Saturday, April 21, 2012

I am the theater Mary Poppins.

Someone I worked with on a recent theatre project complimented me (I think) in an email:
You are the theater mary poppins!

But really I always identified more with the Suffragette Mrs. Banks in the movie, played by Glynis Johns.

No song in that movie can beat "Step in Time" but I am fond of Mrs. Banks's song "Sister Suffragette" (Mrs. Banks makes an appearance in "Step in Time" - when the playfully rioting chimney sweeps see Mrs. Banks come in wearing her sash they make that into one of the lyrics of the song: "Votes for women, step in time!" And soon Mrs. Banks is joining in with them, shouting "votes for women!" Such a naked display of solidarity - in a Disney movie yet -  always melts my left-wing, feminist, granddaughter-of-a-labor-leader heart.)

I get a chuckle out of the opening lyrics of "Sister Suffragette" especially the way she makes "as a group" rhyme with "rather stupid."

We're clearly soldier in petticoats
And dauntless crusader for women's votes
Though we adore men individually
We agree that as a group they're rather stupid 





Fun facts - Glynis John later played Diane Chambers' mom on "Cheers", and in the picture on this post she's with Hermoine Baddely (on the left) who played Maude's maid Mrs. Naugatuck.

Even funner fact via Wikipedia!
Mrs. Banks' four "Votes for Women" sashes from the film have all survived and are in perfect condition. One can be seen being "pulled out" of Richard M. Sherman's "special musicians' trunk" on the Musical Journey seen on the 2004 DVD release.
Oh wow, wouldn't I just love to have one of those sashes for my very own. I wonder how much one costs.