas Dejas and P. L. Travers's biographer
Valerie Lawson.
Speaker 4 (01:30):
I remember him being interviewed for it, and he said
that his daughter Diane had read the books, and she
actually was the one who said, Dad, maybe there is
something for you here. And he loved the books too,
so it was something very personal to him from the start. P. L.
Speaker 5 (01:45):
Travis Mary Poppins was published in nineteen thirty four in London,
but it wasn't untill about four years afterwards, in nineteen
thirty eight, that Walt Disney went after the rights.
Speaker 6 (01:55):
Missus Travis, however, wasn't too keen. Allegedly, she said she'd
seen other books that have been turned into movies and
she didn't like the way they'd been treated by Hollywood.
But Walt never ever gave up on a good idea,
and in nineteen forty four he tried.
Speaker 5 (02:09):
Again, sent his brother to try and convince Pamela, who
was in New York, she would release the rights to him,
but she wouldn't.
Speaker 6 (02:17):
Now over the next few years there are several offers
made and as many refusals.
Speaker 5 (02:22):
And these conversations ahead are all recorded.
Speaker 7 (02:26):
Now we come to my notes here, my typewritten moves.
And this is what I want to make very clear.
The book should be read very carefully Forthna. It is
integral to the book and to the story that Mary
Poplin should never be impolite of anybody.
Speaker 8 (02:39):
You brought your references. I presume I see them.
Speaker 9 (02:42):
Oh, I make it a point never to give references.
A very old fashioned idea, to my mind, is that's
her here.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Song composer and lyricist for Mary Poppins, Richard Sherman and
film historian Brian Sibleys.
Speaker 7 (02:55):
No, no, no, no, no, no, don't make it like that.
Speaker 10 (02:58):
There were so many hesitations in her acceptance of the
idea that the father and mother change and become warmer
and more loving.
Speaker 7 (03:08):
She said, not a change of heart, because he's always
been sweet, but worried with the cares of life.
Speaker 10 (03:16):
I think she had thirty days to consider. On the
thirtieth day she relented, but she had to be the consultant.
Speaker 6 (03:23):
It seems unbelievable after all that had gone on, But
almost twenty years from the point when wolf Disney had
set out on this quest, missus Traffers agrees on certain
conditions that the film might be made.
Speaker 10 (03:37):
We were considering a number of people to play the
part of Mary partmins Mary Martin, and we were thinking
of Betty Davis, and then we were also thinking of
Angela Lansbury. But it wasn't until one evening when the
Ed Sullivan Show had an excerpt from Camelot and a
young woman named Julie Andrews and Richard Burton saying what
(04:00):
did the simple folk do? And I called my brother,
I said, Bob, Oh, my god, she's absolutely perfect. Next
day we walked into Degrotty's office and Don Degratty says,
did you see the Ed Sullivan Show last night? I mean,
it was just why So we walked down the hall,
the three of us we want to see walk.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
Here's Tony Walton, Mary Poppins's costume and set designer, and
his then wife Mary Poppins herself, Julie Andrews.
Speaker 11 (04:25):
Pille Travers had approval pretty much of everything in her contract,
so Walt said that Julie would need to be auditioned
or passed by the author of the stories.
Speaker 12 (04:36):
I met her very briefly in London. She I think
was fond of me and approved of my doing Poppins
I know.
Speaker 9 (04:45):
She said that I had the nose for it, as
I expected Mary Poppins practically perfect in every way.
Speaker 5 (04:56):
She was quite happy with Julie Andrews, though she was
more than happy. She loved her performance.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
Rule me for everyone, Shadow Oriel the consortable was really spongstable.
Speaker 8 (05:08):
Now, how does that sound well?
