The Merchandise of "Mary Poppins"

The Walt Disney Company today are pros when it comes to knowing how to promote their latest films but, back in the day, they had the marketing game pretty well in hand, too.

In 1964, without the aid of the internet or a bombardment of television commercials, they promoted Mary Poppins to countries all over the world. And once the film became the success that it was (critical acclaim, $31 million in box office receipts, 13 Academy Award nominations) companies clamored to Disney to obtain permission to place Poppins on their products

Judging from the number of different products that were released over the next 10 years, Disney was pretty liberal in granting this permission. Below we have assembled a little gallery of some of the most popular Mary Poppins products of the 1960s and 1970s for you to peruse.

Enjoy!

Coloring Books & Other Activity Books

This Whitman coloring book features some really spot-on illustrations of Julie Andrews and the Poppins children.

Since Mary Poppins always had a bit of magic up her sleeves (or hiding in her carpet-bag), this set features a bit of magic, too….magic wipe-off crayons.

Another magical book…..paintless and dot-to-dot coloring. What could be easier? Just brush the paper with water and watch the pictures appear, pictures as lovely as Bert could draw himself.

A Golden Funtime Coloring Book. Not sure what the “cut out” means. Tear sheets?

Most coloring book covers liked to feature Mary Poppins in her customary flying pose, complete with umbrella open.

On this cover, she sports some fancy yellow boots and is flying over a freeway. If Mary Poppins supports Shell Oil then that is the gas to use!

Story Books & Comic Books

A beautiful cover from Gold Key comics emphasizing how Poppins is “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” (you won’t see this word typed twice in one post!)

A Golden Look-inside Book. Five little books hidden inside this one. If they all feature interior art as cute as this cover, I’m buying it.

This is an interesting Spanish language storybook. Note how much Mary Poppins looks like a female bullfighter here.

The classic Little Golden Book cover, probably one of the best-selling Mary Poppins pieces of merchandise.

And look how cute the drawings are inside!

A Golden Press souvenir book featuring photographs and behind-the-scenes stories about the making of the film.

Colorforms

Colorforms were cut pieces of vinyl that stuck “like magic” to the background cling surface. In this case, that surface image is Mary Poppins in her undergarments.

The original Colorforms box art. Mary Poppins hair color is more of a reddish tint and her clothing is of a solid color.

Paper Dolls

Paper dolls with no scissors needed, just a bit of punching will get them right out of their pockets.

This set, from Whitman, gave you plastic stands to display them on.

A Golden Funtime book offered a whole bunch of activities in one: Four paper dolls, story to read, pictures to color, and a carousel to build.

Good looking doll clothing, too.

Record Albums & 45s

The 33rpm and its reissue with the cassette tape of the read-along storybook featuring the same cover artwork.

Another “story and songs” book, this time with Marni Nixon doing the voice of Mary Poppins and Richard M. Sherman reading, too. Richard is one half of The Sherman Brothers, the songwriting duo who composed the music to Mary Poppins.

A cover variation of the same record.

Disneyland Records was a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company so not only did they collect from other companies’ merchandise but they marketed their own, too!

This 45 record featured “One Man Band” as a bonus song, which was the tune that Bert sang in the opening of the film (to the melody of “Chim-Chim-Cheree”)

A blurry image of one of the original album covers.

This was the most famous release and it is quite common to see it at rummage sales and second-hand stores. The sheet music featured the same painted artwork.

And, of course, there were covers released…..the big band maestro Lawrence Welk was one of the first to release a Poppins album.

Then Duke Ellington played the music…..

….and even Ray Walston “spoke” the lines in rhythm.

This British release featured a rather dark looking design on its cover.

Whereas the illustrator who painted the cover to this later (1968-1975) release decided to redesign Mary Poppins and the children altogether. They look like Edith Nesbit characters here.

This cute cover was from another British release. Note the Indian and the gent with the top hat.

This is the funniest looking cover from the New York Theatre Orchestra LP release. Mary Poppins looks like a dressed mannequin here (a male one at that!)

Another unusual cover, this one clearly inspired by the art of Peter Max. Mary Poppins looks “high” in this drawing, and not because she is flying in the air!

A British release album, featuring the Mike Sammes Singers. This fine group (sort of the British version of the Ray Conniff Singers) often did Disney cover albums to coincide with the release of their new films.

And speaking of Ray Conniff…..this chorus would never pass up a chance to do those great Poppins tunes.

Sticker Books

A lovely cover to a sticker fun book, featuring some smug looking horses.

Another sticker book, this one from a later release.

Advertisements

Advertisments were a bit more difficult to find. Hefty featured some great artwork of Mary Poppins toting her carpetbag (not garbage bags? ) in the air.

And Kraft Chocolates offered a fantastic prize for this giveaway advertisement: a carpetbag filled with $10,000 in cash! I wonder who the lucky winner of that contest was.

Dolls and Dollcraft

McCall’s issued a stuffed doll sewing pattern and then followed it up with some more patterns featuring costume variations. These patterns can be found on Etsy.

A series of dolls released by E.I. Horsman as early as 1963. Tonner released a series of dolls more recently that feature a stunning array of wardrobe changes.

Lunchboxes