Mary Poppins at the El Capitan
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Robert and Richard Sherman

The Sherman Brothers sang bits of most of the songs from the film and although no words were displayed many in the audience joined in. Richard kindly reminded us we had a lot of singing ahead of us and that we may wish to save our voices. The songs helped to weave together several stories about the making of Mary Poppins. Many of these stories can be read in their incredible book Walt's Time: From Before To Beyond (click here for our review of the book). One that stands out was how X Atencio and Bill Justice were able to amaze everyone with the nursery sequence during Spoonful of Sugar. Bill Justice was in attendance and received a huge ovation when Richard Sherman introduced him. My wife became a bit misty-eyed when the Sherman Brothers talked about times when Walt would walk in the room and declare, "play it." They knew exactly when he wanted and began to sing Feed the Birds. The audience joined in to sing this beautiful tune about the simple act of kindness.

DeeDee Wood

Choreographer DeeDee Wood shared a story of how the director wanted the Step In Time dance sequence cut to 3 minutes but she (with Walt's backing) kept it at 14 minutes. Uncle Walt, as Ms. Wood called him, suggested that the choreographers film the sequence with a simple handheld camera as they viewed it. Walt then took that film and told the director, "do this". She also talked about the Jolly Holiday sequence. At the beginning of this sequence Mary and Bert put down their parasol and cane and dance a bit. Trying to figure out a way that the cane and parasol could easily appear at the end of the sequence she said too bad its impossible for them to dance along with Bert and Mary. The Disney guys told her to give them three days and three days later the cane and parasol were dancing through the chalk pavement picture, too.

Dancing Chimney sweeps Bob Banas and Ed Balin

One sweep told the story of how the tapping sound for the penguins was done. Someone spotted them slapping their stomachs after a full lunch one day, heard the sound and thought it would be perfect. So they were dragged into a recording studio and that's what they used. The other sweep talked about the large set built for the Step in Time sequence that duplicated the rooftops of London. He said the filming took five weeks and he enjoyed every bit of it.

DeeDee Woods and the chimney sweeps