We Need to Have a Serious Conversation...

About Mary Poppins.

For those of you who didn't already know, Mary Poppins has been my favorite movie for my whole life. I have a deep connection with everything about this film. I could quote the entire movie, sing every song, perform every action, and mimic every facial expression for you without a second thought. I can even say Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious backwards. When I was little I would watch the entire 139 minutes, rewind the tape (we had to do that in my day), and watch it all over again. I could spend an entire day watching Mary Poppins over and over and over again.

Let me try and explain to you why Mary Poppins means so much to me. It's hard to know for sure because I was so young, but being a logical adult, I assume that I was also a relatively logical child. It was hard for me to really believe that other Disney movies could actually happen. While I love The Lion King, The Little Mermaid, and Beauty and the Beast, I never personally connected to them (my best guess) because they weren't real. Mary Poppins, Bert, and the Banks family are all very real people. When the animation came into the movie the real people didn't disappear which made me truly believe that the events in this movie could totally happen! All the magic seemed so real! When I pretended to have tea parties, my tea parties were always on the ceiling. To this day I will still occasionally snap my fingers in an attempt to clean my room. It hasn't worked yet, but I'm not giving up!

This movie also began my lifelong love of Julie Andrews. Mary Poppins is practically perfect in every way and she has become synonymous with Julie Andrews for me. I believe she (they) remains kind even when she is firm, she can make unappealing tasks exciting, and good Lord, can she sing! That voice is the voice of an angel and I tell you honestly that the day I read about her unfortunate throat surgery that damaged that voice, I cried. Like. A. Baby. I love Julie so much and if I ever got to meet her there is no doubt in my mind I would be crying tears of joy the whole time. Goodness, I'm getting choked up just thinking about it.

The next thing I'm going to share with you will be quite shocking to those of you who know me.

I have never read the book.

Honestly, I'm terrified. The movie is so perfect and Julie is so perfect that I couldn't bear to read the book and have it be any different from the movie. From what I understand, the book Mary Poppins is quite scary even with the magical powers. That's not how she should be! Also Ms. Travers sounds like an absolutely awful woman and since she hated the movie so much, I know the book is probably totally different. I doubt I will ever be able to sit down and read the book.

I had similar fears about seeing the musical on Broadway too. Thankfully I had listened to the music beforehand and knew it wasn't going to be exactly like the movie, but similar enough that I would like it. To my amazement, I didn't like it, I LOVED it. Seriously, if you ever have the chance to see it, please do it! The technical aspects of the show are astounding! While the techie in me longs to know how they pull off those amazing stunts, the child in me doesn't care and just enjoys seeing the magic again. At the end when Mary grabbed her umbrella and flew out over the audience I was crying. It was like my childhood fantasies had all come true. It was absolutely beautiful.

Seeing as my love of Mary Poppins is so great I am ashamed to announce that I was not the first person to know about the upcoming film Saving Mr. Banks. I was shown the trailer last night at a friend's birthday party. Check it out:

I think this movie looks amazing and is a true celebration of Mary Poppins 50th anniversary next year. It celebrates Walt Disney's creation despite all the struggles he had to go through to make it happen. The trailer makes it look like they have lightened P.L. Travers nastiness quite a bit. Read a few articles about her online and you'll see what I mean. Regardless, it's Mary Poppins. I'm seeing it. It comes out Christmas day and my birthday is the day after Christmas so HAPPY FRICKING BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!

I hope everyone has a movie from their childhood that they cherish with every fiber of their being. Mary Poppins holds a special place in my heart and (unlike the movie) her umbrella isn't going to carry her off anytime soon. 

I would love to hear what movie from your childhood is your favorite! Leave me a comment and let me know!