Glynis Johns played the vote-getting mother in Mary Poppins. She was born October 5, 1923 in South Africa – her parents were there on tour from Wales. My favorite role was when she played Maid Jean in the very funny movie The Court Jester starring Danny Kaye and Angela Landsbury.

The song “Send in the Clowns” from A Little Night Music was specifically written for Glynis Johns by Stephen Sondheim.

Her last film role as in 1999 in the film Superstar with Molly Shannon. She is still alive today at the age of 83.

Well done Sister Suffragette!

[tags]Mary Poppins, Glynis Johns, Superstar, The Court Jester, A Little Night Music, Send in the Clowns[/tags]

David Tomlinson played the stuffy Dad – Mr. George W. Banks – in Mary Poppins. He was born in 1917 in England and had a very successful acting career, appearing in more than 50 movies. He started his career in 1940 and was a great character actor. He was friends with Errol Flynn, Peter Sellers and, of course, Walt Disney. After Mary Poppins, David went on to star in other Disney films such as Bedknobs and Broomsticks and The Love Bug.

David was married for 57 years to Audrey Freeman and they had four children. His last movie was made in 1980 and he passed away in 2000 at the age of 83. He had served in the British Air Force and was known for flying his plane very low above his neighborhood in the last years of his life!

Tuppence!

[tags]Mary Poppins, David Tomlinson, Bedknobs and Broomsticks[/tags]

Last night I came home from a Rutgers Basketball game and turned on the television. On the Fox Family Channel they were playing the movie Mary Poppins. So I settled in to watch the ending with my kids. We all know what happened to Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke (both big stars in their own right), but whatever happened to some of the other actors in the movie? My next few posts will find out!

[tags]Mary Poppins[/tags]

Continuing on with my Grape theme – Whatever happened to Grape Ape? Do you remember the cartoon from the 70s?

Grape Ape was produced by Hanna-Barbera from 1975 to 1978 and was shown on ABC on Saturday Mornings. Grape Ape always used to say his name twice “Grape Ape, Grape Ape” and had a sidekick named Beegle Beagle whom Grape Ape called Beegley Beagley. He was a 40 foot grape colored ape and loved grapes and bananas.

There were approximately 32 episodes produced and they can still be seem on the cable channel Boomerang.

ADMIN NOTE:  One of my readers sadly reported to me that Joseph Barbera passed away this past week on December 18, 2006.  He was 95 years old.  His partner Bill Hanna passed away in 2001.  Together they created such TV favorites as the Flintstones and Tom & Jerry.

[tags]Grape Ape, Boomerang[/tags]

Do you remember when Tang was first introduced? I thought that it was in the 60s, but it was actually in the marketplace in 1959. It did not become popular until 1965 though when NASA began using it on their Gemini flights. It traveled to the moon in 1969 and that is what made it so cool to drink! Orange Tang is still around today.

There was another flavor, though, Grape! We used to buy that not as frequently, and it wasn’t nearly as popular. According to http://www.inthe70s.com, Grape Tang is still available in other countries, just not in the United States.

[tags]grape tang, tang[/tags]

When I was a kid, my brother got a Big Bang Cannon for Christmas. You loaded it with tube of Bangsite and then press the button. BANG! Well, I’m thinking, these must be illegal by now. Right? Nope, found their website http://www.bigbangcannons.com. They still manufacture the 60MM Cannon that my brother had – “West Coast customers might remember that this was the model sold in fireworks stands thru the 1970’s. ” Yup, that was it (I grew up in California).

They are not illegal because the use the special formulation of Bangsite that cannot ignite. They also will NOT fire any projectile.

Big Bang Cannons have been around since 1912, when the were first manufactured by The Conestoga Company, Inc., which was based in the Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania. The idea was first introduced by James Hunter in 1907 when he patented the carbide cannon.

[tags]Big Bang Cannon[/tags]