The key darkish aspect to the basic ‘Mary Poppins’
Far from being practically perfect in every way, Julie Andrews once put a bumper sticker on her car that said, “Mary Poppins is a junkie.”
It was a joking, failed attempt to banish the sugary reputation she had for the role – but if she’d actually told the truth behind the classic movie, she might have made it.
The actress shocked the kids in the film with her cursing and smoking on set – while co-star Dick Van Dyke was an alcoholic who struggled with suicidal thoughts while dancing around singing “Chim Chim Cher-ee.”
Meanwhile, the writer of the original Poppins novels was at war with the film’s producer, Walt Disney, obsessed with the occult, pursued by allegations of racism, and accused of ruining her adopted son’s life.
Matthew Garber, who played the cheerful young Michael Banks in the 1964 box office hit, later tragically died at the age of 21 after contracting hepatitis in India.
Despite all of this, the film remains a popular family favorite – and a sequel, “Mary Poppins Returns,” which began on December 21st with Emily Blunt as the bag-carrying nanny in the lead role.
Karen Dotrice, now 63, who played the young Jane Banks in the first film, is not surprised at his esteemed status. She says that despite what was going on backstage, the entire cast realized they were involved in something special.
She said, “We felt like one big family and we all had some fun together that felt really magical.”
But she still remembers her shock as an eight-year-old when she saw Andrews, then 28, in full Edwardian nanny outfit – having a cigarette and exchanging blue language with the crew.
Dotrice added, “There was a curse. Julie Andrews smoked on the set. It was a very real 1960s set, I can tell you that. At first they were polite to minors, but that was soon over. “
Van Dyke has admitted that by the time he played chimney sweep Bert, he was an alcoholic and would show up for shootings the night before.
The actor said, “I would go to work with a terrible hangover, which is really tough when I dance.”
Van Dyke, 37 at the time of filming and now 92, also revealed that alcohol led him into deep depression, revealing, “I’ve been in big trouble, you are becoming suicidal and you think you just can’t move on.”
For the most notorious part of his performance, the Cockney voice, which is still cited as the worst accent in the history of cinema, he does not blame the alcohol.
He blames Andrews for this.
He once stated, “I was working with a cast of almost all of the British and neither Julie nor anyone else said, ‘You know, you should be working on that accent.'”
In the meantime, he was aware that PL Travers – the author of the Poppins books – was not happy with the cast of himself or his co-star.
He said, “She hated Julie and she hated me.”
In fact, as described in the 2013 film about the making of Saving Mr. Banks, Travers hated pretty much anything to do with the five-Academy Award-winning adaptation.
For 20 years she’d sent Walt Disney to packing every time he tried to buy the rights to her stories – and when she finally gave in, she bitterly regretted it.
Her own Poppins character, who first appeared in a novel in 1934, was cold, intimidating, and prone to utterances with “a superior sniff.”
And yet the nanny was here, cute, smiling, in love and dancing with animated penguins. She took it as an insult.
After the premiere, Travers told Walt Disney, “All the animation has to go,” without realizing it was too late. The Mughal corrected her and said, “Pamela, the boat has sailed.”
Travers retaliated by refusing permission to do a sequel – allegedly even in her will that “no Americans should ever be allowed to work on a Poppins project again.”
She died in 1996 – and Disney is now behind the new film with the approval of her estate.
Ironically, the movie was a passion for Disney and the books a passion for Travers for the same reason – troubled childhood.
Dotrice told The Sun, “PL Travers’ father was angry with her. Walt Disney had a terrible relationship with his father. ”The Mughal saw the story as a fantasy of children turning a cruel father – like his own – into a loving one.
As a result, he changed the character of Mr. Banks from the kind in the books to cold and aloof.
And his painful memories of being an unhappy kid – forced to get up at 4:30 am to deliver newspapers in the snow – also made him determined to treat the kid stars on Poppins well.
Dotrice recalled, “I learned why Uncle Walt was so nice to me and my family because he didn’t want another 8-year-old to have the s-y experiences that he had.”
Travers had seen the character of Mr. Banks as an opportunity to bring back the bank manager father she idolized, but who had died of alcoholism at the age of 7.
She was horrified that he was now being made the villain.
Travers was born Helen Goff in the wilds of Queensland, Australia in 1899 and moved to England at the age of 25.
And although she created the thoroughly right character of Mary Poppins, her life was very unconventional by the standards of the time.
She enjoyed romantic relationships with both men and women.
For 10 years she lived with Madge Burnand, the daughter of the editor of Punch – who once took a picture of Travers frolicking topless on an Italian beach.
Travers later fell in love with the poet Francis McNamara, an Irish man who once told the author: “Mary Poppins with her cool, green core of sex has captivated me forever.”
Single again at the age of 40, Travers adopted a young boy named Camillus from a large, troubled family in Ireland.
What Camillus didn’t find out until he was 17 was that he had a twin brother, Anthony, whom Travers didn’t want to care for, even though his parents begged them to take them both with him.
When he learned the truth, he drank with his siblings, a habit that would develop into debilitating alcoholism for both of them.
Camillus died in 2011 as a result of his addiction.
The boys’ eldest brother, Joseph Hone, said, “I don’t think Travers was fit to raise children.”
She had reportedly chosen Camillus as her twin on the advice of her astrologer – and later became increasingly obsessed with the stars, the occult, and mysticism.
The popularity of Travers’ books faded over the years as racism in them became unacceptable – especially the shocking descriptions of black Americans.
In contrast, those involved in the film continue to thrive on their association with the smash hit.
Andrews, 83 – a stage star when she won the role – caused a sensation and landed an Academy Award for Best Actress and her role in The Sound Of Music. She is a lady now.
Van Dyke overcame his demons and became one of the most recognizable faces on US television.
Dotrice continued playing until the age of 24, then decided, “I’d rather just get married and become a mother and that’s it.”
Tragically, Garber, who played her brother Michael, only lived to be 21 years old.
Despite rumors that drugs played a role in contracting the hepatitis that killed him after a trip to India, his family insisted it was caused by eating bad meat.
He and Dotrice made a perfect team and worked on other films together as kids.
She said, “We had a great childhood. We shot three films together. “
“I wish he were here to make those comments too.”