Speaker 6 (05:09):
Disney was reading in a newspaper an article about what
people thought about the cinema today, and he came across
a comment by Dick Van Diyt which said that he
personally did not like the way in which modern day
movies were trending towards, as he put it, dirty pictures. Now,
this was something that Warted himself felt very very strongly
about it, and he thought, Oh, this man's a man
after my own heart. Instantly they liked one another, and
(05:33):
almost instantly what was offering him the part to play Bert.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
I had only been in one movie myself, so I
was as bad as green as anything. And Julie, despite
the fact that was her first film, was perfectly professional.
She had a camera personality. She knew where the camera was,
she knew where the light were, as if she had
done it all her life. She was thoroughly professional from
the beginning.
Speaker 10 (05:57):
Of all the wonderful things that what was coming up
with for this movie. One of the greatest moments in
my songwriting career was we had finished this song Charlie Holliday,
and we were playing it for the first time for
Walt and Don de Grotty had developed a bunch of
beautiful sketches for this thing. And there's a section in
the song where four waiters were gonna come out, and
(06:20):
waltn't hold it.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
And he said, waiters have always reminded me of penguins,
so they made them penguin that would have never occurred
to any human name except Walt Disney. He had this wonderful,
whimsical way about him.
Speaker 10 (06:36):
Walt said, as a matter of fact, we'll animate everything
in that sequence except for the principal characters.
Speaker 8 (06:41):
You know, we can do that.
Speaker 10 (06:42):
We have this sodium vapor process that by Works has
created your stops.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
It was a high point of my life when I
saw that finally put together with the real animation in there.
What a messful job it was.
Speaker 10 (07:00):
Walt took all of his little bag of tricks that
he developed over thirty five years and put them into
this picture and.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
You've been listening to the story of Mary Poppins and
how it came to be, and it's really simple, actually,
the relentless pursuit by Walt Disney of P. L. Travers book.
When we come back more of the remarkable story of
how Mary Poppins came to be here on our American Stories.
(07:31):
This is Lee Hibibe, and this is our American Stories,
and all of our history stories are brought to us
by our generous sponsors, including Hillsdale College, where students go
to learn all the things that are beautiful in life
and all the things that matter in life. If you
can't get to Hillsdale, Hillsdale will come to you with
their free and terrific online courses. Go to Hillsdale dot edu.
(07:55):
That's Hillsdale dot edu. And we continue with our American
Stories and the story of Mary Poppins, which premiered in
(08:15):
August of nineteen sixty four but is still loved generations later.
Speaker 8 (08:22):
Let's pick up where we last left off.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Here's Karen Dtrees, who played the young Jane Banks.
Speaker 13 (08:29):
I think the one thing that comes off with Disney
movies of the old days, and especially Walt himself, was
his love of innocence, and I think that's what Walt
revered in we children, and that's what he wanted to
send us away with still and he succeeded.
Speaker 14 (08:50):
And we had the most glorious meeting.
Speaker 10 (08:53):
When we were casting the film. Walk immediately said, I
know the perfect person to play the mother, and that
Islennis Johns.
Speaker 8 (09:00):
She's just absolutely right. And we all agreed, she's absolutely perfect.
Speaker 14 (09:04):
Gracious, Kate and Anna, you're not leaving. What will mister
Banks say? He's going to be close enough as it
is to come home and find the children missing.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
Here's Glennis Johns, who played missus Winnifred Banks.
Speaker 15 (09:16):
I said to Wald, it might give me an incentive
if I could have my own little number.
Speaker 10 (09:23):
Walt reached old and said, but Glennis, the boys are
just finishing a great number for you.
Speaker 8 (09:29):
You're gonna love it. Wait till you hear it.
Speaker 10 (09:31):
So she says, all right, all right, I'll have to
hear it and if I if I like it, then
I might I might consider doing the part. So she left.
Walt said, get on this thing. You gotta write something
for her. Well, we had this song that we had
written called practically perfect, so we said, hmmm, that could
be a Suffragette song.
Speaker 15 (09:49):
By the time I got back to the Shadow Momont,
the telephone was ringing and it was Wald. He said,
listen to this. I heard the first few bars of
Sister Suffragette.
