Lt. Robin Crusoe U.S.N ( 1966 )

Put Dick Van Dyke on a deserted island with a bevy of Polynesian beauties and a space chimp and you'd think you would have a winning comedy. Walt Disney certainly thought so. He liked the idea of remaking Robinson Crusoe as a comedy vehicle for Dick Van Dyke so much that he penned the screenplay himself ....and perhaps that is where he made his mistake. 

Lt. Robin Crusoe U.S.N, released in 1966, was a failure as a comedy. Dick Van Dyke had the ability to pull this film off successfully, but he lacked a good script with more characters and situations to engage with. 

The film was an updated version of the classic 1719 Daniel Defoe novel about a man who gets shipwrecked on a deserted island and learns the skills necessary to survive. Dick Van Dyke stars as Lt. Robin Crusoe, a Navy fighter pilot, who bails out from his plane when it catches on fire. After days of drifting at sea, he is washed upon a beautiful deserted island where he eventually makes his home, building a hut, a post office system, and even a private golf course. One day, exploring the inner part of the island, he meets Wednesday ( Nancy Kwan ) a girl from the neighboring island who was abandoned there by her father ( Akim Tamiroff ), a vengeful chief, for punishment. Together with a band of native girls - her friends - they fight this chief and his tribe when they invade their island. 

Running at just over 110 minutes, Lt. Robin Crusoe drags on for too long, with its few laughs being scattered primarily in the first half of the film. At the time of its release, the critics were harsh..... Howard Thompson wrote in the New York Times, "Most of the picture has Mr. Van Dyke mugging and tripping over the lush scenery. It's neither very funny nor new and the picture is recommended, with reservations, only for the very, very young and for television fans who think Mr. Van Dyke can do no wrong."

Surprisingly, reviews such as these, did not hinder Dick Van Dyke fans from flocking to the theatres and the film grossed $22 million which is a tidy sum compared to the $28 million grossed by That Darn Cat one year earlier and the meager $1.9 million grossed by The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin - a superior comedy - one year later.

If you want to watch an entertaining version of Robinson Crusoe, you would be better off watching The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, the classic 1964 television miniseries. 

Promoting Poppins : The Merchandise of Mary Poppins

The Walt Disney Company today are pros when it comes to knowing how to promote their latest films but, back in the day, they had the marketing game pretty well in hand, too. 

In 1964, without the aid of the internet or a bombardment of television commercials, they promoted Mary Poppins to countries all over the world. And once the film became the success that it was ( critical acclaim, $31 million in box office receipts, 13 Academy Award nominations ) companies clamored to Disney to obtain permission to place Poppins on their products

Judging from the number of different products that were released over the next 10 years, Disney was pretty liberal in granting this permission. Below we have assembled a little gallery of some of the most popular Mary Poppins products of the 1960s and 1970s for you to peruse. If we are missing any, let us know and we will add it to the gallery. 

Enjoy! 

Coloring Books & Other Activity Books

This Whitman coloring book features some really spot-on illustrations of Julie Andrews and the Poppins children. 

Since Mary Poppins always had a bit of magic up her sleeves ( or hiding in her carpet-bag ), this set features a bit of magic, too....magic wipe-off crayons. 

Another magical book.....paintless and dot-to-dot coloring. What could be easier? Just brush the paper with water and watch the pictures appear, pictures as lovely as Bert could draw himself.

A Golden Funtime Coloring Book. Not sure what the "cut out" means. Tear sheets?

Most coloring book covers liked to feature Mary Poppins in her customary flying pose, complete with umbrella open. 

On this cover, she sports some fancy yellow boots and is flying over a freeway. If Mary Poppins supports Shell Oil then that is the gas to use! 

Story Books & Comic Books

A beautiful cover from Gold Key comics emphasizing how Poppins is "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" ( you won't see this word typed twice in one post! )

A Golden Look-inside Book. Five little books hidden inside this one. If they all feature interior art as cute as this cover, I'm buying it. 

