Mary Poppins 40 Years Old

MARY POPPINS STARS REUNITEMovie legends JULIE ANDREWS and DICK VAN DYKE reunited in Hollywood on Tuesday night (30NOV04) to celebrate the 40th anniversary of MARY POPPINS.Andrews and Van Dyke joined GLYNIS JOHNS (MRS WINIFRED BANKS) and KAREN DOTRICE (JANE BANKS) on the red carpet of the El Capitan Theater at a special screening to mark the special edition DVD release of the 1964 musical classic.Composer RICHARD M SHERMAN - who won two OSCARs for Best Original Song and Best Original Score, choreographers MARC BREAUX and DEE DEE WOOD also attended the event, which saw crowds being entertained by dancing chimney sweeps and waddling South African Blackfoot penguins.Van Dyke, who played chimney sweep BERT, recalled the film's producer WALT DISNEY had a vision of a sequel before his shock death in 1966.Van Dyke says, "Walt had taken an option on PL TRAVERS' book, MARY POPPINS COMES BACK, and he had every intention of doing the sequel, and I'm sure we would have. But then we lost Walt."Dotrice, known to millions as mischievous eight-year-old Jane, hailed her co-star Andrews as "a naughty girl. She swore a lot and smoked back then".

Andrew quickly adds, "I never smoked, but maybe the occasional four-letter word every once in a while."