Last week marked the fifty-fifth anniversary of Walt Disney's Mary Poppins. The film premiered at Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood, on August 27, 1964. This is the souvenir program from that night:
The movie's premiere was covered in a one hour television special on Los Angeles' KTTV, Channel 11. While the entire broadcast no longer exists, some film footage did survive, along with some audio from a separate radio broadcast, which was taking place that same night. Here is a link to the footage and audio that does still exist:
And here's a publicity shot of the film's two stars, posing with Walt Disney out in front of the theater, on the night of the premiere.
Two years after the premiere of Mary Poppins, Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke were each invited back to the Chinese Theater, to place their hands and feet into the cement of the theater's forecourt.
Julie Andrews' ceremony was in March of 1966:
And Dick Van Dyke's ceremony was in June of 1966:
Happy fifty-fifth anniversary, to Walt Disney's Mary Poppins!
Neat item! I've always found it interesting that "Mary Poppins" and "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" (and possibly "Swiss Family Robinson") were so different from the typical lower-budget feature films from Disney. Don't get me wrong, I love things like "The Absent-Minded Professor" and its ilk!
ReplyDeleteWhen Walt wanted to, he could really pull out all the stops and build amazing sets, or film on beautiful locations - and he often used big-name actors that he normally wouldn't pay for.
I didn't see "Mary Poppins" all the way through until I was an adult, and really enjoyed it. Julie Andrews is amazing in it, as is Dick Van Dyke. I wonder if we'll ever see big movie musicals achieve the popularity that they used to have?
Let's all go see the upcoming "Cats" movie and have horrible nightmares!
Mary Poppins is very special too me. I remember as a child I was with my family at the Grand Lake Theater in Oakland and we waited in the rain with umbrellas for well over an hour to see Mary Poppins upon it's premiere in Oakland.
ReplyDeleteOnce inside the theater I was totally cast under the spell of Mary Poppins. This Walt Disney film like no other had quite an effect on me. Me and my sisters had the LP album and played that record over and over and over again singing to the songs and marching around the room with umbrellas.
My parents told me it was the first time I didn't talk through a movie as I sat there still and soundless while watching Mary Poppins. From my first trip to Disneyland in 1963 to seeing Mary Poppins a year later in 1964, I became a life-long fan of Walt and Company and it hasn't stopped since.
And I still watch Mary Poppins from time to time and enjoy it as much today as I did back in 1964.
Now onto the pics. What a treasure you have here of the Premiere souvenir program for Mary Poppins opening night. It looks in primo condition too. I've always loved the poster of Mary and Bert's heads over the rooftops of London/Step in Time scene.
Also love the pic of Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke leaving their hand prints at the Chinese Theater. Would you happen to know if their hand prints are still in the Chinese Theater Courtyard or have then been removed already?
Thanks, TokyoMagic! This post brings up a lot of wonderful childhood memories for me. It is still my favorite live-action Disney film of all time.
Major, Mary Poppins, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Swiss Family Robinson are my favorite live-action films from the Walt Disney era.
Major, you left out The Happiest Millionaire!!! Seriously though, I know what you mean about those films being different.
ReplyDeleteI have also wondered if the big movie musical genre will ever make a return. It seems like for now, it will just be an occasional occurrence like with La La Land, The Greatest Showman, and A Star Is Born.
I never saw Catson stage. I watched the trailer for the film and it didn't do a whole lot for me. If I do eventually see it, it will probably be just because of the fact that Jennifer Hudson is in it.
Ken, I didn't see Mary Poppins until it was re-released, nine years later in 1973. However, prior to that, my family did have several versions of the soundtrack that we listened to quite often. Those included the original cast soundtrack on AMPEX reel to reel tape, and an LP vinyl version which did not feature the original cast and had Marnie Nixon stepping in for Julie Andrews' vocals.
ReplyDeleteI was originally going to make this a Mary Poppins "Mega Post!" However, I have decided to do a separate post in the future, which will feature items related to the film, like the soundtracks, a comic book, and other memorabilia. I don't have the full-sized movie poster that you mentioned, but I do have a set of lobby cards from the film and one of them features the iconic "floating heads" of the two stars.
As for Julie and Dick's hand and footprints, I have a friend who visited the theater, just a couple weeks ago. I told him where to look for their "blocks" (JOHN WAYNE'S BLOCK IS LOOSE!) and he was able to locate Julie Andrews' and take a pic of it for me. He could not find Dick Van Dyke's, but that doesn't mean that it is no longer there. I have a feeling that it still is. I just need to go look for it myself!
Thanks TokyoMagic!, this is a super (etc.) post. I also first saw "Mary Poppins" in its 1973 reissue, and it was instant love. Multiple revisits ensued, and soon the theatre staff at the Paradise, a big movie house in Westchester, California, began to chuckle when they saw me. I also played the record album into scratchy oblivion, and then read all the Poppins books that summer of '73.
ReplyDeleteP.L. Travers was disgruntled at the film adaptation of her stories, but though the novels are wonderfully dry and eccentric in tone, somehow the cheerier movie does not diminish Travers' creation.
