Movie Musings: Disney and More

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’s 50th part 1

On December 18th, 1968, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios produced the movie-musical Chitty Chitty Bang Bang based on the novel Chitty-Chitty-Bang Bang: The Magical Car written by James Bond author/creator Ian Fleming. The film was produced by Albert R. “Cubby” Broccoli who produced several of the early James Bond films from Dr. No (1962) to The Man With the Golden Gun (1974). It was directed by Ken Hughes, who, ironically, was one of five directors on the film Casino Royale (1967)—a comedic spoof of James Bond with Peter Sellers as Agent 007. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang turns 50 years old on December 18th, 2018, and in honor of this milestone anniversary, I’d like to tell you fifty different facts about this magical film. There will be 25 facts in this blog and the other 25 will come later. Please feel free to comment if you’d like!

• Dick Van Dyke initially did not want to make this film, despite receiving several different offers with more money each time. When the offer reached seven figures, plus a percentage of the film’s profits, he accepted the part. He also accepted on the condition that he could play the character of Caracatus Potts with an American accent as opposed to an English accent, having had has cockney accent as Bert in Mary Poppins (1964) widely mocked by critics.
• The film featured the music and lyrics of Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman, primarily known for the music they wrote for Disney films. They were simultaneously working with Disney on the “Winnie the Pooh,” series. (The second “Winnie the Pooh,” short Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day was also released in 1968). The Shermans received Best Original Song Oscar and Golden Globe Nominations for “Chitty’s” title song. 
• Julie Andrews was originally offered to play Truly Scrumptious in the film, but declined. Sally Ann Howes, was cast instead, ironically having understudied Andrews as Eliza Doolittle in Lerner and Lowe’s My Fair Lady on Broadway. When Andrews left “My Fair Lady,” to play the female lead of Queen Guinevere in Lerner and Lowe’s next Broadway musical Camelot, Howes permanently took over the role of Eliza Doolittle at a higher salary than Andrews.
• Lionel Jeffries, who played Grandpa Potts in the film, ironically was four years younger than Dick Van Dyke, despite the fact that they played father and son in the movie. 
• Dick Van Dyke has acknowledged that the film’s director, Ken Hughes, was a talented “action” director, but was not a “people” director. Van Dyke said that Hughes hated kids, and Dick would often have to ask him to stop cursing in front of Heather Ripley and Adrian Hall who played Jemima and Jeremy Potts in the film. (Hughes was also dissatisfied with the final cut of the movie). 
• Dick Van Dyke and Sally Ann Howes guided the children through the performances and entertained them whenever they weren’t filming. 
• Van Dyke also said that he didn’t get along with Ken Hughes or producer Albert Broccoli.
• The Baron Bomburtst’s castle, Neuschwanstein, was also the model for the castle in Walt Disney’s Sleeping Beauty (1959), which coincidentally is the Walt Disney Pictures logo and the symbol of the Disney television program Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color (1954-1991).
• James Robertson Justice, who played Lord Scrumptious, had a stroke not long after wrapping up his role in the movie, and temporarily had to give up acting.
• This film features the choreography of Marc Breaux and Dee Dee Wood who also choreographed Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke, in both “Mary Poppins,” and The Sound of Music (1965).
• Irwin Kostal was the conductor for “Chitty,” “Mary Poppins,” and “The Sound of Music.” (He won an Oscar for his contributions to “Sound of Music.”)
• “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,” was released in 1968 which was a good year for movie-musicals. That same year, Barbra Streisand burst onto the screen in Funny Girl and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences gave the Best Picture Oscar to Oliver!.
• Although his performance in the film is exceptional, Dick Van Dyke was smoking up to 40 cigarettes a day and struggling with alcoholism around the time this movie was being made.
• “Chitty,” is the only film appearance of Heather Ripley, who played Dick Van Dyke’s onscreen daughter.
• Dick Van Dyke can briefly be seen in the opening credits sequence of the film waving a blue flag at one of the automobile races.
• In one of his later interviews, Dick Van Dyke said that the most difficult number to shoot in the movie was the “Me Ol’ Bamboo, sequence. He said that the number took 23 takes, and during each of those takes at the end of the number (where he and the other male dancers jumped over their bamboo sticks), someone always missed it. He recalls that on the 23rd take, he just barely made it over the stick himself. 
• While shooting the “Toot Sweets,” number, Dick Van Dyke popped a muscle and was out of dancing for six weeks.
• Gert Frobe, who played the role of Baron Bomburst, in the film is also known for having played the role of Auric Goldfinger in the James Bond film Goldfinger (1964).
• Ken Adam, who was the Production Designer on “Dr. No,” “Goldfinger,” and many other James Bond films was also the production designer on this movie. He was also the designer of the “Chitty,” cars.
• Six different “Chitty,” cars were designed for the movie. There is one on display at the National Motor Museum in Beaulieu near Southampton UK. Another currently belongs to “Lord of the Rings,”/“Hobbit,” Trilogy director Peter Jackson.
• Dick Van Dyke was close friends with Benny Hill, who played the Toymaker. While filming, both men discovered that they each idolized Charles Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and Stan Laurel, and Van Dyke later said that both he and Hill thought “they were born in the wrong era.”
• Dick Van Dyke also recalled that at one point during filming, Robert Helpmann, who played the Child Catcher in the movie, was filming the scene where he’s first riding his carriage to kidnap the children. While Helpmann was on the carriage—but the children were not— the carriage tilted upward and almost crashed. Thanks to his athletic ballet dancing skills, Helpmann miraculously escaped the vehicle just in time before it crashed.
• The “Toot Sweets,” number took three weeks to film, and featured 38 dancers, 40 singers, 85 musicians, and 100 dogs. 
• Heather Ripley, who played Jemima Potts, refused to acknowledge the film for several years because her parents divorced while she was filming the movie.
• The original Broadway production of “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,” opened at the Hilton Theatre on April 28th, 2005 and ran for 285 performances.