MARY POPPINS, A LOOK BACK (1 Viewer)

[Ejanss]

Having recently read the biography of P.L. Travers ("Mary Poppins, She Wrote") I would like to offer a correction to the section describing the discussion of a "Poppins" sequel in the 1980s. The above mentions that Travers' daughter Pamela was involved in those negotiations with Disney. P.L. Travers did not have a daughter; she had an adopted son named Camillus (who died a few years ago). Travers herself participated in the sequel discussions; according to the biography, the Disney regime in place at that time decided not to move forward.

Although it was almost constantly on the mind of Eisner in the early 90's to "cement" the image connection of Old and New Disney with a Walt-era sequel and validate the regime change--
Problem is, back then, they (get this! ) didn't know what old Disney movies were open-ended enough to be sequelized, except for Fantasia, Mary Poppins and The Rescuers...You probably know what happened to the latter.

Even without Julie (and there were briefly rumors of getting a pre-Captain EO Michael Jackson to fill in as a Bert substitute), they were reportedly that close to going ahead on the project with Sarah Brightman, fresh off of Phantom of the Opera, and Robert Lindsay, fresh off of "Me and My Girl".
As usual, nothing eventually came of it.

 

[warnerbro]

Robert Siegel! You are always a class act. Nobody does it better!

 

[Kz Audio Video]

Great article indeed, very educational. I men, i learned a lot just by reading half way of the whole article.

 

[Robert Harris]

Just a note on an otherwise fine article.This project was funded and produced by Disney. Apparently, the Disney organization continues its quiet elegance, in not taking internal credit, and will most likely have no comment.But I don't work for Disney. So a few words.Without the knowledge, passion and sometimes back-breaking work from an entire team of vault specialists, archivists and yes, executives at Disney, there would be no restoration of Mary Poppins.My hat is off to them all, raised high!RAH

 

[RobertSiegel]

Robert Siegel! You are always a class act. Nobody does it better!

Thanks Warnerbro. It's always nice to hear from you and I am glad you continue to enjoy my work, thank you.

 

[JohnMor]

"Inspirational! The Times will be so pleased!"

 

[davidmatychuk]

Today I was looking at my "Mary Poppins" storybook/program, which I got in 1964 when my cousin took me and my brother to see the movie at Vancouver's long-gone Strand Theatre, a real old-fashioned movie palace. The book is a little too large to fit on my scanner, but here's a few iPod photos of this interesting mix of story, movie stills, drawings, and film credits. This souvenir book is kept in my "My Fair Lady" Laserdisc box, because there's room, and because, well, you know.

 

[cwilli]

Today I was looking at my "Mary Poppins" storybook/program, which I got in 1964 when my cousin took me and my brother to see the movie at Vancouver's long-gone Strand Theatre, a real old-fashioned movie palace. The book is a little too large to fit on my scanner, but here's a few iPod photos of this interesting mix of story, movie stills, drawings, and film credits. This souvenir book is kept in my "My Fair Lady" Laserdisc box, because there's room, and because, well, you know.

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Thanks so much for sharing your souvenir program David. I always wondered what the original program was like. Now I know, I wish that I had received one but I didn't see the show until several months after the premier.

 

[Matt Hough]

I've never seen that souvenir program before, so thanks so much for sharing it with us!

 

[Reed Grele]

Mine had different cover art. I wish I could find it.

 

[davidmatychuk]

http://media.skynews.com/media/images/generated/2014/4/15/302678/default/v1/julie-andrews-king-george-1-522x293.jpg

YouTube now has footage of Julie Andrews, age 13, singing for King George.

 

[Rob W]

Wonderful article, but isn't the photo of Julie and Karen Dotrice in front of the El Capitan for the 40th Anniversary DVD from 2004 rather than 2013 ?

 

[MSC77]

I don't want to highjack this particular discussion, but I think this is a better posting spot than starting a fresh discussion. Anyway, I want to let you know that we put up a 50th anniversary "Mary Poppins" article at The Digital Bits the other day. I predict you'll enjoy the article if you're a fan of the movie and/or if you saw it in original release. There's a Q&A with historians on Page 1 and a list of theaters that played the movie and other bits on Page 2.http://www.thedigitalbits.com/columns/history-legacy--showmanship/mary-poppins-50th-anniv

 

[Charles Smith]

Fantastic! Always appreciate the amazing research.

