Feed The Birds - Initial Reactions

Initial Reactions

As the Sherman Brothers recall, when Richard Sherman first played and sang "Feed the Birds" to Pamela Travers (the author of the Mary Poppins books), she thought it was "nice" but inappropriate for a male voice. Robert Sherman then called in a Disney staff secretary to demonstrate the song again. Upon hearing a woman sing the song, Ms. Travers' response was that she thought "Greensleeves" (traditionally in E-minor, the same key as about half of "Feed The Birds") was the only truly appropriate song for the soundtrack, as it was "quintessentially English". (Ms. Travers had originally wanted the only music in the film to be Edwardian period songs.) Eventually and reluctantly, Ms. Travers acquiesced to the American songwriters' supplying the film's now-classic mid-twentieth century soundtrack.

The late Robert Sherman recalls:

"On Fridays, after work, often invite us into his office and we'd talk about things that were going on at the Studio. After a while, he'd wander to the north window, look out into the distance and just say, 'Play it.' And Dick would wander over to the piano and play 'Feed the Birds' for him. One time just as Dick was almost finished, under his breath, I heard Walt say, 'Yep. That's what it's all about.'"

He also comments:

"Songs have been written about a myriad of subjects. 'Feed the Birds' is the first song written about the merits of giving charity."

Tony Brown of The Plain Dealer related additional Sherman comments about the song and its role in Mary Poppins in "Finding 'Mary Poppins' from book to movie to stage: Follow 'Feed The Birds'" :

"... e seized on one incident, in Chapter 7 of 'Mary Poppins Comes Back', the second book -- the bird woman. And we realized that was the metaphor for why Mary came, to teach the children -- and Mr. Banks -- the value of charity. So we wrote the song and took it up to Walt's office and played it and sang it for him. He leaned back in his chair, looking out the window, and he said: 'That's it, isn't it? That's what this is all about. This is the metaphor for the whole film.' And that was the turning point in our lives ... We were full-time staff, so we had an office at the studio, and every so often Walt would call us up to his office on a Friday afternoon. We knew what he wanted. When we got there, he would say, 'I just wanted to know what you boys were up to these days.' Then he would turn around in his chair and stare out the window, like the first time we played it for him, and he would say, 'Play it.' And we would ... And you could just see Walt thinking, 'That's what it's all about, everything we do at Disney.'"

Walt Disney World in "Disney’s Hitmaking Duo: The Sherman Brothers Were Walt Disney’s Go-to Guys" and Richard Sherman's son Gregg in "Growing Up With Mary" concurred with Brown's account. However, "The Bird Woman" was chapter 7 in the first book, "Mary Poppins", not in the second book, "Mary Poppins Comes Back".

The song was sung by the movie's star Julie Andrews to visuals of the elderly bird woman of the song. Walt Disney himself made the unusual request that the bird woman, though a non-speaking part (except for one line, stating the first line of the song's chorus), be a cameo by one of his favorite character actresses, Academy Award winner Jane Darwell. In her mid-eighties and semi-retired from acting (she took episodic guest appearances about once per year in television shows), Darwell had recently moved into the Motion Picture Country Home because of her advanced age and feebleness. Needing neither the money nor the screen credit, she declined the role. Walt Disney, still insistent, personally drove to the retirement home to plead with her. Charmed and flattered that she was so wanted, she agreed to take the part. Walt later sent a limousine to bring her to the studio. It was her last screen appearance or acting role. Ironically Darwell outlived Disney by more than half a year.