Mary Poppins, She Wrote by Valerie Lawson: book review

Mary Poppins, She Wrote: The Life of P.L. Travers (1999) is the biography of Pamela Lyndon Travers, the author of the popular series, Mary Poppins, first published in 1934.

Mary Poppins is the magical English nanny of the Banks children in their residence at 17 Cherry Tree Lane, London, in the 1930s. Julie Andrews portrayed Mary Poppins in the 1964 film, and Emily Blunt will star in the sequel, Mary Poppins Returns, to be released in 2018.

P.L. Travers was born Helen Lyndon Goff (1899-1996) in Australia – she took the name Travers from her father’s first name. He died when she was seven years old. As for the name Pamela, she just liked that name. By using initials, P.L. Travers was virtually anonymous and genderless – the writer could be ‘male, female, or a kangaroo,’ she said.

The biography is in three parts: The Nymph (1899-1934), The Mother (1934-1965), and The Crone (1965-1996). This is a dense volume covering everything, from her early longing to be a Shakespearean actor, before she began writing poetry for magazines and newspapers, to her journey to England, her long professional relationship with George Russell of the Irish Statesman, and the influences that led to the creation of Mary Poppins.

The biography looks at the characters within the Mary Poppins series, and their evolution, influence, and their relationships with reality. Poppins is a mystery – no-one knows where she comes from or where she is going – but she leaves lots of clues. She believes in the motto: Never explain.

The series was written over a 54-year period. And the original Mary Poppins was not exactly charming – she was very stern, but she did have magical powers‘ hidden behind the facade of an extremely ordinary woman’ that made her enchanting. Lawson also discusses the making of the 1964 Disney movie: the ‘americanization’ and ‘marshmallowness’ of Mary. The movie received five Oscars, including one for Julie Andrews as best actress, and remains an enduringly popular chidren’s movie.

The biography tells of P.L.’s ‘fading fame’ and the end years of her life. She never married. In 1939, at the age of 40, she adopted Camilllus, thus separating him from his twin brother Anthony, but he is rarely mentioned in the biography.

The biography is quite interesting in parts, attempting to relate not Pamela to Poppins, but her upbringing, personality, and beliefs to the world of Mary Poppins – how she wanted her life to be, and the eternal search for her own Mr. Banks. However, some of the connections are loose, almost equating every man she sees as a prospective Mr. Banks, her father figure. This is the biography that the 2013 movie Saving Mr Banks (with Emma Thompson and Tom Hanks) draws on for its research, but the research in this book is often rather patchy.

Nevertheless, the biography highlights the differences between the Mary Poppins books and the phantasmagorical Disney version, particularly the mysterious character of Mary Poppins, the magical nanny. It also focuses on P.L. Travers’ search for anonymity, a spiritual guru, and cures for her ill health: ‘All that is lost is somewhere.’

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The movie, Mary Poppins Returns, will be released in 2018. Disney released its first official photograph of Emily Blunt as Mary Poppins on 3 March 2017. The sequel, set in 1935, features the Banks children Jane and Michael as adults. Michael Banks now has three children. The movie will also star Lin-Manuel Miranda, Meryl Streep, Ben Whishaw, Emily Mortimer, Colin Firth, Julie Walters, and Angela Lansbury. Dick Van Dyke, who played chimney sweep Bert in the original 1964 film, will also return for the sequel.

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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