This Week in Dick Van Dyke's Accent

The Independent, March 18. 2008, "Miles Kington Remembered: A flaming yarn about Elvis and his Bruce Wayne shoes" by Miles Kington

"I knew a bloke once who swore that when Americans try to imitate Cockney, it comes out pure Australian, which goes to show that Australian is just a mixture of ..."

"It doesn't show anything of the sort," said another. "If Americans spoke like Australians when they tried to speak like Cockneys, then how come in Mary Poppins Dick van Dyke didn't sound Australian, instead of the fake Cockney he did sound like?"

"Because he wasn't good enough even to sound like an Australian."

There was a reflective pause for laughter.

Time elapsed since premiere of Mary Poppins:

15,868 days.

Time elapsed since someone mentioned D.V.D.'s accent:

11 days


****

Variety, March 19th, 2008, "Gabbers at Geffen fund-raiser; Roma Downey, Julie Andrews attend" by Mia McNiece

At the Geffen Playhouse's annual fund-raiser, Backstage at the Geffen, held Monday in Westwood, stars spilled behind-the-scenes secrets and there was no holding back.

Thesp Roma Downey recalled an incident early in her career when a Broadway co-star was too inebriated to perform, while Julie Andrews drew the loudest laughs recounting the time her "My Fair Lady" co-star Rex Harrison loudly passed gas onstage while saying "He was a windy fellow."

The event, which honored Annette Bening and Disney's Robert Iger, was co-hosted by Andrews and Dick Van Dyke, who received the loudest applause when he performed the "Mary Poppins" classic "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious."

Time elapsed since premiere of Mary Poppins:

15,869 days.

Time elapsed since someone mentioned D.V.D.'s accent:

1 day

Cockney Accent Not Exclusively Sold as a Caricature and Gimmick.

Second Supper, Undated, Review of Calvin Harris: I Created Disco

This album could be partially described as a form of “arcade disco”, and Calvin Harris has his Atari beats down. This smarmy beast eats bleeps and shits funk. And it’s neat. Really, the only irritating aspects that I found on the disc were in the Dick van Dyke chimney-sweep vocals, the tea wiv tha guvnah Cockney that makes acts like The Streets so damned quaint and cute. Still, there’s a difference here, being that Harris doesn’t seem to be selling the accent as caricature and gimmick – at least not exclusively.

Time elapsed since premiere of Mary Poppins:

15,8597 days.

Time elapsed since someone mentioned D.V.D.'s accent:

12 days