What Happens in Mary Poppins

Before launching The Auntie Bulletin, I wrote this summary thinking I was going to do something else with it.

Mary Poppins takes place in an affluent neighborhood of London in 1910. In the first substantive scene, the nanny at Number 17 Cherry Tree Lane quits because the children, Jane and Michael, have run off again and this really is the last straw, etc. Their mother, Winifred Banks (RIP Glynis Johns), comes home from a suffragist rally and sings a great song that I sing to myself literally every time I vote –

Wait, let’s pause. It is important to note that there are no people of color at all in this movie, and while Mrs. Banks is an enthusiastic activist for women’s suffrage, there is no acknowledgment of the racism of the (White) women’s suffrage movement. That Mary Poppins was released in 1964 is an explanation, although I’m not sure it’s an excuse. So this is a respect in which Mary Poppins is not practically perfect in every way. And I’m not sure anymore if I actually should sing “well done, sister suffragette” when I vote. In this spirit of consenting to learn in public, I’ll name that I’m still working through this one and I’m not sure where to land.¹

Eventually Winifred stops carousing around long enough to get the memo that the nanny has quit. George Banks (David Tomlinson) is on his way home from work and sings a smug, imperialist song about how everything in his household always operates according to his wishes because he’s the lord of his dominion, and then he’s also let in on the news that the kids are missing. This is when the constable brings Jane and Michael (Karen Dotrice and Matthew Garber) home. They’d run off after a ramshackle runaway kite they made by themselves. They’re sent off to bed in disgrace and then Mr. Banks dictates (sings) a newspaper advertisement (ad-VER-tiss-ment, thankyouverymuch) to his wife for a new nanny while she hangs on his every word and tells him how brilliant he is.² What he wants is “a nanny who can give commands.”

The kids meanwhile have written their own nanny advertisement. They come down from the nursery and read (sing) it to their parents.

JANE: Wanted: A nanny for two adorable children.

MR. BANKS: “Adorable.” Well, that’s debatable, I must say.

JANE [sings]: If you want this choice position

Have a cheery disposition.

Rosy cheeks, no warts,

MICHAEL: That’s the part I put in.

JANE [sings]: Play games, all sorts.

You must be kind, you must be witty,

Very sweet and fairly pretty.

Take us on outings, give us treats

Sing songs, bring sweets.

Never be cross or cruel,

Never give us castor oil or gruel.

Love us as a son and daughter

And never smell of barley water.

MICHAEL: I put that in too.

The kids finish singing their advertisement and Mr. Banks sends them back to bed. Then he tears up the paper and throws it into the fireplace, where the wind pulls the pieces up the chimney.

So on the day of the nanny interviews there’s a huge line of dour-looking women stretching around the block. A strong wind comes up and blows them all away, and then Mary Poppins (Julie Andrews) floats down with her umbrella and her carpet bag, the iconic image. She lands, knocks at Number 17, is admitted, and starts rattling off to Mr. Banks her qualifications. “Item one: ‘cheery disposition.’ I am never cross. Item two: ‘rosy cheeks.’ Obviously. Item three: ‘Plays games, all sorts.’ Well I’m sure the children will find my games extremely diverting.”

The digital remaster of Mary Poppins is awesome. Check that coral lipstick.

While George Banks is scratching his head about the advertisement he thought he threw into the fire, Mary Poppins announces she’ll give the family a trial period, slides up the bannister to the gaping children (“Close your mouth, please, Michael. We are not a codfish”), and whisks them into the nursery. Now we come to “A Spoonful of Sugar” helping the medicine go down, in the form of Mary Poppins and the kids tidying up the nursery through the power of magic finger-snapping. (There are some great 1960s special effects and a sweet running gag where Michael can’t snap his fingers because he’s too little).

Now Mary Poppins and the kids head out for an outing (“I don’t want an outing! I want to tidy up the nursery again!”) and run into Bert (Dick Van Dyke), the local jack of all trades, whom it turns out all three of them already know. He’s being a sidewalk chalk artist on this day, and he convinces Mary Poppins to magic them into his drawing of the English countryside. So they pop on in and have some magical adventures and sing some lovely songs, including “Jolly Holiday” (featuring dancing cartoon penguins and hinting at a possible romantic backstory between Bert and Mary Poppins) and “Supercalifragilistic-expialidocious.” Basically, they have a full, fantastical day. So far, what we’ve got is a really fun and captivating kids’ movie.

