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Mary Poppins

PenguinsMary

Ask people to name their favorite Disney film made during Walt's lifetime, and time and time again you will hear the same answer: "Mary Poppins." Released just two years before Walt's death, it was a masterpiece of unquestioned brilliance. Actually, Walt first became interested in turning "Mary Poppins" into a film in the mid-1940s, when his daughters were reading P.L. Travers' books about the mystical nanny. He labored for years to get the rights, and even after he finally did, the relationship with Travers was less than smooth. In fact, tapes of meetings between Travers and Walt's writers reveal her lecturing them -- in a tone generally reserved for recalcitrant Latin students -- about what Mary would and would not do. Though the relationship between Walt and Travers was sometimes stormy, it didn't stand in the way of the final product. The film earned some $44 million in its original release and won five Oscars. The brilliant combination of live action and animation earned yet another special, scientific award.

LondonWalt and Julie Andrews

The combination of talents involved was, in Mary's words, "Practically perfect in every way." Songwriters Richard and Robert Sherman shared Walt's vision of the story and were able to translate it into a series of unforgettable tunes. Julie Andrews, Dick Van Dyke, and a brilliant supporting cast leave little room for improvement. Artist Peter Ellenshaw created a realistic London on mattes. Director Robert Stevenson was able to bring his long experience directing children to the mix. Perhaps most important, although Walt had been distracted from filmmaking for some time, he again focused his creative genius on this one. From the beginning he added scenes and deleted others, changed dialogue, and requested new special effects. He had comments on almost every page of the script, like the following quoted by Bob Thomas in "Walt Disney, an American Original," his biography of Walt: "Played to camera. . . . They forget camera and play to each other. . . . Is this the only use of kitchen set . . . Use mechanical robins here. . . . Do we need Mary in this. . . . This is sad; use later. . . . Would Mary have a nanny? . . . Father should sing part of this. . . . " Until the film was finally complete, he never let go; making improvements at every turn -- no matter what that meant for the budget. When Julie Andrews accepted her Oscar for Best Actress, she said, "I know where to start. Mr. Disney gets the biggest thanks."

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