P. L. Travers

P. L. Travers
Travers in the role of Titania in a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, c. 1924
Born Helen Lyndon Goff
(1899-08-09)9 August 1899
Maryborough, Queensland, Australia
Died 23 April 1996(1996-04-23) (aged 96)
London, England
Resting place St Mary the Virgin's Church, Twickenham, England
Occupation Writer, actress, journalist
Nationality Australian
Citizenship Australian, British
Genre children's literature, fantasy
Notable works Mary Poppins book series
Children Camillus Travers Hone

Pamela Lyndon Travers, OBE (/ˈtrævərs/; born Helen Lyndon Goff; 9 August 1899 – 23 April 1996) was an Australian-born British writer who spent most of her career in England.[1] She is best known for the Mary Poppins series of children's books, which feature the magical nanny Mary Poppins.

Goff was born in Maryborough, Queensland, and grew up in the Australian bush before being sent to boarding school in Sydney. Her writing was first published as a teenager, and she also worked briefly as a professional Shakespearean actress. Upon emigrating to England at the age of 25, she took the name Pamela Lyndon Travers and adopted the pen name P. L. Travers in 1933, while writing the first of eight Mary Poppins books.

Travers travelled to New York City during World War II while working for the British Ministry of Information. At that time, Walt Disney contacted her about selling to Disney Studios the rights for a film adaptation of Mary Poppins, whose sequel Mary Poppins Comes Back was also in print. After years of contact, which included visits to Travers at her home in London, Walt Disney did obtain the rights and the Disney film Mary Poppins premiered in 1964. In 2004, a new musical adaptation of the books and the film opened in the West End; it premiered on Broadway in 2006. A film based on Disney's plight to acquire the Mary Poppins film rights was released in 2013, Saving Mr. Banks, in which Travers is portrayed by Emma Thompson.

Early life

Helen Lyndon Goff, known within her family as Lyndon, was born on 9 August 1899 in Maryborough, Queensland, Australia. Her mother, Margaret Agnes Goff (née Morehead), was Australian and the sister of Boyd Dunlop Morehead, Premier of Queensland from 1888 to 1890. Her father, Travers Robert Goff, was of Irish descent and born in 1864 at Queens Road, New Cross in the Borough of Deptford, south-east London, England[2]. He was unsuccessful as a bank manager due to his chronic alcoholism, and was eventually demoted to the position of bank clerk.[3] The family lived in a large home with servants in Maryborough until Lyndon was five years old, when they relocated to Allora in 1905. Two years later, Travers Goff died at home at the age of 43.[4]

Following her father's death, Goff, along with her mother and sisters, moved to Bowral, New South Wales, in 1907, living there until 1917.[5] She boarded at Loreto Girls School in Normanhurst, a suburb of Sydney, during World War I.[6]

Career

Helen Goff began publishing her poems while still a teenager. She wrote for The Bulletin and Triad and during that time began gaining a reputation as an actress under the stage name "Pamela Lyndon Travers." She toured Australia and New Zealand with Allan Wilkie's Shakespearean Company, before leaving for England in 1924. There she changed her name to Pamela Travers, keeping only the middle name Lyndon, in order to act and dance on stage, a career move opposed by her family.[7] In 1931, she and her friend Madge Burnand moved from their rented flat in London to a thatched cottage in Sussex.[3] It was here, in the winter of 1933, that she began to write Mary Poppins.[3]

Travers greatly admired and emulated J. M. Barrie, author of Peter Pan. Her first publisher was Barrie's ward, Peter Davies, one of the five Llewelyn Davies boys who were the inspiration for Peter Pan.[3]

While in Ireland in 1925, Travers met the poet George William Russell (who wrote under the name "Æ") who, as editor of the Irish Statesman, accepted some of her poems for publication. Through Russell, whose kindness towards younger writers was legendary, Travers met W. B. Yeats, Oliver St. John Gogarty, and other Irish poets who fostered her interest in and knowledge of world mythology. She had studied the Gurdjieff system under Jane Heap and in March 1936, with the help of Jessie Orage (widow of Alfred Richard Orage), she met the mystic George Gurdjieff, who would have a great effect on her, as well as on several other literary figures.[8]

At the invitation of her friend, the US Commissioner of Indian Affairs, John Collier, Travers spent two summers living among the Navajo, Hopi and Pueblo peoples studying their mythology and folklore.[9][7] After the war, she remained in the USA and became Writer-in-Residence at Radcliffe College and Smith College.[10]

She returned to England,[11] making only one brief visit to Sydney in 1960 while on her way to Japan to study Zen mysticism.