Speaker 14 (10:03):
We are clearly soldiers in petty coats and don't less
crusaders for women's about the adornmn. Individually we agree that
as a group there rather stupid.
Speaker 8 (10:20):
Glynnis was interested.
Speaker 15 (10:22):
Then, when I think now of how nearly I didn't
do it, it's amazing because I'm so proud to be
part of it.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
It was the only time I ever ever been working
on a project where at the end of each day
I walked away here saying this is so good. I
knew from the very beginning, after every day shooting how
good that movie was going to be. Our songwriters, Dick
and Bob Sherman.
Speaker 10 (10:52):
We asked Walt if we could have half an hour
of his time and we played a few song ideas
had He was very impressed with what we were coming
up with, and at the end of this meeting he said,
play me that that bird Woman's song again.
Speaker 11 (11:10):
Come feed the little bird, show them you care.
Speaker 8 (11:16):
It was about charity, about killing somebody something that they
didn't ask for, but that they could use.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
Love please, maybe feed the bats, waste your money on
a lot of rag him up in birds certainly not.
Speaker 8 (11:29):
Well from the time he heard it, just loved that song.
Speaker 10 (11:32):
Never said it to us, but he would like a
Friday afternoon he call us up and say come over,
and five thirty six o'clock we'd come over to his
office and he's a play it, and I'd play feed
the Birds and sing it for him.
Speaker 11 (11:45):
See the bird's top so.
Speaker 10 (11:50):
Bad, and he'd yep, that's what it's all about. Have
a good weekend, boys, and then he send us home.
Speaker 8 (11:58):
He loved that song.
Speaker 7 (11:59):
He wish's it's super kind of fragilistic, expe nidiciously.
Speaker 10 (12:05):
The musical style was really boiled beef and carrier. It's
boiled beef and carrots and old English folk songs and
any old iron, any lion. It's silly little songs that
they wrote in those years. And we wanted to feel
(12:25):
like that and yet be original and totally our own.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
When the film was released, audience response was overwhelming and
it became an instant phenowen it. It was the biggest
hit in the history of the studio Barry Poppins had
worked their magic on the world.
Speaker 6 (12:46):
Barry Poppins's premier on August nineteen sixty four Grahman's Chinese
Cinema on Hollywood Boulevard.
Speaker 9 (12:55):
They told me this could be one of your biggest pictures,
mister Disney.
Speaker 8 (12:58):
Well, and I haven't reached yet.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
And the reaction was wonderful.
Speaker 8 (13:04):
What a novation I got.
Speaker 10 (13:05):
At the end, the reviews were fantastic. I never read
reviews like that. They were all glowing, thrilling reviews. It
was a remarkable success, a very very big popular success,
which I mean that was the greatest thing I think
anybody could have Seeing people enjoying and laughing and crying
to your work.
Speaker 8 (13:25):
It's just the most wonderful thing in the world.
Speaker 12 (13:28):
Well, the best actress in a musical or comedy, the nominees.
Speaker 6 (13:31):
Are the Golden Globe Awards. In February nineteen sixty five,
Julie Andrews was nominated for Mary Poppins, opposite Audrey Hepburn
for My Fair Lady.
Speaker 12 (13:40):
And suddenly, I don't know how it came about. Maybe
Bill Walsh brought it up, but we suddenly realized that
if Jack Warner had asked me to do My Fair Lady,
which I missed out on. I would never have been
able to do Mary Poppins.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
The winner is Julie Andrews.
Speaker 9 (14:00):
Thank you very much for this lovely honor. It's a
wonderful memento of a very very happy time.
Speaker 12 (14:07):
And I took an enormous gulp and said, finally, my.
Speaker 9 (14:11):
Thanks to a man who made a wonderful movie and
who made all this possible in the first place, mister
Jack Warner.
Speaker 8 (14:18):
Everybody's screamed. It was like a thunderous scream, and everyone's laughing,
including mister Warner.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
So I was home and.
