I was six years old in the summer of 1964 when my mother took me to see my first movie in a theater. The lights dimmed, the curtains parted, and there she was – Mary Poppins, floating down from the clouds with her parrot-headed umbrella, about to change the Banks family forever. That experience imprinted itself on my memory: Julie Andrews’s crisp British accent, the animated penguins, the magic of it all. For decades, that was Mary Poppins to me. It wasn’t until much later that I discovered P.L. Travers’s original books and realized I’d only met half the story.

For most people, this is the definitive Mary Poppins – cheerful, warm, and practically perfect in every way. But P.L. Travers, who created the character in 1934, had a very different vision in mind.

Of course, it was necessary to pop back into my Mary Poppins library to refresh my memory in preparation for writing about a newly-released book, Making Mary Poppins (article coming soon).

The Mary Poppins of the Books

P.L. Travers introduced Mary Poppins to the world in her first novel, simply titled Mary Poppins, and continued her story across seven more books spanning over five decades, concluding with Mary Poppins and the House Next Door in 1988. In these pages lives a Mary Poppins who would likely terrify the children who grew up watching the Disney film.

Travers’s Mary Poppins is vain, brusque, and often downright rude. She is obsessed with her appearance, constantly admiring herself in shop windows and mirrors. When the children ask her questions, she frequently responds with a sharp “I never explain anything” or denies that magical events ever happened, even when the children witnessed them firsthand. She is enigmatic and unknowable, maintaining an emotional distance that keeps everyone – including the reader – perpetually off-balance.

This Mary Poppins doesn’t coddle. She expects immediate obedience and has little patience for nonsense. Her severity is palpable; she can silence a room with a glance. Yet despite her stern demeanor, the Banks children adore her with an intensity that borders on desperation. They fear her departure more than anything, knowing instinctively that she appears and disappears according to her own mysterious rules, carried on the East Wind and departing on the West.

The magic in Travers’s books is strange and often unsettling. Mary Poppins takes the children to visit her uncle who floats helplessly near the ceiling when seized by laughter. They meet the Bird Woman, communicate with infants who still remember the language of sunlight and wind, and journey to the edges of the world where mythological figures reside. These adventures feel ancient and mythic, drawing from folklore and fairy tale traditions where magic is powerful, capricious, and not necessarily kind.

Travers, who studied mythology and mysticism throughout her life, imbued her nanny with archetypal power. Mary Poppins is less a caregiver than a liminal figure – a bridge between the mundane world and realms of wonder, part governess and part goddess. She belongs to no one, answers to no one, and her true nature remains forever just out of reach.

The Mary Poppins of Disney

When Walt Disney released his film adaptation in 1964, he created something entirely different – a Mary Poppins designed to charm American audiences and become a beloved family classic. Julie Andrews’ portrayal transformed the character into someone warmer, gentler, and far more accessible.

Disney’s Mary Poppins still has high standards and maintains a certain formality, but she’s fundamentally kind. She smiles readily, shows genuine affection for Jane and Michael Banks, and clearly enjoys their company. When she arrives at 17 Cherry Tree Lane, she brings not just magic but joy. Her adventures – jumping into chalk pavement drawings, having tea parties on the ceiling, and visiting Uncle Albert’s laugh-filled floating sessions – are whimsical and delightful rather than mysterious and slightly dangerous.

This Mary Poppins teaches lessons explicitly rather than through enigmatic experiences. She sings about staying positive (“A Spoonful of Sugar”), seeing potential in everyone (“Sister Suffragette” notwithstanding), and the importance of finding wonder in ordinary life. The film adds the subplot of Mr. Banks’s redemption, making Mary Poppins instrumental in healing the entire family, not just entertaining the children.

Perhaps most significantly, Disney’s version explains her magic and makes her motivations clear. She comes to fix the Banks family, and once her work is complete, she leaves – sad to go, but satisfied. The film gives her emotional transparency that Travers’s character never possesses. Julie Andrews plays her with twinkling eyes and barely suppressed delight in her own cleverness, making the audience feel they’re in on the joke.