Travers's literary output other than Mary Poppins and its sequels included other novels, poetry collections and works of non-fiction.

Mary Poppins

Published in London in 1934, Mary Poppins was Travers's first literary success. Seven sequels followed, the last in 1988.[12]

While appearing as a guest on BBC Radio 4's radio programme Desert Island Discs in May 1977, Travers revealed that the name "M. Poppins" originated from childhood stories that she contrived for her sisters, and that she was still in possession of a book from that age with this name inscribed within.[13] Travers's great aunt, Helen Morehead, who lived in Woollahra, Sydney, and used to say, "Spit spot, into bed," is a likely inspiration for the character.[14][15]

Disney version

The musical film adaptation Mary Poppins was released by Walt Disney Pictures in 1964. Primarily based on the original 1934 novel of the same name, it also lifted elements from the 1935 sequel Mary Poppins Comes Back. The novels were loved by Disney's daughters when they were children, and Disney had spent 20 years trying to purchase the film rights to Mary Poppins, which included visits to Travers at her home in London.[16] In 1961, Travers arrived in Los Angeles on a flight from London, her first-class ticket having been paid for by Disney, and he finally succeeded in purchasing the rights.[17] Travers was an adviser in the production, but she disapproved of the Poppins character in its Disney version, with harsher aspects diluted; she felt ambivalent about the music; and she so hated the use of animation that she ruled out any further adaptations of the series.[18] She received no invitation to the film's star-studded première until she "embarrassed a Disney executive into extending one". At the after-party, she said loudly "We have a long way to go, Disney." Disney replied, "Pamela, the ship has sailed", and walked away.[19]

Travers so disliked the Disney adaptation and the way she felt she had been treated during the production that when producer Cameron Mackintosh approached her years later about making the British stage musical she acquiesced only on conditions that English-born writers alone and no one from the original film production was to be directly involved.[20][21] This specifically excluded the Sherman Brothers from writing additional songs for the production. However, original songs and other aspects from the 1964 film were allowed to be incorporated into the production.[22] These points were even stipulated in her last will and testament.[23][24][25]

In a 1977 interview Travers remarked, "I've seen it once or twice, and I've learned to live with it. It's glamorous and it's a good film on its own level, but I don't think it is very like my books."[26]

The 2013 motion picture Saving Mr. Banks is a dramatised retelling of both the working process during the planning of Mary Poppins and also that of Travers's early life, drawing parallels with Mary Poppins and that of the author's childhood. The movie stars Emma Thompson as P. L. Travers and Tom Hanks as Walt Disney.

Personal life

Though Travers had numerous fleeting relationships with men throughout her life, she lived for more than a decade with Madge Burnand, daughter of Sir Francis Burnand, a playwright and the former editor of Punch. They shared a London flat from 1927 to 1934, then moved to Pound Cottage near Mayfield, East Sussex, where Travers published the first of the Mary Poppins books. Their friendship, in the words of one biographer, was "intense," but equally ambiguous.[4]

At the age of 40, two years after moving out on her own, Travers adopted a baby boy from Ireland whom she named Camillus Travers Hone. He was the grandchild of Joseph Hone, W. B. Yeats' first biographer, who was raising his seven grandchildren with his wife. Camillus was unaware of his true parentage or the existence of any siblings until the age of 17, when Anthony Hone, his twin brother, came to London and knocked on the door of Travers's house at 50 Smith Street, Chelsea. He had been drinking and demanded to see his brother. Travers refused to allow it and threatened to call the police. Anthony left, but soon after, Camillus, following an argument with Travers, went looking for his brother and found him in a pub on King's Road.[4][27][28][29]

Travers was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1977 New Year Honours. She lived to an advanced age, but her health declined toward the end of her life. She died in London on 23 April 1996 at the age of 96.[30]

Her son Camillus died in London in November 2011, from the effects of alcoholic excess.[27]

