Happy Fathers' Day!
I had a good dramatic, emotional, Fathers-Day-appropriate song all ready to go for today. But my father passed away a little less than a year ago, so I decided to look at a thing he always enjoyed instead. Rather than a single song, therefore, I thought we'd take a look at a movie musical that, no matter what you might believe from the title, is really about a father: Mary Poppins.
How we know that Mary Poppins is really about the father and not about Mary Poppins is that the father is the only character that changes over the course of the film. Mary Poppins herself doesn't change--Mary Poppins NEVER changes. Jane and Michael don't change--we first see them being brought back home after running away, and near the end of the film we see them being brought back after running away. Mrs. Banks doesn't change--she is concerned about her children but distracted by her suffragette activities all the way through. But Mr. Banks changes--and he changes as a father. What could be more Fathers' Day, really?
(Hey, it's MY blog, I can reach if I want to!)
So, the first we see of Mr. Banks is as he arrives home to the news that his children are missing and their nanny has decamped ("The Life I Lead" and "A British Nanny," by Richard and Robert Sherman, sung by David Tomlinson):
Video posted by Alon Gvirtsman
Video posted by moviescenes4u
--a man in control of his life and his home...to such an extent that he doesn't quite grasp that Mary Poppins has hired herself. He has very strong opinions about how his children should be raised ("A British Bank" by the Sherman brothers, sung by David Tomlinson and Julie Andrews):
Video posted by moviescenes4u
But somehow that proposed outing didn't quite work out, to put it mildly, and he finally realizes that he isn't really in control at all ("A Man Has Dreams" by the Sherman brothers, sung by David Tomlinson and Dick Van Dyke):
Video posted by SelenaAbigailBanks
And finally he finds that not being in total control might not be all that important after all (in, as my dad loved to point out, a WALTZ--"Let's Go Fly a Kite" by the Sherman brothers, sung by David Tomlinson, Dick Van Dyke, and the rest of the company). It is a message with which, I should add, my organized and orderly father--who had a lively appreciation for silliness--was in full agreement:
Video posted by Victoria Fernandex Mac Iver
See what I mean? All about fathers and fatherhood.
I miss you, Daddy, and I hope you liked the songs.
***
All the tracks for Mary Poppins were written by the Sherman brothers, Richard M. and Robert B., winning Oscars for Best Song for "Chim Chim Cher-ee" and for Best Original Score, not to mention a Grammy for Best Album for Children (and discerning adults).
And the Sherman brothers were Jewish. They were the principal songwriters for Disney for more than 20 years (and continuing to write for Disney after that period, through 2011), writing the scores and songs for over 30 films--including The Parent Trap, The Sword in the Stone, The Jungle Book (1967 and 2016), and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang--and also for the Disney theme parks. They picked up nine Oscar nominations in addition to the two Oscars they won for Mary Poppins; they were both inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2005; and they were both honored with a National Medal of the Arts in 2009.
How we know that Mary Poppins is really about the father and not about Mary Poppins is that the father is the only character that changes over the course of the film. Mary Poppins herself doesn't change--Mary Poppins NEVER changes. Jane and Michael don't change--we first see them being brought back home after running away, and near the end of the film we see them being brought back after running away. Mrs. Banks doesn't change--she is concerned about her children but distracted by her suffragette activities all the way through. But Mr. Banks changes--and he changes as a father. What could be more Fathers' Day, really?
(Hey, it's MY blog, I can reach if I want to!)
So, the first we see of Mr. Banks is as he arrives home to the news that his children are missing and their nanny has decamped ("The Life I Lead" and "A British Nanny," by Richard and Robert Sherman, sung by David Tomlinson):
--a man in control of his life and his home...to such an extent that he doesn't quite grasp that Mary Poppins has hired herself. He has very strong opinions about how his children should be raised ("A British Bank" by the Sherman brothers, sung by David Tomlinson and Julie Andrews):
But somehow that proposed outing didn't quite work out, to put it mildly, and he finally realizes that he isn't really in control at all ("A Man Has Dreams" by the Sherman brothers, sung by David Tomlinson and Dick Van Dyke):
And finally he finds that not being in total control might not be all that important after all (in, as my dad loved to point out, a WALTZ--"Let's Go Fly a Kite" by the Sherman brothers, sung by David Tomlinson, Dick Van Dyke, and the rest of the company). It is a message with which, I should add, my organized and orderly father--who had a lively appreciation for silliness--was in full agreement:
See what I mean? All about fathers and fatherhood.
I miss you, Daddy, and I hope you liked the songs.
All the tracks for Mary Poppins were written by the Sherman brothers, Richard M. and Robert B., winning Oscars for Best Song for "Chim Chim Cher-ee" and for Best Original Score, not to mention a Grammy for Best Album for Children (and discerning adults).
And the Sherman brothers were Jewish. They were the principal songwriters for Disney for more than 20 years (and continuing to write for Disney after that period, through 2011), writing the scores and songs for over 30 films--including The Parent Trap, The Sword in the Stone, The Jungle Book (1967 and 2016), and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang--and also for the Disney theme parks. They picked up nine Oscar nominations in addition to the two Oscars they won for Mary Poppins; they were both inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2005; and they were both honored with a National Medal of the Arts in 2009.
You’re right, a very astute man with a great sense of humor enjoyed this movie and watched his children with pride find their own paths in life.
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DeleteAnd not I need to go and add a little bit to the blog post, because just because I know something good about someone, it doesn't follow that the rest of the world does!
(Done!) (Right before "Let's Go Fly a Kite." Because, yes, Daddy never tried to tell us how to live our lives, he just modeled for us what kind of people he wanted us to be.)
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