Now let’s get to the grown-up plotline.

The next day, everyone in the household is in a great mood except George Banks. The kids come into breakfast singing “Supercalifragilistic-expialidocious,” and George gets grumpier and explains to Winifred that he expects a certain decorum, not giddy irresponsibility. The kids and Mary Poppins set off for another day of mundane activities that turn into magical adventures, this time a bad joke fest/tea party floating in midair with Uncle Albert (whose uncle? Unclear, but he’s played by the delightful Ed Wynn, who was in a bunch of Disney movies in the 1950s and 60s).

Is it just me or is that the wrong Michael?

That afternoon George comes home from his job at the bank and the kids are all “Father, Father, want to hear a joke??” (“I once new a man with a wooden leg named Smith.” “What was the name of his other leg?”) The children are just “Mary Poppins this” and “Mary Poppins that,” and George sends them up to the nursery and calls Mary Poppins in to fire her. He tells her it’s high time the children learn the seriousness of life, but before he can get any further she briskly Mary Poppinses him into agreeing that tomorrow he’ll take the children with him to the bank to learn about his job. Tuesdays are her day off.

Okay, pause again. I want to highlight at this point that George and his kids are not in a super great place, relationship-wise. He’s preoccupied with his job and has a (not very effective) authoritarian parenting style. Jane and Michael clearly want to have a relationship with him – they were super apologetic about running away after the kite, they wrote the nanny advertisement out of self-interest but also to help him out, and they clamor enthusiastic hellos at him whenever he deigns to talk to them. Now the kids have clearly fallen madly in love with Mary Poppins, but rather than hoard their attention (like we mere mortals might be tempted to do), at the first opportunity she connects them with their dad.

It’s tomorrow – off to the bank! (“Just the medicine they need for all this slipshod, sugary female thinking they get around here all day long,” George tells Winifred once he’s decided it was his idea). The kids have each brought along tuppence to feed the birds at the cathedral on the way. Instead, their father makes them bring the money to the bank so they can invest it, LOL.

They get to the bank and meet the ancient white dudes who run it. (Fun fact that I didn’t know when I was a kid: Dick Van Dyke also plays Mr. Dawes, the ancient bank president). Now we have a bankers’ musical number that isn’t so interesting for kids, but offers a sharp satire of imperialism for the adults in the audience.³ If Michael invests his tuppence, Dawes explains (sings), he’ll “achieve a sense of conquest / as his affluence expands.” He has a coughing fit and George takes over, all the while nervously eyeing his boss:

GEORGE: You see, Michael, you’ll be part of railways through Africa!

DAWES: Exactly!

GEORGE: Dams across the Nile!

DAWES: The ships. Tell them about the ships!

GEORGE: Fleets of ocean Greyhounds!

DAWES: More, tell them more!

GEORGE: Majestic self-amortizing canals!

DAWES: Oh, it fires the imagination!

The lyrics are purposely boring – full of the sort of obfuscating language that encourages people to skim contracts that will screw them out of their life savings. When the bankers finish singing about “foreclosures, bonds, chattels, dividends, shares,” Dawes grabs Michael’s tuppence. Michael starts yelling “give me back my money!” causing a panic among the customers and a run on the bank. The kids run away in the confusion and wind up lost in a smoky, industrial part of town. A scary old lady says “Come with me, my dears, Granny’ll hide you.” Fortunately, this being a lighthearted kids’ movie, this is when they run into Bert (who’s being a chimney sweep today, so it’s good luck to shake his hand), and he takes them home.

I bet you thought Mary Poppins was the only Auntie in this movie, but no! Bert is with the program! He lets the kids vent, then offers a take on what’s up with their father:

You know, begging your pardon, but the one my heart goes out to is your father. There he is in that cold, heartless bank day after day, hemmed in by mounds of cold, heartless money. I don’t like to see any living thing caged up.