Works

Books

  • Mary Poppins, London: Gerald Howe, 1934
  • Mary Poppins Comes Back, London: L. Dickson & Thompson Ltd., 1935
  • I Go By Sea, I Go By Land, London: Peter Davies, 1941
  • Aunt Sass, New York: Reynal & Hitchcock, 1941
  • Ah Wong, New York: Reynal & Hitchcock, 1943
  • Mary Poppins Opens the Door, London: Peter Davies, 1943
  • Johnny Delaney, New York: Reynal & Hitchcock, 1944
  • Mary Poppins in the Park, London: Peter Davies, 1952
  • Gingerbread Shop, 1952 (an adapted version of the "Mrs. Corry" chapter from Mary Poppins)
  • Mr. Wigg's Birthday Party, 1952 (an adapted version of the "Laughing Gas" chapter from Mary Poppins)
  • The Magic Compass, 1953 (an adapted version of the "Bad Tuesday" chapter from Mary Poppins)
  • Mary Poppins From A to Z, London: Collins, 1963
  • The Fox at the Manger, London: Collins, 1963
  • Friend Monkey, London: Collins, 1972
  • Mary Poppins in the Kitchen, New York & London: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1975
  • Two Pairs of Shoes, New York: Viking Press, 1980
  • Mary Poppins in Cherry Tree Lane, London: Collins, 1982
  • Mary Poppins and the House Next Door, London: Collins. 1988.

Collections

  • "Stories", 1952

Non-fiction

  • Moscow Excursion, New York: Reynal & Hitchcock, 1934
  • George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff, Toronto: Traditional Studies Press, 1973
  • About the Sleeping Beauty, London: Collins, 1975
  • What the Bee Knows: Reflections on Myth, Symbol and Story, New Paltz: Codhill Press, 1989

Manuscript and Pictorial Sources

  • P. L. Travers - papers, ca. 1899-1988, 4.5 metres of textual material (28 boxes) - manuscript, typescript, and printed

Clippings, Photographs, Objects, Drawings, State Library of New South Wales, MLMSS 5341 , MLOH 62

  • P. L. Travers - further papers, 1901-1991, Textual Records , Graphic Materials , Clippings , Photographs , Drawings, 2 boxes - 0.26 Meters, State Library of New South Wales MLMSS 5341 ADD-ON 2130
  • P. L. Travers, four diaries, 1948-1953, Camillus Travers is the son of P. L. Travers, author of Mary Poppins. He gave these notebooks to his mother as a boy and they were used by her for recording his schooldays and their holidays spent together, as well as other events over this period, State Library of New South Wales MLMSS 7956
  • Family and personal photographs collected by P.L. Travers, ca 1891-1980, 1 portfolio (51 black and white, sepia, col. photographs, 2 photograph albums, 1 hand coloured lithograph, 17 coloured transparencies) various sizes, State Library of New South Wales PX*D 334