Speaker 8 (14:26):
Safe, and that was her little sweet revenge. It was great.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
Congratulations, Thank you very much.
Speaker 6 (14:33):
When a few weeks later the Academy Award nominations were announced,
Mary Poppins received an amazing thirteen nomination.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
Among the nominations include Best Picture, Director, Actress, Screenplay, Cinematography,
Art Direction, Visual Effects, Original Song.
Speaker 12 (14:53):
In scoring, there probably are words to describe your emotions,
na gentlemen, Please, on the contrary, it is a very
good word.
Speaker 9 (15:01):
Super Calophragnistic gets validations.
Speaker 3 (15:03):
The magic of it had escaped me, pounding it out
every day when it was all put together, there was
there was something else besides what we put into it.
I don't know what serendipity came along, but there was
a wonderful magic aura about that movie that nobody expected.
Speaker 15 (15:21):
And it's just as I say, every time I see
the film, I think it's better and better, and now
each generation is going to enjoy it in a different
way until the kite.
Speaker 14 (15:31):
Needs a proper tale.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
It was such a contribution to family entertainment and I
know that it's going to be around for a long
time and it stands as the perfect Walt Disney movie
as far as I'm concerned.
Speaker 10 (15:47):
I had a pleasure, the honor really of being asked
to help dedicate the Walt Disney statue of Disneyland. It
was his hundredth birthday and so I have to do that.
And they said, will you play a couple of songs?
And I said okay, And I played a couple of
things and I said, I'm now going to play Walt
Disney's favorite song and it's just for him, and I
(16:12):
sang and.
Speaker 8 (16:12):
Played feed the Birds, top ands a bag.
Speaker 10 (16:15):
I finished my song and I blew a kiss the
Walt statue like that, I said happy birthday. Walt and
I got down and they told me afterwards, just toward
the end, out of the clear blue sky, one bird
flew down right over where I was playing, and off
again into the clouds.
Speaker 8 (16:35):
That's moves me very much. That was Walt saying thanks.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
And a terrific job on the production, storytelling, editing and
narration by our own Greg Hengler.
Speaker 8 (16:49):
And what a story he told.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
My goodness that Dick Van Dyke said what he said
about the making of the movie. He said, I knew
how good the movie was going to be each and
every day of the movie shoot. That doesn't happen very often.
And my goodness, that story about Walt Disney's favorite song
dedicated to him on the unveiling of his statue on
his one hundredth birthday. But going back to the movie set,
(17:15):
where what Walt Disney would do was invite the cast
in on Fridays and all he would do is play
his favorite song, feed the birds the audience.
Speaker 8 (17:27):
All it responded.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
It was the biggest hit in the history of Walt
Disney's studio, thirteen Oscar nominations. Each generation will enjoy it
in their own way. This movie Mary Poppins. It stands
as the perfect Walt Disney movie. Dick Van Dyke said,
to close things out, the story of the making of
(17:51):
an American classic. Here on our American stories.
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
the show where America is the star and the American
people coming to you from the city where the West begins,
Fort Worth, Texas. More than a half century after Mary
Poppins premiered on August twenty seventh, nineteen sixty four, it
is still one of the most beloved films of all time.
(00:33):
Here's Greg Hengler with the story.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
You may have seen the twenty thirteen period drama Saving
Mister Banks starring Emma Thompson and Tom Hanks as filmmaker
Walt Disney, who attempts to obtain the screen rights to p. L.
Travers Mary Poppins novels. Whether you've seen the movie or not,
we thought we'd kick it up a notch and hear
from the people who are actually there. Now, let's begin
(00:59):
with television and scream legend Dick Van Dyk.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
I think all would agree that Mary Poppins truly is
Walt Disney's crowning glory. Like Mary Poppins herself, the film
was practically perfect in every way, the perfect creative team,
perfect songwriters, the perfect cast, and the perfect person to
put it all together, Walt Disney. But getting started. Wasn't
that easy.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Here's Disney animator Andreas Dejas and P. L. Travers's biographer
Valerie Lawson.
