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Where did Mary Poppins come from, or who became the prototype of the world's best nanny
Where did Mary Poppins come from, or who became the prototype of the world's best nanny

Video: Where did Mary Poppins come from, or who became the prototype of the world's best nanny

Video: Where did Mary Poppins come from, or who became the prototype of the world's best nanny
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Mary Poppins is the world's best nanny
Mary Poppins is the world's best nanny

The nanny who flew in on an umbrella and became a guide to the world of magic is an image familiar and beloved by several generations of children. Mysterious, reluctant to talk about herself and her past, believing in magic and loving loneliness - this is already about the author of books about Mary Poppins, Pamela Travers, who actually bore a different name, was not English and never gave a definite answer to the question: Where did Mary Poppins come from?

Helen Lyndon Goff

This is the name the future writer bore from birth. She was born in Australia in 1899, her father - Travers (his name was later used for a pseudonym) - was Irish by birth, and by profession - a bank clerk. He died when the girl was seven years old.

After the death of his father, the family moved to the town of Bowral, where Helen's great-aunt named Christina Saraset, or Aunt Sess, lived. Travers recalled that the aunt looked like a bulldog who had "a stern-looking but gentle heart." Perhaps this was the prototype of Mary Poppins - especially since Aunt Sess snorted in exactly the same way as the nanny did. And in 2014, previously unpublished works of Pamela Travers were published, including a story called "Aunt Sess" …

Image
Image

In addition, Helen was greatly influenced by a maid from Ireland who worked in the Goffs' house - she wore an umbrella with a handle in the form of a parrot's head and told fantastic stories to children. As the writer later admitted, she was used to hovering in an atmosphere of fairy tales and magic from childhood.

Be that as it may, Helen left home quite early and embarked on a career as an actress - then the pseudonym Pamela Lyndon Travers appeared. At the same time, she understood that she wanted to study literature, and began to try herself in this field - she led a column in the newspaper, wrote poetry.

Pamela Travers
Pamela Travers

Birth of Mary Poppins

Travers' main book was written in 1934, and the first publisher was Peter, the son of James Barry, author of the fairy tale about the flying boy Peter Pan. The book immediately won a success - not only among children, but also among an adult audience. Travers was very pleased with this - after all, according to her plan, the work was addressed to all reading ages.

First edition
First edition

The successful book was noticed in Hollywood and they wanted to film it - but the writer did not agree. Only thirty years later, Walt Disney managed to persuade her to cooperate, as a result of which a film was released with a young Julie Andrews in the title role, whose candidacy was approved by Travers herself.

Long life surrounded by books

Pamela Travers was not married, and at 39 she adopted a boy named Camillus. Throughout her life, the writer was fond of esotericism, occultism, studied Zen and closely communicated with astrologers. And she read a lot - she said that she could build herself a house out of books and live in it.

Travers did not like questions about her biography, replied: "The story of my life is contained in" Mary Poppins "and my other books." Pamela Travers died at the age of 96.

Pamela Travers
Pamela Travers

It is interesting that not only the characters in the books had their prototypes, but also heroes of Soviet cartoons!

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