According to Richard Sherman, “We were so carried away telling our story and singing loud, 'Eglantine, Eglantine, oh how you shine!,' showing how the phony guy, who finds this real witch who’s capable of doing magic, is so excited when he figured he’d make a fortune with her. When the famous songwriting duo originally pitched some of their tunes to the team early on, Walt was, well, not terribly engaged. WALT DISNEY FELL ASLEEP DURING THE SHERMAN BROTHERS’ SONG PRESENTATION. “The Beautiful Briny” would have been performed while Mary and the children sailed off in an adventure in Admiral Boom’s ship house. Walt ended up being right about the songs being suitable for either movie: The Sherman Brothers actually repurposed one of their discarded songs from Mary Poppins for Bedknobs and Broomsticks. ONE OF THE FILM'S SONGS WAS WRITTEN FOR MARY POPPINS. When Mary and the Banks kids finally got approval, Disney decided to push the “other” film about magic back several years because the two stories were similar. But he wasn’t too worried: He told the Sherman Brothers not to worry about not securing the rights to Mary Poppins because he would just use their songs in Bedknobs and Broomsticks instead.

Banks, it’s now fairly well known that Walt Disney had a tough time negotiating movie rights with Mary Poppins author P.L. THE RIGHTS TO BEDKNOBS AND BROOMSTICKS WERE PURCHASED BEFORE MARY POPPINS. When she changed her mind a few months later, Angela Lansbury had already signed on. Afraid of being typecast, Andrews turned it down. Like Mary Poppins, Bedknobs featured magic, music, animated segments, and even the same director (Robert Stevenson) and co-star (David Tomlinson, Mr. DISNEY WANTED JULIE ANDREWS FOR THE LEAD ROLE.īecause Mary Poppins had been a great success for Disney, they tried to get lightning to strike twice by asking Julie Andrews to star in Bedknobs and Broomsticks. Rather than adapting a single book for the film, Disney took elements from two novels by Mary Norton: The Magic Bed-Knob and Bonfires and Broomsticks. THE MOVIE WAS BASED ON TWO BOOKS BY MARY NORTON.

Here are 13 magical facts about the beloved Disney classic. Potts in Beauty and the Beast, she was performing magic as Miss Eglantine Price in Bedknobs and Broomsticks. Long before Angela Lansbury was the victim of magic as human-turned-teapot Mrs.

Bedknobs and Broomsticks by Mary Norton