Mary Poppins (1964)
David Tomlinson: Mr. Banks
Photos
Quotes
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Mr. Banks : Just a moment, Mary Poppins. What is the meaning of this outrage?
Mary Poppins : I beg your pardon?
Mr. Banks : Will you be good enough to explain all this?
Mary Poppins : First of all, I would like to make one thing quite clear.
Mr. Banks : Yes?
Mary Poppins : I never explain anything.
[exits]
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Mr. Dawes Sr. : Well, do you have anything to say, Banks?
Mr. Banks : Well, sir, they do say that when there's nothing to say, all you can say...
[He feels Michael's tuppence in his pocket, takes it out and looks at it]
Mr. Dawes Sr. : Confound it, Banks! I said do you have anything to say?
Mr. Banks : [begins giggling hysterically] Just one word, sir...
Mr. Dawes Sr. : Yes?
Mr. Banks : Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!
Mr. Dawes Sr. : What?
Mr. Banks : Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious! Mary Poppins was right, it's extraordinary! It does make you feel better!
[giggling again]
Mr. Dawes Sr. : What are you talking about, man? There's no such word!
Mr. Banks : Oh yes! It is a word! A perfectly good word! Actually, do you know what there's no such thing as? It turns out, with due respect, when all is said and done, that there's no such thing as YOU!
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Mary Poppins : You *are* the father of Jane and Michael Banks, are you not?
[pause]
Mary Poppins : I said, you *are* the father of Jane and Michael Banks.
Mr. Banks : Well, really - yes, of course. And you brought your references, I presume; may I see them?
Mary Poppins : Oh, I make it a point never to give references. a very old-fashioned idea, to my mind.
Mr. Banks : Is that so? We'll have to see about that one then, won't we?
Mary Poppins : Now the, the qualifications... item one: a cheery disposition. I am *never* cross. Item two: rosy cheeks... obviously. Item three: play games, all sorts. Well, I'm sure the children'll find my games *extremely* diverting.
Mr. Banks : Now this paper, where did you get it from? I - I thought I tore it up.
Mary Poppins : Excuse me. Item four: you must be kind. I *am* kind, but *extremely* firm.
[looking suspicious]
Mary Poppins : Have you lost something.
Mr. Banks : [banging his head against the fireplace flue] Ah! Yes, you see... I thought that...
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Bert : You're a man of high position, esteemed by your peers.
[sings]
Bert : And when your little tykes are crying, you haven't time to dry their tears... And see their thankful little faces smiling up at you... 'Cause their dad, he always knows just what to do...
Mr. Banks : Well, look - I...
Bert : Say no more, Gov'ner.
[sings]
Bert : You've got to grind, grind, grind at that grindstone... Though childhood slips like sand through a sieve... And all too soon they've up and grown, and then they've flown... And it's too late for you to give - just that spoonful of sugar to 'elp the medicine go down - medicine go dow-wown, medicine go down.
[speaks]
Bert : Well, goodbye, Gov'ner. Sorry to trouble you.
[Bert exits, whistling "A Spoonful of Sugar"]
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Jane : [reading advertisement for a new nanny] "Wanted: a nanny for two adorable children."
Mr. Banks : Adorable. Well that's debatable, I must say.
Jane : [singing] If you want this choice position, have a cheery disposition...
Mr. Banks : Jane, I don't...
Jane : Rosy cheeks, no warts...
Michael : That's the part I put in!
Jane : Play games, all sorts. You must be kind, you must be witty, very sweet, and fairly pretty...
Mr. Banks : Well of all the ridiculous...!
Mrs. Banks : George, please!
Jane : Take us on outings, give us treats, sing songs, bring sweets. Never be cross or cruel. Never give us castor oil or gruel. Love us as a son and daughter, and never smell of barley water.
Michael : I put that in, too!
Jane : If you won't scold and dominate us, we will never give you cause to hate us. We won't hide your spectacles so you can't see, put toads in your bed, or pepper in your tea. Hurry, nanny! Many thanks! Sincerely...
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Parrot Umbrella : Awk, that's gratitude for you. Didn't even say goodbye?
Mary Poppins : No, they didn't.
Parrot Umbrella : Look at them! You know, they think more of their father than they do of you!
Mary Poppins : That's as it should be.
Parrot Umbrella : Well, don't you care?
Mary Poppins : Practically perfect people never permit sentiment to muddle their thinking.
Parrot Umbrella : Is that so? Well, I'll tell you one thing, Mary Poppins: you don't fool me a bit!
Mary Poppins : Oh, really?