I didn't see "MP" again till a screening a few years back at LA's New Beverly Cinema, and didn't expect it would survive an adult reappraisal...and magically, it did. It is somewhat overlong at 2hours20 minutes, but it never wears out its welcome, and the best scenes are in the second half, when the show gets a bit darker. No doubt this was Walt Disney's last big cinematic hurrah, standing alongside the animated classics of the '30s and '40s.
Incidentally the New Bev continues to show Disney films in 35mm; last year they screened the roadshow version of "Happiest Millionaire", in 4 track magnetic sound, and 2 weeks ago I immensely enjoyed "In Search of the Castaways" there ; "That Darn Cat!" is playing at the end of this month.
TokyoMagic!, Thanks for asking and checking on whether the Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke hand prints were still there. It's good to know.
ReplyDeleteAnd to think both Ricky and Lucy tried to get John Wayne to recreate his "loose block" and failed both times. Too funny!
Stefano, thank you! I'm glad that you liked this post. I didn't realize that the New Beverly Cinema showed Disney movies! I'll have to check out their schedule. Did you ever go to the El Capitan Theater for the sing-a-long showing of Mary Poppins, some years back? I think Disney was hoping to cash in on the success of the Sound of Music sing-a-long version that was so successful. I'm not sure how popular that format was with Mary Poppins. I haven't heard anything more about it, but I think the Sound of Music sing-a-long is still shown annually at the Hollywood Bowl.
ReplyDeleteAnd speaking of the darker parts of the film. Have you seen this reinvented "trailer" for Mary Poppins, where someone put together all of those darker parts, and even some not so dark parts, and came up with what looks like a trailer for a horror film?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2T5_0AGdFic
TokyoMagic!, great post!!
ReplyDeleteI remember seeing and loving Mary Poppins when it first came out, though I was only 4. I've watched it several more times over the years and appreciate it more and more, each time I see it.
I love your "John Wayne's block is loose!" comment - instantly knowing who/what you were referring to!
I didn't know "they" ever did a Mary Poppins sing-a-long. I've been to a couple Sound of Music sing-a-longs and had a great time, as the audiences were filled with some of the funniest people (reminding me of some of the wonderfully funny folks that visit your blog and the Major's, too).
You put a lot of work into your posts - it's very much appreciated and enjoyed!
Sue
P.S. TM! - How come our comments on your post show the time AND DATE, but not on the Major's? (Hey, Major what are you doing wrong?!)
Sue, so now I know how serious of an "I Love Lucy" fan you are (and Ken Martinez, too!), since you both knew that line without any mention of the show or the actress! :-)
ReplyDeleteThe only live "sing-a-long" I've been to, was the one for Grease at the Hollywood Bowl. That was a lot of fun. They gave everyone various props to hold up at different times throughout the movie (like a pompom for the pep rally scene and a scarf for when Cha Cha De Gregorio starts the drag race). Do they pass out props for the Sound of Music sing-a-long? I know they usually have a costume contest at both of those sing-a-longs. I think I remember the ad for the Mary Poppins one saying to "Dress up as your favorite character from the film!" I just never heard anything more about it, so I'm assuming it didn't catch on, like it did with the other films.
As for having a time AND date stamp on Blogger comments, I think it has something to do with the settings. I set all of that up when I first created my blog and I have never gone back to look at it again. I do like seeing a date, when going back and reading older comments.
Thank you so much commenting and for the nice compliment, too!
TokyoMagic!
ReplyDeleteYes, at the Sound of Music sing-a-longs, you got a bag of props. One that I remember using the most was the sprig of Edelweiss. Whenever you heard the song "Edelweiss," you had to hold up the sprig and sway it back and forth to the music. That song was in the background of A LOT of scenes - I never realized it until we had to listen for it.
Having the words to the songs on the screen made it easy to sing along, as I'm sure they did that for the Grease sing-a-long, too.
My group brought in water spray bottles & squirt guns . . . and whenever it was either raining or someone was getting wet in the movie, we sprayed the audience - a few rows ahead of us. No one figured it was us, as the people around us were in on the joke and kept quiet (or we'd spray them). No one got mad, everyone laughed.
A LOT of gals came to that sing-a-long wearing full bridal dresses and veils, with flowers. When Maria got married in the movie, ALL the audience members that were in bridal gowns walked the aisles of the show, during the movie scene. Sounds strange, but it was comical. (Of course, people dressed up as lots of other movie-related things, too.)
My favorite part (and this is what had my group laughing hysterically) was, throughout the movie, some audience members said comments (in between the movie actors comments) that actually changed the plot and turned it into a comedy. So very creative and unexpected!
It was a good, silly time, full of belly laughs . . . and we all need that every so often.
Sue
Sue, that sounds like a lot of fun!!! I think I need to see that, the next time it comes to the Hollywood Bowl. First, I'll have to take down my bedroom curtains and then find someone who can make them into lederhosen for me! ;-)
ReplyDeleteTM! hahahahahahaha!!
