P. L. Travers

[[File:Pamela Lyndon Travers.jpg|thumb|165px|right|The Poppinator herself.]]
{{newage}}{{books}}
'''Pamela Lyndon Travers''' OBE (born '''Helen Lyndon Goff''') {{lived|9 August 1899|23 April 1996}} was an [[Australia]]n-born [[United Kingdom|British]] [[author]] best known for her ''{{wpl|Mary Poppins}}'' series of children's fantasy novels.

Goff was born in Queensland, and grew up in the bush before being sent to boarding school in Sydney. She took up writing in her teens and had a brief stint as a [[William Shakespeare|Shakespearian]] actress. Goff later emigrated to [[England]] during her twenties and took the name "Pamela Lyndon Travers" after her father's first name, adopting the ''nom de plume'' P. L. Travers{{efn|[[J. K. Rowling|Sound familiar?]]}} when she wrote the original ''Mary Poppins'' books. Along with creating Mary Poppins, Travers is also famous for her widely-publicised feud with [[The Walt Disney Company#Walt Disney himself|Walt Disney]]&nbsp;— whose use of [[Fakelore|appropriated folk tales and contemporary children's stories]] were part and parcel of his media empire&nbsp;— where she expressed disagreement over the treatment of her now-iconic character, as well as her acerbic control over her creation. She dabbled with both [[occult]] and [[New Age]] movements as well as having an (allegedly) abusive relationship with her adopted son.

==Mary, Mary, quite contrary==
{{cquote|[[Big words|Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!]]|||Julie Andrews, as Mary Poppins}}
[[File:Mary Poppins2.jpg|thumb|160px|left|Practically perfect in every way.]]
Perhaps the best known of her writings is ''Mary Poppins'', a series of children's urban fantasy novels about the eponymous umbrella-flying, carpet bag-carrying [[magic]]al nanny from London, set during the early 20<sup>th</sup> century.{{efn|The original books take place during the 1930s, though the short story "The Day Out"&nbsp;— which depicts a prototypical Poppins in her late teens&nbsp;— was written in 1926.<ref>[https://www.marypoppinsandthematchman.com/ Mary Poppins And the Match-Man]</ref> The 1964 film starring Julie Andrews takes place in 1910, with its sequel taking place in the 1930s where Michael and Jane Banks have since grown up.}} The stories depict Poppins as a vain, aloof yet otherwise caring young woman,{{efn|Or what appears to be a young woman (if she's [[Extraterrestrial|even human at all]]), as there are apparent hints to her immortality throughout the book series.}} rearing her charges using magic and self-control and occasionally taking the children under her care on magical adventures, though she more often than not denies having such abilities when confronted about them;<ref name="travers">[https://www.britannica.com/biography/P-L-Travers P.L. Travers - British Author & Creator of Mary Poppins - Britannica]</ref> the books however at least somewhat allude to Poppins' supernatural origins, with her mother stated to have lived for centuries and some of her relatives being magical creatures as well.

While it has been speculated that the character of Mary Poppins was at least in part derived from the Norland Nannies i.e. the students of {{wpl|Norland College||,}}<ref>[https://dadbloguk.com/interview-with-norland-nanny/ Q&A with Norland Nanny Sophie Weston]</ref> a prestigious British secondary educational institution dedicated to childcare training whose alumni have worked for the rich and famous such as the British Royal Family,<ref>[https://www.harpersbazaar.com.sg/junior/junior-culture/prince-georges-nanny-maria-teresa-turrion-borrallo-real-life-mary-poppins Prince George's Nanny Maria Teresa Turrion Borrallo Is A Real Life Mary Poppins]</ref> David and Victoria Beckham<ref>[https://www.jobsinchildcare.com/blog/norland/CelebritiesEmployNorlandNanny/ Which VIPs and Celebrities Employ or Have Employed a Norland Nanny?]</ref> and Mick Jagger among others,<ref>[https://littleoneslondon.co.uk/nannies/norland-nannies Norland Nannies - Little Ones London]</ref> and whose uniforms do indeed resemble that of Poppins's signature outfit, Travers' great aunt Helen "Ellie" Morehead was also cited as a likely inspiration for the character.<ref>Nance, Kevin (2013-12-20). [http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-12-20/features/chi-saving-mr-banks-valerie-lawson-20131220_1_saving-mr-p-l-travers-p-l-travers/2 "Valerie Lawson talks Mary Poppins, She Wrote and P.L Travers: Biography reveals original character's sharp edge"]. ''Chicago Tribune''. p. 2. Retrieved 2014-01-12.</ref>

