''I saw Walt Disney's movie Mary Poppins and it saddened me that he made such a hash of it. One letter from a fan of the original books, writing in 1964 and kept in Travers's collection, agreed. She thought all the real magic had been taken out and that it had been Disneyfied.'' ''She didn't like the way it was all smiles and Julie was so sweet and of course Dick Van Dyke was atrocious, every one agrees on that. ''He had been an alcoholic since his late teens, so in adopting this child, who was a twin, and not telling him that he was a twin, or adopted - his twin brother found him in the pub - it put a terrific strain on their relationship.''Īfter the liaison with Russell, Travers's subsequent love life was disastrous, Lawson says.

''When she was in Hollywood, her son was in prison in England for drunk driving without a licence,'' Lawson says. Lawson says this strange side would later cause problems for Travers and her adopted son. For an independent woman - leaving Australia when she was young, alone with virtually no money - she was a strong woman and yet she had this whimsical, peculiar, completely strange side.'' ''She even went to an astrologer and asked his opinion. She adopted a son and it worked out so badly. ''If they had wanted to show the whole of Travers, mentally, physically and the psychological whole they would have included something about her son. It was much more complex than that really,'' she says. It is very hard to do a grumpy woman, a woman who appears to be unpleasant for the sake of it. He was almost 57 when he met a 25-year-old Travers to whom he sent letters with coloured sketches and called ''my angel''. Among those was a liaison with playwright George William Russell, regarded in the 1920s as an intellectual colossus in Dublin. She had a series of close and, for the times, maybe inappropriate attachments. The 30 boxes of documents at the Mitchell tell a slightly different story, showing the transatlantic agreement was signed without the two parties needing to meet face to face.Īlso glossed over are details of Travers's rather colourful love life. He flies to Britain to save the day and convince Travers to sign the movie contract. The movie was clearly dependant on the co-operation of Disney Corp for use of essential footage, so perhaps it isn't surprising that Walt comes across as the hero of the hour. Tom Hanks is convincing enough as Disney with squinty eyes and a passable moustache, and Emma Thompson, who some would say is good in everything, is Travers.

Travers at the 1964 premiere of Mary Poppins.

Pl travers walt disney