ReplyDeleteSuw
No, I didn't change my name . . . I meant to type "Sue."
ReplyDeleteTM!, this is a really neat piece of ephemera. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI saw MP on that 1973 re-release, too, at the Solano Theater in Fairfield, CA. I was only four, I was up and down and up the aisle and down the aisle, driving my mom bonkers. She finally dragged me into the lobby and told me that if I didn't settle down we would be leaving and she would never, ever take me to a movie again for the rest of my life. I settled down.
Funnily enough, I can remember a year or two later reading the Little Golden Book version of the story with my mother and commenting that the parrot head on the end of MP's umbrella could talk. She assured me that no, it couldn't, that i was remembering the movie wrong. It would appear that, despite my antics, I was paying closer attention to the film than she was.
Sue, I'm having the oddest mental picture of a Sound of Music and mashup.
Chuck, I saw M.P. at the Rolling Hills Theater in Torrance, CA. It's funny, how some of us can remember WHERE we saw a particular movie, as children. Your story about running up and down the aisle reminds me of a similar story. My mom had dropped my brother and I off, along with two neighborhood children who were friends of ours, to see a double feature of Dumbo and The Living Desert. One of our friends was the youngest one in the group and I guess a double feature was a little bit too much for him to sit through. He did okay sitting through Dumbo, but when The Living Desert came on, he was running up and down the aisles. He was right in front of the screen when the scorpions appeared (or maybe it was the tarantulas). Anyway, he saw them projected up on the big screen like that and so close-up, that he ran back to his seat and stayed in it after that.
ReplyDeleteI am assuming that you left the "Mary Poppins" out of that last sentence where you were describing a "mashup." Now I want to see something like that fleshed out. James Corden would probably do a good job with something like that!
Egads! Yes, I did leave the key words "Mary Poppins" out of that sentence. And I think your James Corden idea is wonderful.
ReplyDeleteI saw that Dumbo/Living Desert double-feature, too! My grandmother was visiting for Christmas and took my best friend, Robby< and I to go see it at the Americana theater in Fairfield. That theater - which was almost brand-new - had an amazing two auditoriums. I thought that was the coolest thing.
My wife bought me a VHS copy of The Living Desert in the mid-'90s, and about 10 years later, my animal-crazy-then-four-or-five-year-old would watch it over and over and over again. On a trip to the Omaha Zoo (which is worth a visit for the Desert Dome alone), we were looking at the peccary exhibit, when out of the blue he says "these fellows go by many names - javelinas, peccaries - but their real name is 'trouble.'" It was uncanny.
...aaand I have apparently told that story before, although not here. Sometimes I think my entire life consists of nothing but reruns...
ReplyDeleteChuck, I love that story of your young son quoting The Living Desert! And I'm pretty sure I have done that before, where I have told the same story here and on GDB before....or even on the same blog, twice! It happens!
ReplyDeleteTokyo, what a wonderful and massive post. Thank you for all the hard work putting this together and sharing this treasure with us.
ReplyDeleteVery much enjoying all the comments and memories. I am embarrassed to say that I can't remember when, or even if, I saw the film in the theater.
I did not see it, or any of the other top favorites, 20K or SFR in the theaters. I think MP and SFR had to wait until we subscribed to the Disney channel in the '90's and I watched these with my kids. I think I saw part of 20K in a drive-in, but in the next theater over, so no dialog. Again, I know we saw it on the Disney channel.
MP is a very fine movie that holds up well for me. I would watch it again gladly, long before any of the recent output. We did watch the recent sequel, which was ok, but without the original version to set up the story, would not be worth much.
Again, sorry I am late, many thanks to all and especially Tokyo.
JG
JG, thank you!
ReplyDeleteI never saw 20K in the theater, but I did see Swiss Family Robinson (or at least part of it) when it was re-released, along with the re-release of Peter Pan. Peter Pan was sort of the first movie that I was taken to see. Well, the first one that I have a memory of and the first one that I sat all the way through. Prior to that, I was taken to see Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, but supposedly, I cried when the Witch appeared on the screen and I had to be removed from the theater by my dad. Fortunately, I didn't ruin it for my older brother, because my mom stayed with him in the theater for the rest of the movie. I hate being one of "those" children, but sadly, I can't even say that it ended there. While viewing Peter Pan a few years later, I did just fine, but I think a "double feature" was a little bit much for me to sit through at the age of 4. I say that because during the showing of Swiss Family Robinson, I became very impatient and we had to leave halfway through it. Now, every movie that I went to see after that, including the re-release of Mary Poppins, held my full attention!
I did not see the sequel to M.P. which I lovingly (okay, not so lovingly) refer to as Mary Poppins' Revenge. For some reason, I just didn't have any interest in it. But then again, I haven't had any interest in any of the movies which Disney has been putting out for the last two years or more. I think my feelings towards the company have soured just a bit, because of their further/continued ruination of Disneyland in the past few years. However, I try not to be bitter about it! ;-)