Supercalifragilistic: MARY POPPINS Sing-along a Hit!

Last night, Wednesday, August 4, Bryn Mawr Film Institute celebrated everyone's favorite magical nanny with a sing-along screening of Mary Poppins. A sell-out, the screening was the perfect way to conclude our "Singing in the Summer" series of sing-alongs! The 1964 Disney hit starring Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke still inspires the imagination as much today as ever--patrons of all ages came out decked as suffragettes, chimney sweeps, a penguin, and Mary herself! (As with all of our sing-alongs, everyone who came in costume got free popcorn.)

Check out the pictures and see the costumes for yourself. Which one is your favorite?

 Visiting all the way from Dortmund, Germany, Oskar Schleicher, Christina Weinmann, and Annicka Weinmann (right to left) joined Rosemont's Mimi Weinmann. The first group in line, their costumes ran the gamut!

These junior chimney sweeps made our Mary Poppins a family reunion. Three branches of the family gathered together just to sing along with Mary. From right to left: Sam Rovito, Ben Rovito, Shane Baeur, Matthew Dickerson, Izzy Rovito, Gabby Rovito, and Abby Dickerson.  

Maddie Clancy looked adorable in a perfect adaptation of the dress Mary wears in the animated dream sequence. The sing along was the perfect opportunity to pull out her old halloween costume.

I was hoping that someone would come dressed as a penguin! Thanks, Grace Wooten, for making my wish come true. Grace is shown here with her aunt, Eileen Cunliffe. Three generations of the women in their family came to the sing along for "a girls night out" together.

Ava Soroush was merry as Mary, with her bag, umbrella, and her father Matt by her side.

Danie Martin and Emily Maxtone-Gram are both big fans of the film, and showed their support by dressing up as Mary and a chimney sweep (with a creative choice of sweeper).  

If you enjoyed this sing-along (or wish you had come), we're going to be doing two more this fall. The schedule will be announced soon. Keep an eye on our website and look out for the new issue of Projections magazine with all the details!

The Intern's Perspective: BMFI's August Programming

Richie Weker, a long-time BMFI intern and a rising senior at Lower Merion High School, reflects on BMFI's August programming. Enjoy!

If there are four things in life that I love they have to be, in no particular order, music, birthdays, girls, and food. It is often difficult to integrate these into my life, given my already busy schedule. Who would have thought that Bryn Mawr Film Institute’s August programming would help me conveniently include these delights in my life?


First, the music: on Wednesday, August 4 at 7:00pm, Bryn Mawr Film Institute will continue its tradition of sing-alongs with a screening of Mary Poppins, where patrons can sing along with Julie Andrews in her Oscar-winning film debut. If you wear a costume—you could dress up as a chimney sweep (or the chimney), the bird woman, or a penguin, for example—you get a free small popcorn! We can also finally learn how to spell the incredible “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” when the song’s lyrics appear on the big screen.

As if this wasn’t enough for BMFI, they are even throwing a birthday bash that lasts five weeks! Famed Japanese director Akira Kurosawa would have hit the century mark this year and BMFI is showing five films that best represent the director’s lifelong achievements, including Rashomon, The Hidden Fortress, and Stray Dog. A movie will be shown once every Tuesday night at 7:00pm, starting with Seven Samurai on Tuesday, August 3 and ending with Yojimbo on Tuesday, August 31.

Girls are very confusing and yet fascinating to me. I have yet to fully understand them, but I am getting there through many hours of hard research and observation. This August, BMFI will offer me three great opportunities to study three big name female stars as part of the Leading Ladies of the Silver Screen film series. Running Wednesday nights from August 11 through August 25, the series features Audrey Hepburn in Sabrina, Elizabeth Taylor in A Place in the Sun, and Barbara Stanwyck in The Lady Eve.

As for food, the fourth delight, the answer is simple. The rich and buttery popcorn at BMFI is simply unbeatable! You would have to be crazy to pass up on this and the many treats that BMFI has to offer.

Thank you, Richie! Find out more information about our August programming online at http://www.brynmawrfilm.org/.