Here's a movie musical number that's always worth another viewing. I was never bothered by Dick Van Dyke's alleged British accent in Mary Poppins. I mean, it's not like it was the only unrealistic thing in that film. And it probably didn't bother any of the many Brits who worked on the movie, either, at least at the time.
One of them — though you never see him on screen — was the veteran character actor, J. Pat O'Malley. He was engaged to coach Van Dyke…and what you basically have in that film is Dick Van Dyke imitating J. Pat O'Malley, a genuine British performer of great renown. O'Malley was also one of three different actors who at various times played Dick Van Dyke's father on The Dick Van Dyke Show.
Mr. O'Malley did a fair amount of cartoon voice work for Disney, starting with Ichabod and Mr. Toad in 1949. That's him voicing the little cockney man in this sequence.
The very first cartoon I ever wrote was an ABC Weekend Special called The Incredible Detectives and one of the main characters was an English bulldog. For some reason, though I was new to the profession, the producer let me sit in on a casting discussion with the voice director, who I suspect resented my having any input at all. I suggested for the role Mr. O'Malley, who was then very much still with us and would probably have loved getting the job. The director wrote down my suggestion, then went to his office and booked whoever the hell he wanted to…an actor who was a friend of his.
That actor was fine but later in front of me, the producer asked the director why he hadn't hired my nominee and he said, "I don't like to work with on-camera voices who haven't had any experience doing voices." I, of course, then said, "J. Pat O'Malley's done dozens of cartoons. He was in Mary Poppins."
The voice director immediately added, "And those guys who work for Disney…they're always too expensive and they don't take direction well."
Okay, let's roll the clip…
