Mary Poppins

[kaytodd]

My ten year old son and I were in NYC and Washington D.C. last week on a school trip. All of the children and parents, including my son and I, had a wonderful time. One of the things we did was see the stage musical Mary Poppins. Needless to say, that was not one of the high points of the trip and my opinion of the play seemed to be shared by almost all of the kids. But it was sort of fun to see a stage ull of dancers spell out "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" like we all have spelled out "YMCA" on a dance floor.

One of the assignments the children had upon their return to school was to write a comparison of the stage and film versions of Mary Poppins. We watched the film while riding the bus from DC to NYC (Yes, 25 ten and eleven year olds, 20 parents and two teachers rode a bus from NO to DC, from DC to NYC, then from NYC to NO, all in a seven day period. Fun, but every bit as exhausting as you imagine.).

I, like most parents, have seen the film several times but I never really paid attention to it until I watched it on the bus. I wanted to be able to help Cody with his assignment. I did not think much of the film but the performance of David Tomlinson as George, the father, got my attention. He was terrific in the comic scenes and surprisingly moving during the later scenes when his family and professional worlds seem to be coming apart. He also was a competent singer and dancer, at least good enough for musicals.

I looked him up in imdb and see that his career after Poppins was heavy on Disney. He should have had a more distinguished career. He was a very good character actor in both comedy and drama. I hope there was a least some discussion of his getting a supporting actor nod for 1964.