Parrot Umbrella : Yes, really. I know exactly how you feel about these children, and if you think I'm going to keep my mouth shut any longer, I'll...
[she clamps his mouth shut]
Mary Poppins : That will be quite enough of that, thank you.
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Mr. Banks : [singing] With tuppence for paper and strings, you can have your own set of wings! With your feet on the ground you're a bird in flight, with your fist holding tight to the string of your kite! Oh, oh, oh, let's go fly a kite, up to the highest height! Let's go fly a kite, and send it soaring! Up through the atmosphere, up where the air is clear! Oh, let's go... fly a kite!
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Bert : It's true that Mavis and Sybil have ways that are winning, and Prudence and Gwendolyn set your heart spinning! Phoebe's delightful, Maude is disarming...
Penguin 3 : Janice?
Penguin 1 : Felicia?
Penguin : Lydia?
Bert : Charming! Cynthia's dashing, Vivian's sweet! Stephanie's smashing, Priscilla's a treat.
Penguin 2 : Veronica.
Penguin : Millicent.
Penguin Waiter : Agnes?
Penguin 3 : and Jane.
Bert : Convivial company, time and again. Dorcas and Phyllis and Glynis are sorts I will agree are three jolly good sports, but cream of the crop, tip of the top...
Bert , Penguin 1 , Penguin 2 , Penguin , Penguin Waiter , Penguin , Penguin 3 : It's Mary Poppins, and there we stop!
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[On the failure of their previous nanny]
Mrs. Banks : I'm sorry, dear, but when I chose Katie Nana, I thought she would be firm with the children. She looked so solemn and cross.
Mr. Banks : My dear, never confuse efficiency with a liver complaint.
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Jane : Good morning, father!
Mr. Banks : [grumbles] 'Morning.
Jane : Mary Poppins taught us the most wonderful word!
Michael : Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!
Mr. Banks : What on Earth are you talking about, supercal... super... or whatever the infernal thing is?
Jane : It's something to say when you don't know what to say.
Mr. Banks : Yes, well, I always know what to say.
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Mr. Banks : [singing] I feel a surge of deep satisfaction, much as a king astride his noble steed.
[speaks]
Mr. Banks : Thank you.
[sings]
Mr. Banks : When I return from daily strife, to hearth and wife, how pleasant is the life I lead!
Mrs. Banks : Dear, it's about the children...
Mr. Banks : Yes, yes, yes.
[sings]
Mr. Banks : I run my home precisely on schedule. At 6:01, I march through my door. My slippers, sherry, and pipe are due at 6:02. Consistent is the life I lead!
Mrs. Banks : George, they're missing!
Mr. Banks : Splendid, splendid.
[sings]
Mr. Banks : It's grand to be an Englishman in 1910! King Edward's on the throne, it's the age of men! I'm the lord of my castle, the sovereign, the liege!
[speaks]
Mr. Banks : I treat my subjects, servants, children, wife with a firm but gentle hand, noblesse oblige.
[sings]
Mr. Banks : It's 6:03, and the heirs to my dominion are scrubbed and tubbed, and adequately fed. And so I'll pat them on the head, and send them off to bed. Ah, lordly is the life I lead!
[speaks]
Mr. Banks : Winifred, where are the children?
Mrs. Banks : They're not here, dear.
Mr. Banks : What? Well, of course they're here! Where else would they be?
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Mr. Banks : [singing] These silly words, like...
[speaks and stammers]
Mr. Banks : Superca... superca... superca...
Mary Poppins : Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.
Mr. Banks : Yes, well done! You said it!
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Mr. Banks : I suggest you have this piano repaired. When I sit down to an instrument, I like to have it in tune.
Mrs. Banks : But, George, you don't play.
Mr. Banks : Madam, that is entirely beside the point!
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Mrs. Banks : Oh, George, you didn't jump into the river. How sensible of you!
[Mr. Banks kisses her]
Constable Jones : [into phone] It's all right, sir, he's been found! No, *alive*! Or so I presume, he's a-kissin' the Mrs. Banks.
Mrs. Banks : I've been so worried, what happened at the ba...
[Mr. Banks picks her up and whirls her around]
Mr. Banks : I've been sacked! Discharged! Flung into the street!
[singing]
Mr. Banks : A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down! Tra-la-laaa-lalalalala!
Ellen : Gone off his crumpet, that's what he's done. Dotty as you please.
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Mr. Dawes Jr : Ah, there you are, Banks. I want to congratulate you. Capital bit of humor, wooden leg named Smith!