References

  1. ↑ PL Travers (British author). Encyclopædia Britannica.
  2. ↑ "Travers Robert Goff (1863-1907) | WikiTree Free Family Tree". www.wikitree.com. Retrieved 2018-04-13.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Picardie, Justine (28 October 2008). "Was P L Travers the real Mary Poppins?". The Daily Telegraph (telegraph.co.uk). London. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
  4. 1 2 3 Jones, David (25 October 2013). "How the sexual adventuress who created Mary Poppins wrecked the lives of two innocent boys: Exploits of P L Travers that you won't see in new film Saving Mr Banks". The Daily Mail (online ed.). London. Retrieved 25 October 2013.
  5. ↑ Lawson 1999.
  6. ↑ "The truth behind Mary Poppins creator P.L. Travers" by Time Barlass, The Sydney Morning Herald, 5 January 2014
  7. 1 2 Witchell, Alex (22 September 1994). "At Home With: P. L. Travers; Where Starlings Greet the Stars". The New York Times. Retrieved 21 November 2013.
  8. ↑ Lawson 2005, p. 185.
  9. ↑ Burness & Griswold 1982.
  10. ↑ Lawson 2006, p. 290.
  11. ↑ Tipton, London History Tours, Adrian Sill, Jeremy. "Mary Poppins author lived here". www.shadyoldlady.com. Retrieved 2016-12-27.
  12. ↑ Cullinan, Bernice E; Person, Diane Goetz (2005), Encyclopedia of Children's Literature, Continuum, p. 784, ISBN 978-0-82641778-7, retrieved 9 Nov 2012
  13. ↑ "P L Travers". Desert Island Discs. BBC Radio 4. 21 May 1977. Audio recording of the episode featuring Travers with Roy Plumley.
  14. ↑ McDonald, Shae (18 December 2013). "PL Travers biographer Valerie Lawson says the real Mary Poppins lived in Woollahra". Wentworth Courier. Sydney: The Daily Telegraph (Sydney) [dailytelegraph.com.au].
  15. ↑ Nance, Kevin (20 December 2013). "Valerie Lawson talks Mary Poppins, She Wrote and P.L Travers: Biography reveals original character's sharp edge". Chicago Tribune. p. 2. Retrieved 12 January 2014.
  16. ↑ "Saving Mr Banks: the true story of Walt Disney's battle to make Mary Poppins". The Telegraph. Retrieved 17 May 2017
  17. ↑ "What Saving Mr Banks tells us about the original Mary Poppins". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 May 2017
  18. ↑ Newman, Melinda (7 November 2013). "Poppins Author a Pill No Spoonful of Sugar Could Sweeten: Tunesmith Richard Sherman recalls studio's battles with Travers to bring Disney classic to life". Variety (variety.com). Retrieved 7 November 2013.
  19. ↑ Flanagan, Caitlin (19 December 2005), "Becoming Mary Poppins: P. L. Travers, Walt Disney, and the making of a myth", The New Yorker
  20. ↑ Ouzounian, Richard (13 December 2013). "P.L. Travers might have liked Mary Poppins onstage". The Toronto Star (thestar.com). Retrieved 6 March 2014.
  21. ↑ Rainey, Sarah (29 November 2013). "Saving Mr Banks: The true story of PL Travers". The Daily Telegraph (telegraph.co.uk). Retrieved 14 May 2015.
  22. ↑ Rochlin, Margy (6 December 2013). "A Spoonful of Sugar for a Sourpuss: Songwriter Recalls P. L. Travers, Mary Poppins Author". The New York Times. Retrieved 14 May 2015.
  23. ↑ Norman, Neil (14 April 2012). "The real Mary Poppins". Daily Express (express.co.uk). Retrieved 14 May 2015.
  24. ↑ Fryer, Jane (11 April 2012). "A spoonful of spite: New film set to reveal truth about Mary Poppins' creator ... she was a vile woman and abusive mother". The Daily Mail (dailymail.co.uk). Retrieved 14 May 2015.
  25. ↑ Erbland, Kate (26 December 2013). "The Dark, Deep and Dramatic True Story of Saving Mr. Banks". Film.com. Retrieved 14 May 2015.
  26. ↑ "Saving Mr. Banks True Story - Real P.L. Travers, Walt Disney Feud".
  27. 1 2 Hone, Joseph (2013-12-06). "Steely, self-centred, controlling — the Mary Poppins I knew". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 2018-06-08.
  28. ↑ Minus, Jodie (10–11 April 2004). "There's something about Mary". The Weekend Australian. p. R6.
  29. ↑ Kelleher, Lynne (19 January 2003). "Mary Poppins writer took baby because she 'loved Ireland': Sugar and spice not so nice for twin separated from brother by author". The Sunday Mirror. London: The Daily Mirror. Retrieved 5 December 2013. Archive copy at The Free Library (thefreelibrary.com).
  30. ↑ Rochlin, Margy (3 January 2014). "Not Quite All Spoonfuls of Sugar: Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson Discuss Saving Mr. Banks". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 January 2014.

Citations

  • Burness, Edwina; Griswold, Jerry (Winter 1982). "P. L. Travers, The Art of Fiction". The Paris Review (63).
  • Lawson, Valerie (1999). Out of the Sky She Came: The Life of P.L. Travers, Creator of Mary Poppins. ISBN 0-7336-1072-2.
  • ——— (2005). Mary Poppins She Wrote. Aurum Press. ISBN 1-84513-126-6.
  • ——— (2006). Mary Poppins, She Wrote: The Life of P. L. Travers. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0743298162. .

Further reading

  • Brody, Paul (2013). The Real Life Mary Poppins: The Life and Times of P. L. Travers. CreateSpace (published 20 February 2013). ISBN 978-1482075038.
  • Demers, Patricia (1991). P.L. Travers. Twayne Publishers. ISBN 978-0805770056.
  • Dooling Draper, Ellen; Koralek, Jenny, eds. (1999). A Lively Oracle: a Centennial Celebration of P. L. Travers, Creator of Mary Poppins. New York: Larson Publications.

Media related to P. L. Travers at Wikimedia Commons

Quotations related to P. L. Travers at Wikiquote

  • P. L. Travers at Library of Congress Authorities, with 65 catalogue records
  • P. L. Travers at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
  • P. L. Travers at Find a Grave
  • Travers, P.L. (1970–71), "George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff (1877–1949)", Man, Myth and Magic: Encyclopedia of the Supernatural, London: Purnell , 12 vol.; reprinted in International Gurdjieff Review 3.1 (Fall 1999), In Memoriam: An Introduction to Gurdjieff
  • Anemaat, Louise (ed.), Guide to the papers of P. L. Travers in the Mitchell Library (PDF), State Library of New South Wales, archived from the original (PDF) on 12 September 2014 .
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