The success of the series spawned numerous sequels and adaptations, most notably the 1964 Disney live-action/animated musical {{wpl|Mary Poppins (film)|film adaptation}} starring {{wpl|Julie Andrews}} in her big-screen debut loosely based on the books, which went on to be one of Disney's most memorable live-action features. The 2018 sequel ''Mary Poppins Returns'' starring {{wpl|Emily Blunt||,}} while not as well received critically, is largely a pastiche of the original film albeit in the backdrop of the [[Great Depression]], with the now-grown up Banks siblings having to deal with Michael's children after the death of Michael's wife and the family's now-dire financial situation, with Mary coming to the Bankses' aid. Besides the Disney media franchise and stage musical, there also exists a [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] miniseries entitled ''Mary Poppins, Goodbye'' (Russian: Мэри Поппинс, до свидания!; translit. ''Meri Poppins, do svidaniya''), which was produced by Mosfilm for Gosteleradio presumably without Travers' approval.{{efn|It is unknown what Travers' reaction to the Soviets' appropriation of her work was; she might have remained reticent knowing how there's little she could do about it. Interestingly, she did write about her experiences in Russia during the early 1930s prior to penning the ''Poppins'' novels.<ref>[https://themarypoppinseffect.com/tag/communism/ The Mary Poppins Effect - Communism]</ref>}}<ref>[https://animate-tim.com/2019/05/11/mary-poppins-in-the-ussr/ Mary Poppins in the USSR]</ref>

===The "bad" in "Bad Tuesday"===
{{main|Cancel culture}}
[[File:Racially insensitive Mary Poppins illustration.jpg|thumb|120px|right|This did not age well when the [[Civil rights movement]] came around.{{efn|The image is from a "Little Golden Book" that was a 1953 authorized revision of the  Bad Tuesday chapter from ''Mary Poppins''<ref>''The Magic Compass: A Story from "Mary Poppins" by P. L. Travers, illustrations by Gertrude Elliott (1953) Simon and Schuster.</ref>}}]]
The chapter "Bad Tuesday" in the original 1934 edition of ''Mary Poppins'' has stereotyped portrayals of various ethnicities whom Mary and her charges come across in a magical adventure across the world, though changing sociopolitical attitudes resulted in Travers having to amend the offending chapter twice: once in 1967, removing any and all potentially offensive language but keeping the plot about visiting foreign lands, and in 1981, where series illustrator Mary Shepard{{efn|Daughter of {{wpl|E. H. Shepard||,}} a famous illustrator of children's literature including ''Winnie-the-Pooh'' by A. A. Milne.}} revised the illustrations to depict animals instead, altering the four compass points in the accompanying drawing to show a polar bear at the north, a macaw at the south, a panda at the east, and a dolphin at the west.<ref>{{cite book |first=Philip |last=Nel |title=Was the Cat in the Hat Black? |pages=88–89 |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2017}}</ref> While Travers was initially outraged at her publisher for not taking the effort to defend her work and artistic expression, she later denied accusations of [[racism]] in an interview, stating:

{{quotebox|I have no racism in me. I wasn’t born with it. And it’s never happened inside of me. And therefore, I feel perfectly at ease and at home no matter what color anybody’s skin is.}}

