‘Mary Poppins’ child star finally sees entire film … after 50 years

TORONTO – “Mary Poppins” has enchanted audiences for some 50 years, but the former child star who played Jane Banks didn’t watch the entire movie about the magical nanny until just recently.

“The amazing thing is I’ve never actually seen ‘Mary Poppins’ all the way through until last week at this 50th anniversary premiere,” Karen Dotrice, who played one of Mary Poppins’ two young charges, said in a telephone interview from Los Angeles.

“And it’s absolutely a corker. … I took my kids. They’ve never seen the film either.”

Dotrice, who eventually left show business to focus on her family (her children are now 17, 18 and 23), said she never saw the full 140-minute film at the 1964 premiere because she had to get home to bed.

“I was a little girl and I had to go to school the next morning,” she recalled. “My parents were very good at keeping (my) feet on the ground. I think I got away with not doing homework that night, but I had to go back to school so I only stayed for about a half an hour.”

Dotrice calls it “batty” that it’s been a half-century since she shot the classic musical, which features Julie Andrews in the title role and Dick Van Dyke as her chimney-sweep pal. Matthew Garber, who played Jane’s brother Michael Banks in the Oscar-winning film, died in 1977.

Dotrice, 58, says she still has vivid memories of her time filming “Poppins,” recalling what a pistol Van Dyke could be on set.

“He’s a naughty boy because, you know, he’s a consummate professional so he can kind of straighten it up for when the red light comes on the camera, but the rest of us were sort of peeing our pants laughing because he’s just such a looney-tune, goofy guy doing pratfalls all over the place,” said Dotrice.

“He’d stick his fingers up his nose or whatever to make you laugh.”

Dotrice also lauded Andrews, noting that the “Sound of Music” actress provided some voice lessons to her young co-star, who’d been taught to sing in a very operatic way.

“She was a godsend,” said Dotrice. “When we did go into the recording studio in front of a live orchestra of the most seasoned talented musicians, like a hundred of them, I wasn’t terrified. Julie stood by me, literally, and encouraged me to sing it in a very simple way.”

Disney is celebrating the golden anniversary by releasing “Poppins” on Blu-ray for the first time. The new edition includes onscreen features that invite the viewer to sing along with the film’s classic tunes, which include “A Spoonful of Sugar,” “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” and “Chim Chim Cher-ee.”

It also boasts a conversation between Jason Schwartzman and “Poppins” composer Richard Sherman. The actor plays the famed songwriter in the upcoming film “Saving Mr. Banks,” starring Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson.

Dotrice pretty much left the acting world for good in the 1970s, and says her kids got a kick out of seeing their mother on the big screen at the recent premiere.

“They were proud and I think they were a little bit shocked, actually, because that was their mom,” she said, adding that the film looks fantastic on Blu-ray. “I think it was a bit discombobulating, but they loved the film.”

Last week’s viewing was no doubt helpful for the actress as well.

It seems that she wasn’t concentrating very hard even on the bits that she did see at the “Mary Poppins” premiere all those years ago. Dotrice says she was distracted by some rather famous seat-mates.

“I was sitting in between Princess Margaret and Queen Elizabeth,” she said. “I just couldn’t believe I was looking at real jewelry and real royalty. I wasn’t watching the film at all.”

The “Poppins” anniversary edition is due for release Dec. 10.