Bert takes the kids back home and pretty soon they’re dancing on the rooftops with all the chimney sweeps of London, step in time, step in time!

The chimney sweeps all take their leave by way of coming down the chimney, getting soot all over the parlor that Ellen is going to have to clean up later, and then each shaking hands with George Banks on their way out. Jane gasps, “Father, every one of those sweeps shook your hand, you’re going to be the luckiest person in the world!” and then the kids go up to bed and George gets a phone call summoning him back to the bank to be fired.

Bert’s taking his leave, and the two men have a (sung) word. George blames Mary Poppins for his fate, and Bert commiserates (“Tricked you into taking the children on an outing? Outrageous! A man with all the important things you have to do. Shameful! You're a man of high position. Esteemed by your peers.”). Then he advances the Auntie agenda (in song), redirecting George’s attention to his children.

You've got to grind, grind, grind at that grindstone

Though childhood slips like sand through a sieve

And all too soon they've up and grown

And then they've flown

And it's too late for you to give

Just that spoonful of sugar to help the medicine go down

The medicine go down

Medicine go down.

Well, good-bye, guv'nor. Sorry to have troubled you.

Now George Banks, full of dread, is off to the bank. There he dishonorably dismissed. The Director’s son, Dawes Jr., ceremoniously punches out the top of his bowler hat. He breaks George’s umbrella. He confiscates the red carnation in his lapel. It would seem to be the nadir for poor George.

But no! Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose, because George has a sudden priority realignment! He is asked, “Do you have anything to say?” And do you know what he says?

He says “supercalifragilistic-expialidocious!” He starts telling jokes about people with wooden legs named Smith! He starts singing “A Spoonful of Sugar” and dances off into the night! The next morning he’s still singing and everyone at home thinks he’s gone a bit crazy, but it turns out he’s spent the night in the cellar fixing Jane and Michael’s kite, and now it’s time to go fly it!

Dawes Jr., of the bank, stops by the park to let George know that Dawes Sr. died laughing at the “wooden leg named Smith” joke and now there’s an opening for a partner at the bank and George can have his job back. (Oh well).

Back at the house, the wind has changed, and Mary Poppins flies away with her umbrella. Bert looks up and says, “Goodbye, Mary Poppins. Don’t stay away too long.”

1. Over at his terrific Substack The White Pages, Garrett Bucks has been doing deep dives into race and racism in the movies. His 2023 series “Ten Movies, Ten Stories of Whiteness” examined Rocky, Forrest Gump, Dangerous Minds, Pretty in Pink, Top Gun: Maverick, Gone with the Wind, Dirty Dancing, The Searchers, The Blind Side, and Legally Blonde. So far in 2024 he’s taken on Mean Girls, Cruel Intentions, Twelve Angry Men, and Clueless. If you’re interested in race and representation in Hollywood, this is a funny, informative, heartful, anti-racist place to dive in.

2. I’m never sure how to feel about Winifred’s seeming-adoration of her husband. Surprisingly, I think I like it? One of the best lines in “Sister Suffragette” goes “though we adore men individually / we agree that as a group they’re rather stupid.” She’s an enthusiastic activist for women’s rights and loves it when her compatriots get arrested for the advancement of the cause and the glory of womankind. But then she agrees with every bullshit, authoritarian, capitalist, sexist thing George ever says. From one perspective, it looks like the filmmakers are making fun of her hypocrisy, and of feminism more generally. But I have always preferred a more subversive reading, that agreeing with her husband is a strategy to keep him from paying attention to her organizing activities. Which Winifred is the real one? The film leaves the viewer to decide. You know, now that I think about it, this whole two-Winifreds thing would be interesting to bring up with kids. If you lay it out for them clearly and simply, even little ones could probably offer thoughtful insights.

3. There’s no way most kids are going to understand “Fidelity Fiduciary Bank.” When I was a kid, all I got out of it was that the bank guys wanted Michael (not Jane, because what would a woman do with money) to start a bank account, and the ancient bank president (who, fun fact, is also Dick Van Dyke!) got so excited while singing about banking that he toppled over backwards.