Regardless, as some have felt uncomfortable on what amounts to a [[presentism|product of its time]], she was still compelled to make amendments to her work without any apparent (reactionary) consequence, especially as a friend of hers confessed how she felt embarrassed reciting the original story to a group of Black children.<ref name="slavova">{{Cite web |last=Slavova |first=Lina |date=2021-01-18 |title=Bad Tuesdays with Mary Poppins |url=https://themarypoppinseffect.com/2021/01/18/bad-tuesdays-with-mary-poppins/ |access-date=2024-04-22 |website=The Mary Poppins Effect}}</ref> If anything, Travers was reportedly indifferent to politics if not completely apolitical, quipping that she would rather choose [[communism]] over [[fascism]] if she was forced to choose between the two, but she snidely remarked that the former would be a "desolate alternative". She also scoffed at the [[personality cult]] surrounding [[Vladimir Lenin]] as more of a [[parody religion]] than anything to be taken seriously.<ref>[https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/travers-pl-1906-1996 Travers, P.L. (1906–1996)]</ref>

===Going batty over the BBFC===
The racism controversy isn't limited to the books, however. The 1964 musical film got embroiled in a bit of controversy in 2024 when the [[wingnut|usual reactionaries]] went apeshit over the {{wpl|British Board of Film Classification||'s}} decision to retroactively change the film's rating from Universal (U, "suitble for all") to a slightly harsher Parental Guidance (PG) due to just one scene where  Admiral Boom uses the now-racist term "hottentot" to refer to the soot-covered chimney sweeps spotted near his house.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-03-01 |title=Mary Poppins fans slam “woke” age rating change |url=https://www.dexerto.com/tv-movies/mary-poppins-fans-slam-woke-age-rating-change-2564907/ |access-date=2024-04-22 |website=Dexerto}}</ref> As the Board felt that the epithet amounts to a fancy way of saying the [[nigger|n-word]], they reclassified the film and added the phrase "discriminatory language" as a ratings descriptor.<ref>{{Cite web |last=BBFC |title=Mary Poppins |url=https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/mary-poppins-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc0ymzg1mju |access-date=2024-04-22 |website=www.bbfc.co.uk}}</ref>

==Pamela, occultism, and sexuality==
{{main|1=Woo|3=Sexuality}}
===Creative feuding with Disney===
It is a well-known fact that Travers made no secret about her immense disagreement over [[The Walt Disney Company|Walt Disney]]'s handling of the film adaptation of ''Mary Poppins''. Travers tried exerting control over her work<ref name="travers"/> and even had voice recordings made of the meetings she had with Disney and his staff when they had discussions over the film's conception.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0RBvhK5oxk P.L. Travers Audio - 1961 Mary Poppins Meetings at Disney]</ref> While Travers expressed apprehension over having her ''magnum opus'' adapted to the silver screen by [[Hollywood]] producers as she felt the Disney version bastardised her work into something too saccharine, she stated in a phone conversation that she would rather see a British-produced adaptation instead,<ref name="gray">{{Cite web |last=Gray |first=Tim |date=2018-12-14 |title=P.L. Travers’ Efforts to Adapt ‘Mary Poppins’ for Film, TV Were Often Less Than Jolly |url=https://variety.com/2018/vintage/features/mary-poppins-author-pl-travers-1203087389/ |access-date=2024-05-15 |website=Variety}}</ref> much like how [[J. K. Rowling]] demanded that the ''Harry Potter'' films' principal cast be British whenever possible.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://film.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/Critic_Review/Guardian_Film_of_the_week/0,,595317,00.html |work=[[The Guardian]] |location=UK |title=Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone |date=16 November 2001 |access-date=26 May 2007 |archive-date=25 March 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070325054513/http://film.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/Critic_Review/Guardian_Film_of_the_week/0,,595317,00.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Surprisingly enough, she greenlit the idea of a TV special, i.e., the 1949 Studio One telefilm starring Mary Wickes as the nanny, though she also lamented the pervasive presence and influence of television especially its effects on children, stating "I don’t see why a child — so full, so fresh, so lively — with his own ideas and imagination, should really need television. … Here we are, loaded with television and we can’t say no to it."<ref name="gray"/>

