Speranza
Mary
Poppins is a fictional character and the protagonist of H. L. Goff's "Mary
Poppins" and all of its adaptations.
A magical English nanny, she blows in
on the East Wind and arrives at the Banks', home at Number Seventeen, Cherry Tree
Lane, London where she is given charge of the Banks children and teaches them
valuable lessons with a magical touch.
Julie Andrews, who played the
character in the film adaptation, won the Academy Award for Best Actress.
British film magazine Empire ranked Mary Poppins (as played by Andrews) the 41st
greatest movie character.
A quintessential English nanny, Mary Poppins is slightly
stern but loving woman, who uses magic and self-control to take care of the
Banks children.
She is usually identifiable by her sensible hat and parrot
umbrella which she brings with her wherever she goes on outings.
She is loving
and kind towards the children, but can be firm when needed.
She is "practically
perfect in every way."
In the film version, she is a young woman, with an air of
grace and elegance about her.
Mary Poppins in H. L. Goff's'
book is strict and no-nonsense, asserting her unusual brand of discipline over
the FIVE Banks children in her charge.
Mary Poppins is very VAIN and is ALWAYS
admiring herself in the mirror and other reflections.
Mary Poppins CONSTANTLY
scolds the children for their bad behaviour, especially when they point out
the magical things she does, for she constantly denies she is anything but a
prim and proper lady.
Mary Poppins only shows her gentler side around her friends, among
them Bert, a Matchman, Mrs. Corry, and Nellie-Rubina.
Mary Poppins has many
relatives, each with their own super-natural or otherwise eccentric nature, at
least one of whom appears in each book.
Mary Poppins appears to be well known to every
sort of magical entity (sorcerers, talking animals, etc.) that appear in the
books, some of whom love her dearly and others of whom are quite terrified of
her.
Some characters, most notably an impudent jackdaw seen in the first two
books, call her "The Great Exception," meaning, among other things, that Mary Poppins is the
only human being who has retained the magical secrets infants possess (such as
the power to communicate with animals) until they grow up and forget about them.
Some of Mary Poppins's adventures occur in London, others in strange realms which later
writers might identify as magical dimensions.
In literary terms, she might be
described as a character who exists in every conceivable fantasy genre (gothic,
mythic, urban, etc.) at once.
There are many strange people and phenomena in the
world, but only Mary Poppins is familiar with them all.
Mary
Poppins in the Disney film, as portrayed by Julie Andrews, is also stern but at
the same time more gentle, cheerful, and nurturing of the two Banks children of
whom she is in charge.
Mary also has a friendship with Bert, a
jack-of-all-trades who is quite at home with Mary's brand of magic.
She also is LESS VAIN
and selfish, and far more sympathetic towards the two children than
the nanny in the original stories.
In both the West
End and Broadway versions of the stage musical, the Mary Poppins character is
more deliberately mysterious than in the movie version.
She is stricter with the
children (who are also naughtier than their book and movie counterparts) but she
only wants them to become the best they can be.
Mary Poppins in the stage version is
also more aware of Bert's feelings towards her.
Actresses who have played
Mary Poppins:
Julie Andrews, in the Disney film and in all English
Merchandise.
Mary Wickes, in an episode of the television series Studio One
in 1949.
Natalya Andrejchenko (acting) and Tatyana Voronina (singing), in the
1983 Soviet movie.
Juliet Stevenson, in the BBC Radio adaptation of the
novel.
Laura Michelle Kelly, in the original London and Broadway productions
of the stage musical.
Ashley Brown, in the original Broadway and original US
tour productions of the stage musical.
Scarlett Strallen, in the London and
Broadway productions of the stage musical.
Bianca Marroquín, in the Mexican
production of the stage musical.
Lisa O'Hare, in the London and UK tour
production of the stage musical.
Caroline Sheen, in the original UK tour and
US tour productions of the stage musical.
Rani Mukherjee, in the Bollywood
film Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic.
Linda Olsson, in the Swedish production of the
stage musical.
Noortje Herlaar, in the Dutch production of the stage
musical.
Verity Hunt-Ballard, in the original Australian production of the
stage musical.
Anne Hathaway, played the role (in tribute to Julie Andrews)
in a short parody sketch at season 34, episode 4 of Saturday Night Live in
2008.
Steffanie Leigh, in the US tour and Broadway productions of the stage
musical.
Rachel Wallace, in the US tour production of the stage
musical.
Madeline Trumble, in the US tour production of the stage
musical.
Victoria Summer as Julie Andrews, in Saving Mr.
Banks
Additions:
Neil Gaiman's short story "The Problem of Susan"
mentions a posthumously (for P. L. Travers) published work Mary Poppins Brings
in the Dawn, in which Mary Poppins was Jesus's nanny and was therefore herself
not part of God's creation.
Mary Poppins appears in the third League of
Extraordinary Gentlemen graphic novel, in the Black Dossier when it returns to
Margaret Cavendish's Blazing World.
She later reappears in Century: 2009, where
she defeats the Antichrist created by Oliver Haddo.
In this appearance, she and
other characters hint that she may be a personification of God.
In the short
story "El problema de la pequeña cliente," (The Problem of the Little Client) a
Sherlock Holmes pastiche by Spanish writer Alberto López Aroca, included in the
volume "Nadie lo sabrá nunca," (2005, ISBN 978-84-609-7429-1) the detective of
Baker Street is hired by a little girl to find her missing nurse, Mary Poppins.
In the story, set in Cherry Tree Lane, Bert also appears.
In a sequence of
the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games a small army of Mary
Poppinses land on stage to fight and defeat the nightmares which were haunting
children's dreams. The sequence is called "Second to the right and straight on
till morning."
References[edit]
^ Jump up to: a b Joanne Shattock (1993).
"The Oxford Guide to British Women Writers". p.430. Oxford University Press,
1993
Jump up ^ "The 100 Greatest Movie Characters". Empire. Retrieved 2 April
2013
[hide]
v
t
e
P. L. Travers' Mary Poppins
BooksMary
Poppins (1934)
Mary Poppins Comes Back (1935)
Mary Poppins Opens the Door
(1943)
Mary Poppins in the Park (1952)
Mary Poppins From A to Z
(1962)
Mary Poppins in the Kitchen (1975)
Mary Poppins in Cherry Tree Lane
(1982)
Mary Poppins and the House Next Door (1988)
CharactersMary
Poppins
Mr. Banks
Mrs. Banks
The Banks children
Bert
Miss
Lark
Admiral Boom
The servants
AdaptionsMary Poppins (film)
(1964)
Mary Poppins, Goodbye (musical miniseries) (1983)
Mary Poppins
(musical) (2004)
Songs"Sister Suffragette"
"The Life I
Lead"
"The Perfect Nanny"
"A Spoonful of Sugar"
"Jolly
Holiday"
"Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious"
"Stay Awake"
"I Love to
Laugh"
"Feed the Birds"
"Fidelity Fiduciary Bank"
"Chim Chim
Cher-ee"
"Step in Time"
"A Man Has Dreams"
"Let's Go Fly a
Kite"
RelatedSaving Mr. Banks (2013)
Retrieved from
"http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mary_Poppins_(character)&oldid=587588836"
Categories:
Disney characters originating in film
Fictional
nannies
Fictional characters introduced in 1934
Mary Poppins
Characters
in British novels of the 20th century
Tuesday, December 24, 2013
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