Mary Poppins 1964

This one is for Miss Maddie.  She wanted The Sound of Music (which Miss Maddie I do not hate and yes have seen- I still have the syrupy sweetness stuck to my teeth) but I know what your favorite is….

How can a mere mortal like I have any chance of doing justice to an icon of the film world like this!

It won 5 academy awards and was up for a slew of others, it had a grouping of outstanding talents and Walt (Disney) was still alive to keep the standards up.   I am not the biggest fan of musicals (the occasional White Christmas, Wizard of Oz, Dirty Dozen and the like works for me- huh-oh yes it was;  I am sure that Trini Lopez got off a tune in that one-) but this is fun.  That spit spot of a witch charms her way into the hearts of the dysfunctional Banks family (and subsequently abandons them and surely shreds the hearts of those poor little Banks urchins) bringing order to all with a smile and a twitch of her nose- opps sorry that was another witch- there was that umbrella thing happening.

The music is some of the most famous in film history.  The players fit so well in their respective roles.  What can you say about Julie…. And Dick, well he stands out to me.  I have seen the stage production of this and until I did I didn’t give Dick the credit he deserves (no disrespect for the guy in the play- he was good but…).  I know, I know his accent was horrible (everyone picks at him for that) but his energy was fantastic.  I tend to enjoy some of the “secondary” players as well or better.  I have always loved Ed Wynn (Uncle Albert); Rita Shaw (The Ghost and Mr. Chicken, TV’s version of The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, etc.) Elsa Lanchester (The Bride of Frankenstein) and Reginald Owen (Scrooge) were all fun to see too.

I didn’t care much for the jumping into the chalk painting part (a bit trippy dude) and that wild Chimney Sweep number kinda scares me, but unless you live in a Man Cave (do these expressions of blind testosterone actually exist?)you should be able to enjoy a dose of this once in a while and for some of you much more regularly!