Walt Disney promised his daughters to have the ''Poppins'' books translated to the silver screen, and thus began talks with Travers over adapting her creation. It took Disney ''twenty years of pestering the author'' to get her to sell the screen rights to him, to which Travers acquiesced when it dawned on her that royalties from the books were dwindling and she had no other choice but to make the proverbial Faustian bargain. While the film went on as planned she was immensely unhappy with how it was "sentimentalized by the 'Disney treatment'<ref name="smithsonian">[https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/how-did-pl-travers-the-prickly-author-of-mary-poppins-really-fare-against-walt-disney-180949052/ How Did P.L. Travers, the Prickly Author of Mary Poppins, Really Fare Against Walt Disney?]</ref> and refused to allow any further American-produced adaptation of her work in her last will and testament,<ref>Erbland, Kate (2013-12-26). [https://web.archive.org/web/20160105050720/http://www.film.com/movies/the-true-story-of-saving-mr-banks "The Dark, Deep and Dramatic True Story of Saving Mr. Banks"]. Film.com. Archived from the [http://www.film.com/movies/the-true-story-of-saving-mr-banks original] on 2016-01-05. Retrieved 2015-05-14.</ref> though Disney went on to produce the sequel ''{{wpl|Mary Poppins Returns}}'' in 2018 (with the blessing of Travers' estate no less), and Travers herself allowed the production of a stage musical shortly before her death, albeit only on conditions that British writers alone and no one from the original film production were to be directly involved.<ref>Ouzounian, Richard (2013-12-13). [https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/stage/2013/12/13/pl_travers_might_have_liked_mary_poppins_onstage.html "P L Travers might have liked Mary Poppins onstage"]. ''The Toronto Star''. Retrieved 2014-03-06.</ref> This feud with Walt would later be dramatised in the 2013 biopic ''Saving 
Private
 Mr. Banks'' starring {{wpl|Tom Hanks}} as Walt and {{wpl|Emma Thompson}} as P. L. Travers.{{efn|Thompson's casting as Travers counts as a bit of an [[irony]] considering how she portrayed a nanny character similar to Poppins in the ''Nanny McPhee'' film series, which was loosely based on the ''Nurse Matilda'' novels.}} The film was released to mostly positive reviews, though the late sci-fi author {{wpl|Harlan Ellison}} likened ''Banks'' to a [[Hagiography|hagiographic]] pile of [[bullshit]] meant to make Walt Disney look good in the eyes of the audience.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNIFEHN1_cY Harlan Ellison on Saving Mr. Banks]</ref>

Even sadder was how the ''Poppins'' novels' original illustrator received little recognition over her role in bringing the nanny to life; even Travers herself could be deemed guilty of obscuring Mary Shepard's contributions as she had a rather controlling hand over Shepard's depiction of her character.<ref name="Baguley">{{Cite web |last=Baguley |first=Margaret |last2=Kerby |first2=Martin Charles |date=2020-12-24 |title=Mary Shepard: the artist who brought Mary Poppins to life |url=http://theconversation.com/mary-shepard-the-artist-who-brought-mary-poppins-to-life-131150 |access-date=2024-04-22 |website=The Conversation |language=en-US}}</ref> Shepard was infamously snubbed over royalties from the 1964 film, though she did win a rather measly compensation for the depiction of Poppins's feet in a ballet position.<ref name="shepard">{{Cite web |last=Lloyd |first=Shelley |date=2020-03-20 |title=Forgotten Mary Poppins illustrator finally recognised after international search reveals rare original drawings |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-21/mary-poppins-queensland-illustrator-recognised/12042834 |access-date=2024-04-22 |website=ABC News (Australia)}}</ref>