 

[Virgoan]

In so-called comprehensive record guides, I have never seen any soundtrack reference to the original soundtrack LP I bought back in 1964 via the RCA Victor Record Club.


"Mary Poppins" was a featured record one month and the soundtrack was issued on the RCA label for that record club and remained in their catalog for a period of time.


I wonder if anyone else out there recalls that the Buena Vista label wasn't the only one on which the soundtrack appeared!

 

[bryan4999]

In so-called comprehensive record guides, I have never seen any soundtrack reference to the original soundtrack LP I bought back in 1964 via the RCA Victor Record Club.


"Mary Poppins" was a featured record one month and the soundtrack was issued on the RCA label for that record club and remained in their catalog for a period of time.


I wonder if anyone else out there recalls that the Buena Vista label wasn't the only one on which the soundtrack appeared!

I do have a copy on RCA, and I was under the impression that it was released on RCA in Britain. Not certain of that however, but the friend who gave me the RCA copy said he had purchased it originally in London. It is the gatefold cover.

 

[Virgoan]

Yes, mine is gatefold, as well.

 

[RobertSiegel]

Does anyone have a scan of photo of the RCA version of the original soundtrack? I would love to see it. Also, does anyone have any hope we will get a 4k release of this movie? I have not seen Disney announce a 4k catalog title since Home Alone, and I predict that was already produced by Fox when Disney bought them. It seems they have no interest, which really makes me sad that Disney was able to acquire 20th Century Fox's great catalog, surely they would have been releasing 4k titles if they were still their own studio. I did have an insider friend at Fox Home Entertainment who was fired when Disney took over, but I was told that Fox had already started a 4k release of The Sound of Music for its 55th anniversary, which was this past March 2020. I assume that was scrapped by Disney probably because The Sound of Music appeared on Disney Plus from the day they started the service. You will note that every 5 years, Fox released a special edition of The Sound of Music since the VHS days, and never missed one of those anniversaries until this past March. I think it's really sad that we might have had a 4k release of The Sound of Music in our hands, had Fox not been taken over.

 

[B-ROLL]

Does anyone have a scan of photo of the RCA version of the original soundtrack? I would love to see it. Also, does anyone have any hope we will get a 4k release of this movie? I have not seen Disney announce a 4k catalog title since Home Alone, and I predict that was already produced by Fox when Disney bought them. It seems they have no interest, which really makes me sad that Disney was able to acquire 20th Century Fox's great catalog, surely they would have been releasing 4k titles if they were still their own studio. I did have an insider friend at Fox Home Entertainment who was fired when Disney took over, but I was told that Fox had already started a 4k release of The Sound of Music for its 55th anniversary, which was this past March 2020. I assume that was scrapped by Disney probably because The Sound of Music appeared on Disney Plus from the day they started the service. You will note that every 5 years, Fox released a special edition of The Sound of Music since the VHS days, and never missed one of those anniversaries until this past March. I think it's really sad that we might have had a 4k release of The Sound of Music in our hands, had Fox not been taken over.

Found on the interebs ...

I believe this is the same LP that was offered by the Columbia Record club ...

 

[PMF]

Today I was looking at my "Mary Poppins" storybook/program, which I got in 1964 when my cousin took me and my brother to see the movie at Vancouver's long-gone Strand Theatre, a real old-fashioned movie palace. The book is a little too large to fit on my scanner, but here's a few iPod photos of this interesting mix of story, movie stills, drawings, and film credits. This souvenir book is kept in my "My Fair Lady" Laserdisc box, because there's room, and because, well, you know.View attachment 9549View attachment 9550View attachment 9551View attachment 9552View attachment 9553View attachment 9554View attachment 9555View attachment 9556View attachment 9557View attachment 9558

WOW, what a flash-back rush!! I’ve got this program, too. I cherished it. It’s somewhere safe. So safe, that’s it’s now lost - but not lost -amongst the many other boxes of stacked safe-keepings. In those days a souvenir program; paired with a soundtrack; was the closest a kid could get to actually owning the film. Imagination had surely filled in the rest.