Mary Poppins Scene 5 Summary

Do You Believe in Magic?

  • Upstairs, the kids get to know Mary, who starts doing crazy things, like pulling a giant hat-stand out of her carpetbag and hanging her hat on it. The kids can't understand how she can get anything out of the carpetbag, considering it appears empty.
  • But she keeps pulling out lamp stands and stuff.
  • Then, Mary whips out her tape measure, which she finds after reaching deep down into the bag.
  • After she measures Michael, the tape measure reads that he's "extremely stubborn and suspicious," while it says that Jane is "rather inclined to giggle, doesn't put things away."
  • Mary's own measurement reads, "Mary Poppins, practically perfect in every way."
  • Mary asks them if they want to play a game—"cleaning up the nursery."
  • She explains that you can make boring jobs into a game, by finding the element of fun.
  • She launches right into the song "A Spoonful of Sugar," explaining how "a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down."
  • Looking out the window, Mary gets a robin to land on her hand, and continues singing while the robin accompanies her (though the robin doesn't sing actual words).
  • Mary Poppins snaps her fingers at different parts of the nursery, and they clean themselves up on command. Jane does the same thing, and it works. But Michael can't snap his fingers.
  • Then, Mary sings while her own reflection in the mirror accompanies her—upstaging her, at one point.
  • Michael finally gets the finger snapping, but ends up falling into a toy wagon, which drives into a closet that locks him inside. All the items in the room are moving on their own.
  • Mary commands the room to settle down, and it does.
  • Then, she and the children ride the stair banister, surprising the maid, and head out to the park.