[pauses looks a bit confused]
Mr. Dawes Jr : Or, Jones, whatever it was. Father died laughing!
Mr. Banks : Oh, I'm so sorry, sir!
Mr. Dawes Jr : Oh no, nonsense, nothing to be sorry about! Never seen him happier in his life. He left an opening for a new partner.
[puts a new carnation into Banks' buttonhole]
Mr. Dawes Jr : Congratulations.
Mr. Banks : Oh thank you, sir, thank you very much indeed!
[kisses Mrs. Banks]
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Mrs. Banks : As a matter of fact, since you hired Mary Poppins, the most extraordinary things seem to have come over the household.
Mr. Banks : Is that so?
Mrs. Banks : Take Ellen, for instance. She hasn't broken a dish all morning.
Mr. Banks : Really? Well, that is extraordinary.
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Mr. Banks : [singing] A British bank is run with precision. A British home requires nothing less! Tradition, discipline, and rules must be the tools! Without them: disorder, catastrophe! Anarchy! In short, you have a ghastly mess!
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Mr. Banks : [singing] A man has dreams of walking with giants. To carve his niche in the edifice of time. Before the mortar of his seal has a chance to congeal... The cup is dashed from his lips! The flame is snuffed a-borning... He's brought to wrack and ruin in his prime.
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Mary Poppins : I beg your pardon, are you ill?
Mr. Banks : I hope not.
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Mr. Banks : What's all this? What's all this? What's all this? What's all this?
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Mr. Banks : Kindly do not attempt to cloud the issue with facts.
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Mr. Dawes Jr : In 1773, an official of this bank unwisely loaned a large sum of money to finance a shipment of tea to the American colonies. Do you know what happened?
Mr. Banks : Yes, sir. Yes, I think I do. As the ship lay anchored in Boston Harbor, a party of the colonists dressed as red Indians boarded the vessel, behaved very rudely, and threw all the tea overboard. This made the tea unsuitable for drinking. Even for Americans.
Mr. Dawes Jr : Precisely. The loan was defaulted. Panic ensued within these walls. There was a run on the bank.
Mr. Dawes Sr. : From that time to this, sir, there has not been a run on this bank - UNTIL TODAY. A run, sir, caused by the disgraceful conduct of your son. Do you deny it?
Mr. Banks : I do not deny it, sir, and I shall gladly assume responsibility for my son.
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Mr. Banks : You see, Michael, you'll be part of Railways through Africa.
Mr. Dawes Sr. : Exactly.
Mr. Banks : Dams across the Nile.
Mr. Dawes Sr. : The ships, tell them about the ships.
Mr. Banks : Fleets of ocean greyhounds.
Mr. Dawes Sr. : More, tell them more!
Mr. Banks : Majestic self-amortizing canals.
Mr. Dawes Sr. : Oh, it fires the imagination!
Mr. Banks : [singing] Plantations of ripening tea all from...
Mr. Banks , Mr. Dawes Sr. , Mr. Dawes Jr , Mr. Tomes , Mr. Mousley , Mr. Grubbs : [singing] Tuppence: prudently, thriftily, frugally invested in the...
Mr. Dawes Sr. : To be specific...
Mr. Banks , Mr. Dawes Sr. , Mr. Dawes Jr , Mr. Tomes , Mr. Mousley , Mr. Grubbs : [singing] In the Dawes, Tomes, Mousley, Grubbs, Fidelity Fiduciary Bank.
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Mrs. Banks : But you're always saying that you wanted a cheerful and pleasant household.
Mr. Banks : Winifred, I should like to make a slight differentiation between the word cheerful and just plain giddy irresponsibility.
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Mrs. Banks : I'll try to do better next time.
Mr. Banks : Next time? My dear, you've engaged six nannies in the last four months. And they've all been unqualified disasters.
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Mary Poppins : [reading the advertisement] Now about my wages; the reference here is very obscure.
Mr. Banks : [dazed] Very obscure.
Mary Poppins : We must be clear on that point, mustn't we?
Mr. Banks : Yes, we must indeed.
Mary Poppins : I shall require every second Tuesday off.
Mr. Banks : Every Tuesday.
[He stares into the fireplace]
Mary Poppins : On second thoughts, I believe a trial period would be wise.
[looks closely at him]
Mary Poppins : Hmm. I'll give you one week - I'll know by then.
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Mr. Banks : [Banks is unaware that the other nannies have disappeared] Ellen?
Ellen : Yes, sir?
Mr. Banks : Tell the other applicants they may go, the position has been filled.
Ellen : The others, sir?