===The Virgin Mary, practically perfect in every way!===
[[File:Virgen de la Asuncion - Pobladura.jpg|thumb|120px|right|Any similarities between a virgin named Mary and a nanny also named Mary may or may not be coincidental.]]
A somewhat lesser-known fact is that Travers had a penchant for the [[occult]] and esotericism. Travers became a "disciple" of [[George Gurdjieff]]<ref name="biorg">[https://bi.org/en/articles/famous-bis-p-l-travers Famous Bis: P. L. Travers]</ref> after visiting Fontainebleau in [[France]], and was friends with {{wpl|George William Russell|A. E. Russell|,}} an [[Ireland|Irish]] writer and [[mystic]]ist who promoted [[theosophy]]. These esoteric and [[pagan]] elements were incorporated into the ''Poppins'' novels, which unsurprisingly disturbed some [[Christian]]s much like how the now-disgraced [[JK Rowling]] sent religious groups into a frenzy over her casual portrayal of [[witchcraft]] and wizardry in the ''Harry Potter'' novels (though perhaps not to the same level of a [[moral panic]] which ensued after the runaway success of the ''Potter'' media franchise).<ref>[https://www.womenofgrace.com/blog/80 Mary Poppins … and the occult?]</ref> Indeed, Travers in her later years characterised Poppins as a manifestation of the [[Goddess movement|Mother Goddess]];<ref name="travers"/><ref>[https://ringquest.wordpress.com/mary-poppins-the-secret-goddess/ Mary Poppins: The Secret Goddess]</ref> an apologetic blogger on the other hand likened Poppins to the [[Mary, mother of Jesus|Virgin Mary]], apparently seeing parallels with the character (or at the very least the Disney portrayal) and [[Jesus]]' mother through their gracefulness, virginity and the fact that Poppins sat on a cloud in the opening sequence.<ref>[http://www.thomism.org/interpretations/mary_poppins/index.html Mary Poppins and the Blessed Virgin Mary]</ref>

===…Bisexual?===
{{main|Bisexuality}}
One aspect of Travers' life and career that's pretty much overlooked was her apparent bisexuality, where it has been alleged that she engaged in affairs with both men and women, and was involved in a group called "The Rope" made up of predominantly [[Lesbianism|lesbian]] and bi women devotees of Gurdjieff.<ref name="biorg"/><ref>[https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/the-truth-behind-mary-poppins-creator-pl-travers-20140104-30akz.html The truth behind Mary Poppins creator P.L. Travers]</ref> In fact, a number of people noted how Travers's sexuality was sadly pretty much glossed over in the 2013 ''Saving Mr. Banks'' biopic,<ref>[https://carolyngage.weebly.com/blog/saving-mr-disney-a-lesbian-perspective Saving Mr. Disney: A Lesbian Perspective - Carolyn Gage]</ref><ref>[https://www.vulture.com/2013/12/saving-mr-banks-pl-travers-fact-check-mary-poppins.html Saving Mr. Banks Left Out an Awful Lot About P.L. Travers]</ref> on top of the questionable historical licence it took to make the re-enactment look rather saccharine.

===Practically imperfect with her son===
In what is perhaps a peak moment of irony and [[hypocrisy]], Travers allegedly made the bizarre choice of choosing just one of two Irish twin children who were put up for adoption, supposedly as a result of her obsession with the occult when she asked an [[Astrology|astrologer]] over which twin to pick.<ref>[https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2018/12/219570/mary-poppins-author-pl-travers-real-life-family The Life Of Mary Poppins Creator P.L. Travers Is Stranger Than Fiction]</ref> Reportedly, Travers' stepson Camillus did not realise that he was a twin until later in his life where he felt betrayed and bitter over the [[crank]]ery she did on the poor twins,<ref>[https://themarypoppinseffect.com/2023/02/26/a-little-known-friendship/ A Little-Known Friendship]</ref> culminating in very much the same fate of [[alcoholism]] that befell his adopted mother's father.<ref>[https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/the-truth-behind-mary-poppins-creator-pl-travers-20140104-30akz.html The truth behind Mary Poppins creator P.L. Travers]</ref> To be fair, Travers did reconcile with her son on her deathbed, though her previous treatment of the adopted half-twin still left a bit of a sour taste in the mouths of some.

==See also==
* [[J. K. Rowling]], a quite nuttier (and openly bigoted) British female author whose fantasy novels (which also concern an eponymous character who has magical power) became a far more lucrative franchise which dwarfed Travers's Mary Poppins in comparison.

==External links==
*[[wikisource:en:Author:Pamela Lyndon Travers|Works of P. L. Travers on Wikisource]]
==Notes==
{{notelist|2}}

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}

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[[Category:Australians]]
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[[Category:New Age]]
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[[Category:Racism]]
[[Category:Stereotypes]]

Categories: Australians, Authors, Books, British people, Cultural appropriation, Esotericism, Films, LGBTQ people, Magic, Media, Media hysteria, New Age, Paganism, Racism, Stereotypes