Walt Disney's two young daughters Diane and Sharon loved Mary Poppins, he promised Diane he would make it into a movie and this must have motivated him to try to make a Mary Poppins film. However securing the rights was going to be an arduous process for Walt Disney.
However securing the rights was going to be an arduous process for Walt Disney. Starting in the late 1930s Walt Disney went to great efforts to purchase the film rights to Mary Poppins, which included visits to PL Travers at her home in London. Though most authors would be honoured to have a company like Disney adapt their work onto the big screen, even if it isn't identical to their book, PL Travers was not most authors.
When a third Poppins book appeared in 1943, Walt’s daughter, Diane, was roughly 11 years old and a huge fan of the character along with her younger sister Sharon. Diane kept a copy by her bedside and Walt heard her laughing often, as it was read to her at night before falling asleep by her mother.
Walt in 1944 realised that PL Travers was now living in New York because of the war, Walt asked his older brother, Roy, to contact Travers directly to see if she would have a change of heart and sell the rights to the book. Roy wrote:
“Mrs. Travers said she could not conceive of Mary Poppins as a cartoon character, I tried to tell her that this was a matter that should be left for future study—that it might be best for Mary Poppins to be produced in a combination of live-action and cartoon, using the animation to get the fantasy and illusion of the Mary Poppins character. I told her that we were thoroughly qualified and equipped to produce either medium, and, as a matter of fact, are producing such types of pictures.”
At this meeting although Travers was perceived as being resolute and not interested in money or the creation of a film, as much as her control over it, but she was not completely closed to the idea.
In 1946 Walt Disney (infamously arrogant) phoned PL Travers as though they had an arrangement, she did not relent the rights. In the 1950's Walt was making live action films in London and attempted to charm her into signing the rights over.
“It was as if he were dangling a watch, hypnotically, before the eyes of a child.” PL Travers
Walt Disney’s company and Travers’ publisher, John Lyndon Ltd, signed a preliminary agreement in April of 1960 as well as a six-year “service agreement” in June 1960 before she visited the Disney studios. Only in 1961 when Pamela Travers was in severe financial difficulties did she finally relent and agree to sell the rights.
She had many stipulations that she was not prepared to waver from, she would have the final say on the script and it was not to be animated and it was not to include the colour red.
When Travers signed her agreement, she never dreamed that Disney would be sneaking animation into a film with live actors. Technically, it was not an animated film. He was sticking to the letter of the agreement, but not the spirit. The animated dance sequence took up a remarkable fifteen minutes of screen time.
Walt developed the story with his team for over two years before he invited PL Travers to come to Hollywood and see what they had they had created.
"The more I think about it, the more I am inclined to feel that it would be highly advantageous for all concerned if you could come to Los Angeles and spend at least a week with us here in the studio, getting acquainted with the people who will carry the picture through to completion, and giving us the benefit of your reactions to our presentation.” Walt Disney
Here he met with her only once, becoming more and more frustrated since he was not used to his opinions being challenged and was happy with the development of the film, so he left for his ranch. He disliked negativity and abandoned the creative team, with two days’ advance notice, to deal with PL Travers objections to the appropriation and manipulation of her lifework to film.
PL Travers worked with the cinematic musical composers the Sherman brothers, Robert Sherman, and other creatives assigned to Poppins for two weeks. Robert Sherman (1925 – 2012) said later:
"Mrs Travers was very, very difficult",
“She didn’t care about our feelings, how she chopped us apart.” (listen)
Richard Sherman (1928 –2024) claims that he handled Travers’ demands better than his brother, always trying to approach her with positivity. But of the experience, he said:
“It was a joy to work on after we finally got the rights. It was a dream cast. But those two weeks I would hate to go through again.”
After the film premier, as Richard Sherman recalled, PL Travers tracked down Disney at the after-party, which was held in a giant white tent in the parking lot adjoining the Grauman’s Chinese Theatre.
“Well,” she proclaimed loudly. “The first thing that has to go is the animation sequence.” Disney looked at her coolly. “Pamela,” he replied, “the ship has sailed.”
After the film she was asked how she enjoyed it:
"Oh, now you are asking me a very difficult and delicate question. I wept when I saw it. I thought ‘Oh what have I done’ when I saw that name coming up, Mary Poppins I thought ‘What have I done?’ And you must admit it is not very like the books." Pamela Lyndon Travers
Mary Poppins would be the greatest live action success of Walt Disney’s career. It won five Oscars, including two: Best Song (“Chim Chim Cher-ee”) and Best Music, Original Score for the Sherman brothers.
"I don’t think Mary Poppins is fantasy you see. It’s not a word I really like. If you look it up in the dictionary you will, and all of you when you go back to school look it up in the dictionary, and you’ll see what fantasy means, something unreal, phantasm or ghost. No, I think Mary Poppins is really very real, she deals with reality. And in order to, I would call it the work of imagination, and really to have anything to do with imagination and let your imagination have wings and soar you have to have your foot solidly on the earth, in reality. So, I don’t like that word fantasy very much though I know it is very popular." PL Travers 1966
Travers’ biggest objection to the film was the way Disney portrayed Mary Poppins. In the movie, the magical nanny played by Julie Andrews is a sweet, gentle, and cheerful lady. In contrast, the character in Travers books was definitely not cheerful. Mary Poppins was sharp, mean, plain and vain.” PL Travers had it written into her will that no American was to ever touch her work again. Though Disney had already made the film, this forbade them from pursuing further Mary Poppins adaptations. Despite this Disney has made; 'Mary Poppins Returns' 2018 and 'Saving Mr Banks' 2013.
No comments:
Post a Comment