Mr. Banks : Yes, the others! How many nannies does she think we need in this house?
[Ellen opens the door; the only one outside is the dog Andrew]
Ellen : [to Andrew] The position has been filled.
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Parrot Umbrella : [David Tomlinson voice as the parrot handle] Look at them. You know they think more of their father than they do of you.
Mary Poppins : That's as it should be.
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Ellen : Coo, there's a whole queue of nannies outside, sir. Shall I show them in?
Mr. Banks : Ellen, I said 8:00 and 8:00 it shall jolly well be. You see? 12 seconds to go. 10... 9... 8...
Mrs. Banks : Posts! 7... 6... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1!
Mr. Banks : Ellen, it is now 8:00.
Ellen : Yes, sir.
Mr. Banks : I have told you time and time again, Ellen, that I dislike being hurried into things.
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Mr. Banks : Winifred, where are the children?
Mrs. Banks : They're not here, dear.
Mr. Banks : What? Well, of course they're here! Where else would they be?
Mrs. Banks : I don't know, George
Mr. Banks : You don't know?
Mrs. Banks : Well, they're missing. Katie Nanna has looked everywhere.
Mr. Banks : Very well. I'll deal with this at once.
[rolls up the telephone handle]
Mr. Banks : Give me the police station, quickly, please.
Mrs. Banks : [interrupting] I don't think we need bother the police, dear. The facts of the matter...
Mr. Banks : Kindly do not attempt to cloud the issue with facts. One fact, and one fact alone is crystal clear! Katie Nanna's faltered at her post. She's let the family down. And I shall bring her to boo... oh. She's left us, hasn't she?
Mrs. Banks : Yes, dear, only just.
Mr. Banks : What, uh... yes. George Banks here. Yes. 17 Cherry Tree Lane. It's a matter of some urgency. I should like you to send a policeman around immediately.
Mrs. Banks : [she heard a ring on the doorbell and opens the door] The policeman's here, George!
Mr. Banks : What? Oh, how very prompt. What wonderful service. Thank you so much. Good night.
[he hangs up]
Mr. Banks : Come in, constable. Come in.
Constable Jones : Thank you, sir. While going about my duties on the other side of the park, I noted some valuables that had gone astray. I believe they're yours, sir.
Mr. Banks : Valuables?
Constable Jones : [to the children] Come along, now. Come along.
[as the children came back home after flying a kite in the wind]
Mrs. Banks : Jane! Michael!
Mr. Banks : [hushed] Winifred, please don't be emotional.
Constable Jones : Oh, I wouldn't be too hard on 'em, sir. They've had a long, weary walk today.
Mr. Banks : Children, come here at once.
[Jane and Michael came close to his father]
Mr. Banks : Well?
Jane : I'm sorry we lost Katie Nanna, Father.
Michael : You see, it was windy.
Jane : And the kite was too strong for us.
Constable Jones : In a manner of speaking, sir, it was the kite that ran away, not the children.
Mr. Banks : Thank you, Constable. I think I can manage this.
Jane : Actually it wasn't a very good kite. We made it ourselves.
Michael : Perhaps if you helped us to make one...
Constable Jones : Ah, that's the ticket, sir. Kites are skittish things. Why, only last week with me own youngsters...
Mr. Banks : I'm very grateful to you, Constable, for returning the children. And I'm sure that if you go to the kitchen, Cook'll find you a plate of something.
Constable Jones : Thank you, sir. I shall now return to my duties.
Jane : Thank you, Constable.
Constable Jones : Good night, miss. Good night, ma'am. Good night, sir. Cook'll find me something. I never...
[he leaves the banks residence]
Mrs. Banks : [closes the door] I'm awfully sorry about this, George. I'll expect you'll want to discuss it.
Mr. Banks : I would indeed! Ellen, take Jane and Michael upstairs straightaway.
Ellen : Yes, sir.
[took Jane and Michael upstairs to their room]
Ellen : I knew it. When all's said and done, who bears the brunt of everything around here? Me, that's who! They don't want an honest, hard-workin' girl around here. They need a ruddy zookeeper.
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Mr. Dawes Jr : Well, Banks, what's all this about?
Mr. Banks : These are my children, Mr. Dawes.
Mr. Dawes Jr : So I assume, but why are they here?
Mr. Banks : They wished to open an account, sir.
Mr. Dawes Jr : Oh indeed?
[to Michael]
Mr. Dawes Jr : So how much money do you have, young man?
Michael : Tuppence, but I want to feed the birds.
[gets shushed by Mr. Banks]