Speaker 4 (01:30):
I remember him being interviewed for it, and he said
that his daughter Diane had read the books, and she
actually was the one who said, Dad, maybe there is
something for you here. And he loved the books too,
so it was something very personal to him from the start. P. L.
Speaker 5 (01:45):
Travis Mary Poppins was published in nineteen thirty four in London,
but it wasn't untill about four years afterwards, in nineteen
thirty eight, that Walt Disney went after the rights.
Speaker 6 (01:55):
Missus Travis, however, wasn't too keen. Allegedly, she said she'd
seen other books that have been turned into movies and
she didn't like the way they'd been treated by Hollywood.
But Walt never ever gave up on a good idea,
and in nineteen forty four he tried.
Speaker 5 (02:09):
Again, sent his brother to try and convince Pamela, who
was in New York, she would release the rights to him,
but she wouldn't.
Speaker 6 (02:17):
Now over the next few years there are several offers
made and as many refusals.
Speaker 5 (02:22):
And these conversations ahead are all recorded.
Speaker 7 (02:26):
Now we come to my notes here, my typewritten moves.
And this is what I want to make very clear.
The book should be read very carefully Forthna. It is
integral to the book and to the story that Mary
Poplin should never be impolite of anybody.
Speaker 8 (02:39):
You brought your references. I presume I see them.
Speaker 9 (02:42):
Oh, I make it a point never to give references.
A very old fashioned idea, to my mind, is that's
her here.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Song composer and lyricist for Mary Poppins, Richard Sherman and
film historian Brian Sibleys.
Speaker 7 (02:55):
No, no, no, no, no, no, don't make it like that.
Speaker 10 (02:58):
There were so many hesitations in her acceptance of the
idea that the father and mother change and become warmer
and more loving.
Speaker 7 (03:08):
She said, not a change of heart, because he's always
been sweet, but worried with the cares of life.
Speaker 10 (03:16):
I think she had thirty days to consider. On the
thirtieth day she relented, but she had to be the consultant.
Speaker 6 (03:23):
It seems unbelievable after all that had gone on, But
almost twenty years from the point when wolf Disney had
set out on this quest, missus Traffers agrees on certain
conditions that the film might be made.
Speaker 10 (03:37):
We were considering a number of people to play the
part of Mary partmins Mary Martin, and we were thinking
of Betty Davis, and then we were also thinking of
Angela Lansbury. But it wasn't until one evening when the
Ed Sullivan Show had an excerpt from Camelot and a
young woman named Julie Andrews and Richard Burton saying what
(04:00):
did the simple folk do? And I called my brother,
I said, Bob, Oh, my god, she's absolutely perfect. Next
day we walked into Degrotty's office and Don Degratty says,
did you see the Ed Sullivan Show last night? I mean,
it was just why So we walked down the hall,
the three of us we want to see walk.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
Here's Tony Walton, Mary Poppins's costume and set designer, and
his then wife Mary Poppins herself, Julie Andrews.
Speaker 11 (04:25):
Pille Travers had approval pretty much of everything in her contract,
so Walt said that Julie would need to be auditioned
or passed by the author of the stories.
Speaker 12 (04:36):
I met her very briefly in London. She I think
was fond of me and approved of my doing Poppins
I know.
Speaker 9 (04:45):
She said that I had the nose for it, as
I expected Mary Poppins practically perfect in every way.
Speaker 5 (04:56):
She was quite happy with Julie Andrews, though she was
more than happy. She loved her performance.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
Rule me for everyone, Shadow Oriel the consortable was really spongstable.
Speaker 8 (05:08):
Now, how does that sound well?