This is an interesting Spanish language storybook. Note how much Mary Poppins looks like a female bullfighter here. 

The classic Little Golden Book cover, probably one of the best-selling Mary Poppins pieces of merchandise. 

And look how cute the drawings are inside! 

A Golden Press souvenir book featuring photographs and behind-the-scenes stories about the making of the film.

Colorforms

Colorforms were cut pieces of vinyl that stuck "like magic" to the background cling surface. In this case, that surface image is Mary Poppins in her undergarments. 

The original Colorforms box art. Mary Poppins hair color is more of a reddish tint and her clothing is of a solid color. 

Paper Dolls

Paper dolls with no scissors needed, just a bit of punching will get them right out of their pockets. 

This set, from Whitman, gave you plastic stands to display them on. 

A Golden Funtime book offered a whole bunch of activities in one: 4 paper dolls, story to read, pictures to color, and a carousel to build. 

Good looking doll clothing, too. 

Record Albums & 45s

The 33rpm and its reissue with the cassette tape of the read-along storybook featuring the same cover artwork. 

Another "story and songs" book, this time with Marni Nixon doing the voice of Mary Poppins and Richard M. Sherman reading, too. Richard is one half of the Sherman Brothers, the songwriting duo who composed the music to Mary Poppins. 

A cover variation of the same record. 

Disneyland Records was a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company so not only did they collect from other companies' merchandise but they marketed their own, too!

This 45 record featured "One Man Band" as a bonus song, which was the tune that Bert sang in the opening of the film ( to the melody of "Chim-Chim-Cheree" )

A blurry image of one of the original album covers. 

This was the most famous release and it is quite common to see it at rummage sales and second-hand stores. The sheet music featured the same painted artwork.

And, of course, there were covers released.....the big band maestro Lawrence Welk was one of the first to release a Poppins album. 

Then Duke Ellington toyed with the music.....

....and even Ray Walston "spoke" the lines in rhythm. 

This British release featured a rather dark looking design on its cover. 

Whereas the illustrator who painted the cover to this later ( 1968-1975 ) release decided to redesign Mary Poppins and the children altogether. They look like Edith Nesbit characters here. 

This cute cover was from another British release. Note the Indian and the gent with the top hat. 

This is the funniest looking cover from the New York Theatre Orchestra LP release. Mary Poppins looks like a dressed mannequin here ( a male one at that! ).

Another unusual cover, this one clearly inspired by the art of Peter Maxx. Mary Poppins looks "high" in this drawing, and not because she is flying in the air!

A British release album, featuring the Mike Sammes Singers. This fine group ( sort of the British version of the Ray Conniff Singers ) often did Disney cover albums to coincide with the release of their new films.

And speaking of Ray Conniff.....this chorus would never pass up a chance to do those great Poppins tunes. 

Sticker Books

A lovely cover to a sticker fun book, featuring some smug looking horses. 

Another sticker book, this one from a later release. 

Advertisements

Advertisments were a bit more difficult to find. Hefty featured some great artwork of Mary Poppins toting her carpetbag ( not garbage bags? ) in the air. 

And Kraft Chocolates offered a fantastic prize for this giveaway advertisement: a carpetbag filled with $10,000 in cash! I wonder who the lucky winner of that contest was. 

Dolls and Dollcraft

McCall's issued a stuffed doll sewing pattern and then followed it up with some more patterns featuring costume variations. These patterns can be found on Etsy. 

A series of dolls released by E.I. Horsman as early as 1963. Tonner released a series of dolls more recently that feature a stunning array of wardrobe changes. 

Lunchboxes

This lunchbox from Aladdin came in two options, tin or vinyl. 

Puzzles

And who can forget puzzles! This is a simple frame-tray puzzle from Whitman....

...and then there is this unusual block puzzle with picture scenes. 

I would have liked to own this one....Bert conducting the animal choir.

And lastly, a Jaymar interlocking Mary Poppins Picture Puzzle featuring the final scene in the movie, Let's Go Fly a Kite.