Julie Andrews announces significant health concerns following her recent hospitalization.

Initially, Walt Disney pursued the rights to adapt P.L. Travers’ Mary Poppins in 1938, four years subsequent to the publication of the original book. Nevertheless, Travers consistently declined to relinquish the rights.

 

 

In the ensuing years, Disney persistently extended multiple proposals to Travers in an effort to adapt the book. In 1959, twenty-one years after initiating the endeavor, Travers ultimately consented to the adaptation of Mary Poppins by Disney, stipulating that she would retain “final say” over the script.

 

 

Julie Andrews portraying Mary Poppins, soaring into the sky while grasping an umbrella. Disney / Everett Collection The documentary, Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious: The Making of Mary Poppins, states that Disney traveled to London in 1959 to meet with Travers in an effort to persuade her to permit the adaptation of Mary Poppins.

 

 

Regarding the conversation, Travers allegedly remarked that conversing with Disney resembled engaging with a congenial, affable uncle who produced a gold pocket watch from his pocket and tantalizingly hung it before you. After two years of adapting the novel, P.L. Travers visited Disney Studios and reportedly disapproved of all the written material.

 

 

In records and sketches from a 1961 conference, Travers stated, “The book must be examined meticulously for precision.” She had concerns with Mary’s obligation to “never be impolite to anyone” and disapproved of parents beginning with severity while neglecting their children, anticipating a subsequent “change of heart.”