Speaker 6 (05:09):
Disney was reading in a newspaper an article about what
people thought about the cinema today, and he came across
a comment by Dick Van Diyt which said that he
personally did not like the way in which modern day
movies were trending towards, as he put it, dirty pictures. Now,
this was something that Warted himself felt very very strongly
about it, and he thought, Oh, this man's a man
after my own heart. Instantly they liked one another, and
(05:33):
almost instantly what was offering him the part to play Bert.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
I had only been in one movie myself, so I
was as bad as green as anything. And Julie, despite
the fact that was her first film, was perfectly professional.
She had a camera personality. She knew where the camera was,
she knew where the light were, as if she had
done it all her life. She was thoroughly professional from
the beginning.
Speaker 10 (05:57):
Of all the wonderful things that what was coming up
with for this movie. One of the greatest moments in
my songwriting career was we had finished this song Charlie Holliday,
and we were playing it for the first time for
Walt and Don de Grotty had developed a bunch of
beautiful sketches for this thing. And there's a section in
the song where four waiters were gonna come out, and
(06:20):
waltn't hold it.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
And he said, waiters have always reminded me of penguins,
so they made them penguin that would have never occurred
to any human name except Walt Disney. He had this wonderful,
whimsical way about him.
Speaker 10 (06:36):
Walt said, as a matter of fact, we'll animate everything
in that sequence except for the principal characters.
Speaker 8 (06:41):
You know, we can do that.
Speaker 10 (06:42):
We have this sodium vapor process that by Works has
created your stops.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
It was a high point of my life when I
saw that finally put together with the real animation in there.
What a messful job it was.
Speaker 10 (07:00):
Walt took all of his little bag of tricks that
he developed over thirty five years and put them into
this picture and.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
You've been listening to the story of Mary Poppins and
how it came to be, and it's really simple, actually,
the relentless pursuit by Walt Disney of P. L. Travers book.
When we come back more of the remarkable story of
how Mary Poppins came to be here on our American Stories.
(07:31):
This is Lee Hibibe, and this is our American Stories,
and all of our history stories are brought to us
by our generous sponsors, including Hillsdale College, where students go
to learn all the things that are beautiful in life
and all the things that matter in life. If you
can't get to Hillsdale, Hillsdale will come to you with
their free and terrific online courses. Go to Hillsdale dot edu.
(07:55):
That's Hillsdale dot edu. And we continue with our American
Stories and the story of Mary Poppins, which premiered in
(08:15):
August of nineteen sixty four but is still loved generations later.
Speaker 8 (08:22):
Let's pick up where we last left off.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Here's Karen Dtrees, who played the young Jane Banks.
Speaker 13 (08:29):
I think the one thing that comes off with Disney
movies of the old days, and especially Walt himself, was
his love of innocence, and I think that's what Walt
revered in we children, and that's what he wanted to
send us away with still and he succeeded.
Speaker 14 (08:50):
And we had the most glorious meeting.
Speaker 10 (08:53):
When we were casting the film. Walk immediately said, I
know the perfect person to play the mother, and that
Islennis Johns.
Speaker 8 (09:00):
She's just absolutely right. And we all agreed, she's absolutely perfect.
Speaker 14 (09:04):
Gracious, Kate and Anna, you're not leaving. What will mister
Banks say? He's going to be close enough as it
is to come home and find the children missing.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
Here's Glennis Johns, who played missus Winnifred Banks.
Speaker 15 (09:16):
I said to Wald, it might give me an incentive
if I could have my own little number.
Speaker 10 (09:23):
Walt reached old and said, but Glennis, the boys are
just finishing a great number for you.
Speaker 8 (09:29):
You're gonna love it. Wait till you hear it.
Speaker 10 (09:31):
So she says, all right, all right, I'll have to
hear it and if I if I like it, then
I might I might consider doing the part. So she left.
Walt said, get on this thing. You gotta write something
for her. Well, we had this song that we had
written called practically perfect, so we said, hmmm, that could
be a Suffragette song.
Speaker 15 (09:49):
By the time I got back to the Shadow Momont,
the telephone was ringing and it was Wald. He said,
listen to this. I heard the first few bars of
Sister Suffragette.
