Mary Poppins is best known as the flying nanny with the talking umbrella portrayed by Julie Andrew's in the famous Disney musical of 1964. But the real Mary Poppins was actually created 30 years before by Pamela Travers, or P.L Travers, as she was known. Travers wrote the first Mary Poppins book, which is the one that I have been reading, in 1934, but she went on to write 7 more tales of the English nanny and her magical adventure, the last of which was published in 1988.
The Disney film is based on the first four books, Mary Poppins, Mary Poppins Comes Back, Mary Poppins Opens the Door, and Mary Poppins in the Park. However, when I say based, I really mean very loosely indeed! From reading just the first book here are some differences I have spotted:
1. Bert is a peripheral character, not like Dick Van Dyke's cockney (!?) lead.
2. Jane and Michael are not the only Banks children! There are also Barbara and John, the baby twins.
3. Mary Poppins is not as lovely as Julie Andrews makes her out to be!
4. She is also not as posh as Julie Andrew makes her out to be!
5. The adventures in the book are so much more exciting than those in the film!
I could go on!
Really the film and the books are non-comparable. They are so different from each other that I can see why Travers got so upset when she saw the film for the first time, and why she was so against selling the film rights in the first place. I love the musical, but I also really enjoyed the version of Mary portrayed in this book. She's a bit tougher on the children, a huge liar when it comes to admitting that she's magic and she really very very vain, but she is also wonderfully charming! I think the children both adore her, but are also quite scared of her too!
As i've already said, the adventures in the book are far more exciting than anything that happens in the film. The laughing tea party on the ceiling is taken from the book, and they do 'Feed the birds, tuppence a bag'! The chalk painting excursion is also featured, although it is only Bert and Mary who go, and there are no race horses! But the Banks children and Mary Poppins also get up to some other great things too! When Michael gets up on the wrong side of the bed and is ghastly to everyone Mary takes them around the world in a minute. At each compass point they meet an animal from that part of the world who gives them a gift. In the original book these were people from each part of the world but this was deemed un-PC and they were changed to animals in the later editions. Mary Poppins also introduces the children to a very tiny, old lady made of butterscotch who runs a sweet shop with her two daughters. They later help Mary put paper stars back in the night sky. The children also take a night time trip to the zoo, where they find people in the cages and the animals roaming free, fully personified. The final story, which I think is lovely, is that of Maia. The children and Mary Poppins are out christmas shopping where they are met by a little girl. She is Maia, one of the seven Pleiades stars, known as the Seven Sisters. She has come down to earth to buy christmas presents for her sisters, and Mary Poppins and the children agrees to help her. Travers' original tales are truly charming, and certainly magical!
Last week I read a particularly interesting essay by Maria Tatar called A Thousand and One Tales, and in she refers to Lois Lowry's term 'Elsewhere'. Tatar explains that:
'Elswhere is found in fairytales and fantasies - it is everything from "Once upon a time" to Wonderland, Narnia, Oz, Neverland, and Hogwarts... Elsewhere is a zone that... [gives] us what could be rather than what should be. It opens up perils and possibilities, creating an alternate world where magical thinking is validated and affirmed...' *
This got me thinking.
If Narnia is 'Elsewhere', then the wardrobe must be the portal to 'Elsehwere', and if "Once upon a time" can transport us to these magical places, then maybe a person could too. I think Mary Poppins can be seen as a portal to Tatar and Lowry's 'Elsewhere'. Without her the children could not experience the magical events that occur in the book. She transports them to these places using her own magical powers. Magical thinking is both 'validated and affirmed'* in Mary Poppins's world. However, when they are back in reality she denies that any of the magic actually happened. Tatar suggests that 'The reality principle is soundly defeated in Elsewhere, if only to show that it is inescapable in our ordinary lives.'*. Mary Poppins' behaviour is the embodiment of this statement. By denying that anything magical ever happened, she actually makes the magic more magical and the reality even more real. Its a pity that Disney ironed out these extremes in a way. Although the magical nature of the musical is all well and good the actual stories have their mysterious sides too, which add to their appeal.
With the current trend to remake the classic Disney films, I would love to see a film that really embraces the true nature and magic of P.L Travers books. In 2014 there was a hoax suggesting that Tim Burton was to remake the story, and frankly I would have loved to have seen that! However, I have discovered that there is new Mary Poppins film, Mary Poppins Returns, planned for release in 2018, starring Emily Blunt as our beloved nanny, so all we can do is wait, hope and watch this space!
Thanks for reading, L x
Next up is The Adventures of Captain Underpants! A favourite of many so I have heard!
*Tatar, Maria, (2009) "A Thousand and One Tales" from Hearne, Betsy and Trites, Roberta Seelinger, A narrative compass: stories that guide women's lives, pp.39-46 (particular quotes from p. 43), Urbana, Illinois, University of Illinois Press.
