50 Years of the Magnificent Mary Poppins

To mark the limited-release of Walt Disney's Saving Mr. Banks, guest contributor Spencer Blohm takes a look at the real-life story that inspired it: the battle between Walt Disney and P.L. Travers, the creator of Mary Poppins, over how to bring the character to life.

This month marks two milestones for the Disney Company: the release of the 50th Anniversary Edition of Mary Poppins and the premiere of the new film Saving Mr. Banks, which documents the former film’s creation. Based on the emerging reviews, it looks like Saving Mr. Banks is on its way to becoming yet another legendary Disney live-action film alongside its predecessor. The original Mary Poppins was responsible for skyrocketing Julie Andrews to fame, but viewers may be surprised that, as evidenced in Saving Mr. Banks, it was initially a long and difficult journey to get Mary Poppins off the ground and into theaters.

Film Review: Saving Mr. Banks (2013)

For over twenty years, P.L. Travers (Emma Thompson) denied Walt Disney (Tom Hanks) the rights to her most famous character, Mary Poppins, despite the huge monetary reward she would receive for allowing him to adapt her work into a film. Early on in Saving Mr. Banks, the story of how Disney finally managed to convince Travers to let him make that movie, Travers explains to her agent, for what must be the thousandth time, the reason why she has persisted in her refusal for so long. (Or, at the very least, she provides a reason why she has resisted.) She's afraid that if she signs the rights to Disney, and if he in turn makes a film out of her books, that he will turn Mary Poppins into a cartoon, a creature that is all sparkle and whimsy, with all the rough edges sanded off and darkness removed. While watching John Lee Hancock's film, it's easy to imagine the real Travers tutting ruefully as the corporation that bears Disney's name does to her own life what she feared Walt himself would do to Mary Poppins.