Speaker 14 (10:03):
We are clearly soldiers in petty coats and don't less
crusaders for women's about the adornmn. Individually we agree that
as a group there rather stupid.
Speaker 8 (10:20):
Glynnis was interested.
Speaker 15 (10:22):
Then, when I think now of how nearly I didn't
do it, it's amazing because I'm so proud to be
part of it.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
It was the only time I ever ever been working
on a project where at the end of each day
I walked away here saying this is so good. I
knew from the very beginning, after every day shooting how
good that movie was going to be. Our songwriters, Dick
and Bob Sherman.
Speaker 10 (10:52):
We asked Walt if we could have half an hour
of his time and we played a few song ideas
had He was very impressed with what we were coming
up with, and at the end of this meeting he said,
play me that that bird Woman's song again.
Speaker 11 (11:10):
Come feed the little bird, show them you care.
Speaker 8 (11:16):
It was about charity, about killing somebody something that they
didn't ask for, but that they could use.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
Love please, maybe feed the bats, waste your money on
a lot of rag him up in birds certainly not.
Speaker 8 (11:29):
Well from the time he heard it, just loved that song.
Speaker 10 (11:32):
Never said it to us, but he would like a
Friday afternoon he call us up and say come over,
and five thirty six o'clock we'd come over to his
office and he's a play it, and I'd play feed
the Birds and sing it for him.
Speaker 11 (11:45):
See the bird's top so.
Speaker 10 (11:50):
Bad, and he'd yep, that's what it's all about. Have
a good weekend, boys, and then he send us home.
Speaker 8 (11:58):
He loved that song.
Speaker 7 (11:59):
He wish's it's super kind of fragilistic, expe nidiciously.
Speaker 10 (12:05):
The musical style was really boiled beef and carrier. It's
boiled beef and carrots and old English folk songs and
any old iron, any lion. It's silly little songs that
they wrote in those years. And we wanted to feel
(12:25):
like that and yet be original and totally our own.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
When the film was released, audience response was overwhelming and
it became an instant phenowen it. It was the biggest
hit in the history of the studio Barry Poppins had
worked their magic on the world.
Speaker 6 (12:46):
Barry Poppins's premier on August nineteen sixty four Grahman's Chinese
Cinema on Hollywood Boulevard.
Speaker 9 (12:55):
They told me this could be one of your biggest pictures,
mister Disney.
Speaker 8 (12:58):
Well, and I haven't reached yet.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
And the reaction was wonderful.
Speaker 8 (13:04):
What a novation I got.
Speaker 10 (13:05):
At the end, the reviews were fantastic. I never read
reviews like that. They were all glowing, thrilling reviews. It
was a remarkable success, a very very big popular success,
which I mean that was the greatest thing I think
anybody could have Seeing people enjoying and laughing and crying
to your work.
Speaker 8 (13:25):
It's just the most wonderful thing in the world.
Speaker 12 (13:28):
Well, the best actress in a musical or comedy, the nominees.
Speaker 6 (13:31):
Are the Golden Globe Awards. In February nineteen sixty five,
Julie Andrews was nominated for Mary Poppins, opposite Audrey Hepburn
for My Fair Lady.
Speaker 12 (13:40):
And suddenly, I don't know how it came about. Maybe
Bill Walsh brought it up, but we suddenly realized that
if Jack Warner had asked me to do My Fair Lady,
which I missed out on. I would never have been
able to do Mary Poppins.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
The winner is Julie Andrews.
Speaker 9 (14:00):
Thank you very much for this lovely honor. It's a
wonderful memento of a very very happy time.
Speaker 12 (14:07):
And I took an enormous gulp and said, finally, my.
Speaker 9 (14:11):
Thanks to a man who made a wonderful movie and
who made all this possible in the first place, mister
Jack Warner.
Speaker 8 (14:18):
Everybody's screamed. It was like a thunderous scream, and everyone's laughing,
including mister Warner.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
So I was home and.
