NOTE:

I love P.L Travers' Mary Poppins book and the 1964 movie as well as the sequel. One of my favorite ideas in the Mary Poppins universe happens to be the Bird Woman and the concept of feeding the birds as charity, yet, I feel that if the writers of the 1964 movie had decided to have Michael give money to the Bird Woman and feed the birds, it would've been just like the book.

I actually feel it was a bit of an insult to P.L Travers and the book when Mr. Banks forbade Michael from feeding the birds in the movie. I also think a missed opportunity in the Mary Poppins Returns movie was, since we saw the Bird Woman briefly, Michael or any of his kids visiting St. Paul's cathedral and feeding the birds, giving pennies to the Bird Woman. While I did write a short story where an older Michael gave some tuppence to the Bird Woman, one thing still loomed in my head. It was a question and an idea: What if young Michael DID do so in the first movie and how would things play out?

To be honest, I almost don't know, but I'm willing to do a short and sweet rewrite of the scene, go over how much of an impact it would have on the rest of the movie's narrative and, well, that's pretty much it to be honest...

I hope you all enjoy!

We begin the story the morning after Jane and Michael's visit to Uncle Albert and hearing Mary Poppins' "Feed the Birds" song, they're on their way to the bank with George Banks, their father, leading the way as he tells them that his bank is a quiet and decorous place and that they must be on their best behavior.

As they pass by St. Paul's cathedral, Jane comments that they thought the bank was George's bank. George tells her and Michael that he is one of the youngest officers and the bank is.

Jane spots the Bird Woman sitting on the steps of St. Paul's and tells Michael to look and that it's her, Michael tells a confused George about the Bird Woman and Jane asks George if he can see her.

The Banks kids' father retorts that he does and chastises his kids for thinking he can't see past the end of his nose before Michael lets him know the Bird Woman is saying it, saying "Feed the Birds, tuppence a bag". "Of course, she's saying it," George replies sarcastically and uninterested, "What else could she be saying?"

This is where events start to change, slightly deviating from the path the original movie was taking up to this point. "C'mon, Michael." Jane says in a giggly tone, "Let's go feed the birds."

She and Michael dash across the street to St. Paul's cathedral towards the Bird Woman, much to the confusion and dismay of George.

"Feed the birds, Whatever for?" The mustached banker ponders irritably.

Now, Michael and Jane don't ask permission as, somehow, they know that if they ask him if they can feed the birds and that Michael has tuppence from his moneybox, George will forbid it. So, it's best to risk what's to come.

The two reach the steps of St. Paul's even as George calls out, "What are you doing? We're supposed to be going to the bank, not dillydallying into nonsense I have no interest in." Regardless, Michael proceeds to give the tuppence to the bird woman before he and Jane start to throw crumbs to the birds, even as George starts to raise his voice.

"Get back here, I said there is no time for nonsense like this!"

After feeding the birds enough crumbs, Jane and Michael walk across the street back to where George is waiting for them, he demands to know what they handed to the Bird Woman in order to feed the birds, all while eyeing them sternly, sending chills all over Michael's skin and making Jane nervous.

"Well?" George says, more sternly than ever, demanding an answer.

"T-Tuppence..." Michael stammers.

"Tuppence?"

"Tuppence from my money box."

"We gave it to the Bird Woman," Jane added nervously, "To 'Feed the Birds', all you have to do is give tuppence to the Bird Woman and she will let you toss crumbs to the little birds. It... It shows that you care."

Mr. Banks snaps, scolding Michael (and Jane) for wasting tuppence on ragamuffins, he is beyond furious.

"ITS MORE THAN NONSENSE, IT'S A WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY, I DID NOT PERMIT IT NOR WILL I EVER PERMIT YOU TO DO SO AGAIN!"

Jane and Michael duck as George takes a swipe at them with his bare hand before proceeding to try and hit Michael with a stick he's carrying. This lasts for few minutes before Mr. Banks decides to stop it and tells the two kids to come with him. They're going to the bank, but George is going to show Michael what is supposed to be done with money instead of "throwing it away'.

So, in this scenario, how does the rest of the movie and most of the sequel's events play out?

Michael and Jane still meet Mr. Dawes Jr and Mr. Dawes Sr, we still get the Fiddelity Fiduciary Bank sequence but things are different as Michael doesn't have any tuppence yet the song is about investing in the bank.

As for the bank run? When Mr. Dawes Sr. really finds out that Michael doesn't have tuppence, he launches into a loud rant which the customers misinterpret as somebody declaring the bank is flawed.

This leads to the run on the bank and the kids escaping in the chaos, they still run into Bert, who assures them that George doesn't hate them but is preoccupied with his job, before taking them home. The rooftop and Step in Time sequence play out the same. But things are different when George returns.

George again berates Jane and Michael for the events of today, but is interrupted when the phone rings and is told by Mr. Dawes to report to the bank. A Man Has Dreams plays out and George starts to slowly realize the error of his ways when Michael comes up and apologizes for everything, even giving him tuppence.

After that, Mr. Banks heads to the bank and is fired for the bank run, his transformation into a changed man completes and he tells the wooden leg named Smith joke and Mr. Dawes Sr still kicks the can laughing before Mr. Banks fixes Jane and Michael's kite leading to the movie still ending on a happy note.

As for the tuppence Michael gave to his pop as an apology for, in this rewrite, feeding the birds and the bank run. Its enough for him to have an account of his own and grows into quite a sum as the years pass. The 1930s roll along and so do the events of 2018's Mary Poppins Returns.

The events of the movie play out the same: The bank threatening to repossess the Banks' house, Mary Poppins returning to Michael's life and becoming his kids' nanny, everything leading up to the end.

However, a detail does slightly change when Mr. Dawes Jr shows up to fire Wilkins and recounts the story of Michael's money, Jr lets Michael off the hook for giving the other tuppence to the Bird Woman since he did invest eventually. Yes, Mr. Dawes Jr was quite unsure about the whole charity deal for a while.

As for the happy end of the movie? Pretty much the same, Michael and his family keep the house, they go to the fair and fly balloons, Mary Poppins flies off and this is where we end our story.