The musical score by the Sherman Brothers became inseparable from the character. Songs like “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” and “Chim Chim Cher-ee” are now cultural touchstones, their melodies instantly recognizable decades later. This Mary Poppins is Technicolor optimism incarnate, a nanny who makes everything better through a combination of magic, music, and good old-fashioned love.

Disney’s commitment to their version of Mary Poppins has only deepened over time. The 2013 film Saving Mr. Banks dramatized the contentious relationship between Walt Disney and P.L. Travers during the original film’s development, revealing how fiercely Travers fought against Disney’s softening of her character – a battle she ultimately lost but never accepted. More recently, Mary Poppins Returns (2018) brought Emily Blunt to Cherry Tree Lane as an older Mary Poppins returning to help the next generation of Banks children. While Blunt’s portrayal incorporated slightly more of Travers’s tartness than Andrews’s version, the film remained firmly in Disney’s magical, musical tradition, proving that their interpretation has become the definitive one in popular culture.

Why She Endures

So why has Mary Poppins – in both her incarnations – captivated audiences for over ninety years? The answer lies in what both versions share despite their differences.

At her core, Mary Poppins represents something children desperately need and adults nostalgically remember: the presence of someone utterly competent and unflappable who makes life extraordinary. Whether stern or sweet, she possesses absolute confidence and capability. In a chaotic world, she is certain. She knows exactly what to do in every situation, and she does it.

Both versions offer escape into wonder. Whether through Travers’s mythic strangeness or Disney’s musical whimsy, Mary Poppins proves that magic exists alongside the ordinary. She validates children’s intuition that the world contains more than what adults acknowledge—that truth and wonder aren’t opposites but companions.

Additionally, Mary Poppins serves as a bridge between childhood and adulthood. She respects children’s experiences and emotions while maintaining adult authority. She takes their concerns seriously without diminishing her own power. This balance is rare in children’s literature and film, and it resonates deeply.

Finally, there’s the bittersweet element of her departure. Mary Poppins never stays. This temporary quality makes her precious – a golden season that must end, teaching children about impermanence while giving them something beautiful to remember. She proves that endings don’t negate meaning; rather, they concentrate it.

Whether you prefer the mysterious, mythic nanny of the books or the singing, smiling governess of screen and stage, Mary Poppins endures because she embodies a timeless promise: that somewhere, somehow, there exists someone who can make everything better, at least for a while. And in that promise lies a magic more powerful than flying umbrellas or enchanted carpetbags – the magic of hope itself.

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In August 2016, during a month-long, daily teaser to my children and grandchildren prior to our week-long Walt Disney World Trip, here was the image and text 17 days prior:

In 1964 Walt Disney combined unforgettable performances, memorable songs, and wonderful special effects into one of Hollywood’s biggest hits, “Mary Poppins.”

Mary Poppins is a proper British nanny who is “practically perfect in every way” and can do almost anything. Flying via umbrella into the Banks household at No. 17 Cherry Tree Lane, Mary Poppins arrives to help put the household back in order. Along the way, we are introduced to a wonderful cast of characters including Bert, Constable Jones, Admiral Boom, the Banks household staff, Uncle Albert, the directors of the Dawes, Tomes, Mousely, Grubbs Fidelity Fiduciary Bank, and a host of animated characters.

Those special effects work on “Mary Poppins” was the most challenging Disney Studios had ever attempted. With live-action characters popping into chalk drawings, amazing musical and choreography, and a heart-tugging story, “Mary Poppins” remains one of Disney’s most beloved family films.

At Walt Disney World Mary Poppins can be found in Town Square at the Magic Kingdom and in England at Epcot.

On a personal note, “Mary Poppins” is GrandBob’s favorite Disney live-action movie, and he has been known to turn the family room into a theater reminiscent of the movie’s premier at Grauman’s Chinese Theater. 

With facsimile tickets. 

Really.