Speaker 8 (14:26):
Safe, and that was her little sweet revenge. It was great.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
Congratulations, Thank you very much.
Speaker 6 (14:33):
When a few weeks later the Academy Award nominations were announced,
Mary Poppins received an amazing thirteen nomination.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
Among the nominations include Best Picture, Director, Actress, Screenplay, Cinematography,
Art Direction, Visual Effects, Original Song.
Speaker 12 (14:53):
In scoring, there probably are words to describe your emotions,
na gentlemen, Please, on the contrary, it is a very
good word.
Speaker 9 (15:01):
Super Calophragnistic gets validations.
Speaker 3 (15:03):
The magic of it had escaped me, pounding it out
every day when it was all put together, there was
there was something else besides what we put into it.
I don't know what serendipity came along, but there was
a wonderful magic aura about that movie that nobody expected.
Speaker 15 (15:21):
And it's just as I say, every time I see
the film, I think it's better and better, and now
each generation is going to enjoy it in a different
way until the kite.
Speaker 14 (15:31):
Needs a proper tale.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
It was such a contribution to family entertainment and I
know that it's going to be around for a long
time and it stands as the perfect Walt Disney movie
as far as I'm concerned.
Speaker 10 (15:47):
I had a pleasure, the honor really of being asked
to help dedicate the Walt Disney statue of Disneyland. It
was his hundredth birthday and so I have to do that.
And they said, will you play a couple of songs?
And I said okay, And I played a couple of
things and I said, I'm now going to play Walt
Disney's favorite song and it's just for him, and I
(16:12):
sang and.
Speaker 8 (16:12):
Played feed the Birds, top ands a bag.
Speaker 10 (16:15):
I finished my song and I blew a kiss the
Walt statue like that, I said happy birthday. Walt and
I got down and they told me afterwards, just toward
the end, out of the clear blue sky, one bird
flew down right over where I was playing, and off
again into the clouds.
Speaker 8 (16:35):
That's moves me very much. That was Walt saying thanks.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
And a terrific job on the production, storytelling, editing and
narration by our own Greg Hengler.
Speaker 8 (16:49):
And what a story he told.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
My goodness that Dick Van Dyke said what he said
about the making of the movie. He said, I knew
how good the movie was going to be each and
every day of the movie shoot. That doesn't happen very often.
And my goodness, that story about Walt Disney's favorite song
dedicated to him on the unveiling of his statue on
his one hundredth birthday. But going back to the movie set,
(17:15):
where what Walt Disney would do was invite the cast
in on Fridays and all he would do is play
his favorite song, feed the birds the audience.
Speaker 8 (17:27):
All it responded.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
It was the biggest hit in the history of Walt
Disney's studio, thirteen Oscar nominations. Each generation will enjoy it
in their own way. This movie Mary Poppins. It stands
as the perfect Walt Disney movie. Dick Van Dyke said,
to close things out, the story of the making of
(17:51):
an American classic. Here on our American stories.
Host
Lee Habeeb
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by Audiochuck Media Company.
Betrayal Season 5
Saskia Inwood woke up one morning, knowing her life would never be the same. The night before, she learned the unimaginable – that the husband she knew in the light of day was a different person after dark. This season unpacks Saskia’s discovery of her husband’s secret life and her fight to bring him to justice. Along the way, we expose a crime that is just coming to light. This is also a story about the myth of the “perfect victim:” who gets believed, who gets doubted, and why. We follow Saskia as she works to reclaim her body, her voice, and her life. If you would like to reach out to the Betrayal Team, email us at betrayalpod@gmail.com. Follow us on Instagram @betrayalpod and @glasspodcasts. Please join our Substack for additional exclusive content, curated book recommendations, and community discussions. Sign up FREE by clicking this link Beyond Betrayal Substack. Join our community dedicated to truth, resilience, and healing. Your voice matters! Be a part of our Betrayal journey on Substack.