Mary Poppins Scene 12 Summary

Steppin' and Sweepin'

  • Bert leads the kids home, singing a bit of "Chim Chim Cher-ee." Inside, Winifred is getting ready to run off to another suffragette meeting.
  • Bert tells Winifred the kids need someone to look after them. Winifred realizes its Mary Poppins' day off, so she pushes the kids off on Bert. He needs to look after them for the day.
  • Bert takes them chimney sweeping with him—in their own house, at the fireplace. But Michael and Jane get sucked up the chimney and shoot out onto the roof, covered in soot. Mary Poppins walks in, in time to see this happen, and she and Bert both shoot up the chimney after them.
  • They walk around on the roofs, and look out over London. A stairway made of chimney smoke forms in the air, and Mary leads them up it.
  • They stand on top of a tower and savor the view. Then, they head back down on a plume of smoke, which retracts into a chimney.
  • Then, a bunch of Bert's chimneysweep friends pop out of various chimneys. They start dancing around on the rooftops and chimneys, performing "Step in Time."
  • Mary gets in on the dancing too.
  • Admiral Boom mistakes the chimney sweeps for hostile enemies and decides to fire multiple fireworks at them.
  • The fireworks explode and the chimney sweeps scatter.
  • Bert hits one of the fireworks back at Boom, who manages to duck.
  • All the chimney sweeps rush down the chimney into the Banks house, where they chase the maid around and continue to dance and perform "Step in Time."