Writer of Pop Culture

One of Disney’s biggest hits of all time, Mary Poppins premiered on this day in pop culture history. Everyone was happy except for P.L. Travers, the author of book of which the musical is based on.

1964 – ‘Mary Poppins’ Premieres

It was this day that Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke attended the premiere of the classic musical, Mary Poppins along with Walt Disney and P. L. Travers, the author of the book of the same name. Brothers Robert and Richard Sherman wrote the music for the movie. They went on to compose many more songs for the Disney Company including more movies and theme park rides.

Mary Poppins was unique in that it included a sequence featuring animated penguins dancing with Van Dyke. Despite the technology, Travers did not like this scene. In fact, Travers wasn’t a big fan of the movie in general. She like Andrews but didn’t care for how Walt had softened her character from the stricter one in the book. Travers didn’t like for Van Dyke at all. She wasn’t a fan of some of the more light-hearted songs, especially the ones with made up words. Travers just didn’t want to give up any control.

However, the film was a hit with everyone else.

The musical fantasy was nominated for 13 Academy Awards. It won five Oscars for Best Actress (Andrews), Film Editing, Original Music Score, Visual Effects, and Original Song (“Chim Chim Cher-ee”.) 

In 2013, Walt Disney Pictures released the film Saving Mr. Banks which tells the story behind the making of the movie. Emma Thompson played the role of Travers and Tom Hanks played Walt Disney.

Five years later, Emily Blunt filled in for Andrews playing Poppins in the long-awaited sequel, Mary Poppins Returns in which Van Dyke made a cameo appearance. Andrews however did not appear in the movie explaining that she felt that this was Blunt’s movie, and Andrews didn’t want to take anything away from her. 

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OTHER EVENTS THAT HAPPENED ON THIS DAY:

1955 – The Big Book of World Records

In 1951, Hugh Beaver, the managing director of Guinness Breweries in Dublin, Ireland got in an argument about which game bird was the fastest in Europe – the golden plover or the red grouse. After realizing that he wasn’t going to get the answer from the reference books at the time, and that there wasn’t a book about records available, he came up with the idea for The Guinness Book of Records.

The first edition of the Guiness Book of Records was printed on this day. By Christmas, the book became a best-seller in England. An additional 70,000 books were sold in the U.S. the following year. Today, the official Guinness World Records book is available in 100 countries and in 40 languages.

Guinness World Records currently has a database of over 53,000 world records. These include:

• Owen Morse, a two-time record-holder for “joggling” (juggling balls while jogging). He ran 100m in 11.68 seconds in 1989. The next year he ran a 1-mile relay while juggling with three others in just under four minutes.
• 3,872 people who dressed up as Waldo from the Where’s Waldo books in 2011. (The record was beat in 2017 in Japan with 4,626 costumed characters.)
• Julia Hopson who won the record for knitting with the largest knitting needles in the world in 2006.

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1966 – First Solo Sailing Trip Around the World

Francis Chichester was both an aviator and Yachtsman. Aboard his Gipsy Moth IV, Chichester began a trip around the world sailing from Plymouth in the United Kingdom. But as if this achievement of circumnavigating the world wasn’t enough, he also wanted to do the trip faster that what a full crew on a 19th century clipper ship could do.

Chichester’s trip was a success despite his only one stop in Sydney at the halfway point on December 12, 1966. (This was a necessary stop as his ship had been badly damaged and he needed a mental break as well.) He headed back out on his journey on January 29, 1967, and arrived back home May 28, 1967.

More events that happened in August >>>