# So what IS Mary Poppins? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 4, 2014, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-is-mary-poppins/697502 "2014-09-04T17:39:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2014, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-is-mary-poppins/697502/21 "2014-09-04T21:54:40Z")
A newt? You’re not a newt! ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2014, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-is-mary-poppins/697502/22 "2014-09-04T22:08:07Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > She’s a nanny. I’d go with that. She’s the personification of a child’s understanding of the ultimate authority figure in their lives. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2014, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-is-mary-poppins/697502/23 "2014-09-04T22:16:29Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > the Green Hornet was descended from the Lone Ranger. both strong hero of different nature. > > if you go deep into the original writings of Mary Poppins you will find she descended from Xena. Picking a nit here, but the Green Hornet is not _ **descended** _ from the Lone Ranger, but he is related. GH is LR’s great-nephew, the grandson of LR"s brother. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2014, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-is-mary-poppins/697502/24 "2014-09-04T22:40:03Z")
Now we have to figure out where Nanny McPhee fits in all of this, besides being a ripoff. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2014, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-is-mary-poppins/697502/25 "2014-09-04T22:40:58Z")
For anyone who’s interested, here’s a photo of [the house where Pamela Travers lived while creating the Mary Poppins character](http://www.mary-poppins-birthplace.net/mary_poppins_45hollyst.htm). It’s in Bowral, a country town in NSW. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2014, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-is-mary-poppins/697502/26 "2014-09-05T00:32:16Z")
I assume she’s a witch, perhaps related in some way to the lady in Bedknobs & Broomsticks. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2014, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-is-mary-poppins/697502/27 "2014-09-05T00:46:14Z")
P.L.Travers was a highly unusual person. I used to subscribe to Parabola, the organ of The Society for the Study of Myth and Tradition, to which she was a regular contributor. I think Mary Poppins was, in Travers’ mind, an emanation from the Mystic Allknowingness. She also, most likely, possessed many character traits of her author, in my opinion. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2014, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-is-mary-poppins/697502/28 "2014-09-05T00:51:53Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > As it is, you can make up pretty much any origin you like for her as there’s very little official canon to contradict you. We can? Okay. Mary Poppins is a Vorlon, and that’s as official as anything. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2014, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-is-mary-poppins/697502/29 "2014-09-05T00:52:04Z")
I’ve put a little thought into this. I don’t know exactly what she is, but I think that whatever it is, Bert is definitely also one of them. He’s been in love with her for centuries, and she reciprocates, but the nature of her work (or possibly a curse of some kind) makes it impossible for them to ever really be with one another. He spends his days wandering the earth and waiting for that particular wind that brings her, so that he can forget - at least for a while - that any time he spends with her is ultimately fleeting. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2014, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-is-mary-poppins/697502/30 "2014-09-05T01:01:12Z")
> [@Johnny\_Bravo](#): > > I’ve put a little thought into this. > > I don’t know exactly what she is, but I think that whatever it is, Bert is definitely also one of them. He’s been in love with her for centuries, and she reciprocates, but the nature of her work (or possibly a curse of some kind) makes it impossible for them to ever really be with one another. He spends his days wandering the earth and waiting for that particular wind that brings her, so that he can forget - at least for a while - that any time he spends with her is ultimately fleeting. Jesus fuck. Now I am sad. Based on the Disney film, I presumed that Mary had been Bert’s nanny during his loveless childhood as the bank president’s son. He is play-acting with a bad Cockney accent at various menial jobs for years until Mary returns. ---
**Author:** ![Barking\_Dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Barking\_Dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barking_Dog)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2014, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-is-mary-poppins/697502/31 "2014-09-05T01:34:54Z")
I think Bert was an american soldier during The War, where he took an injury to the head and was shipped back to the UK in a coma. He woke up in hospital a host of brain maladies resulting from severe head trauma, such as debilitating migraines and [Foreign Accent Syndrome](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_accent_syndrome). It was here he met Mary Poppins, working as a nurse. They quickly became friends and later fell in love and Mary attempted to use her witch powers to try and heal Bert’s brain injuries, to no avail. Eventually Bert asked her to marry him, but she turned him down as it would be unethical to have a romance with a patient. After being discharged from the hospital, Bert, still in love, stayed in England hoping one day she would change her mind. Unable to hold down better paying jobs because of his condition, he ended up getting by on a series of menial jobs like chimney sweeping. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2014, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-is-mary-poppins/697502/32 "2014-09-05T01:54:10Z")
> [@The\_Tooth](#): > > Mary Poppins is a Vorlon, and that’s as official as anything. Not a Vogon, then? ---
**Author:** ![rsat3acr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@rsat3acr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsat3acr)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2014, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-is-mary-poppins/697502/33 "2014-09-05T02:26:00Z")
> [@Southern\_Yankee](#): > > A newt? You’re not a newt! I got better. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2014, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-is-mary-poppins/697502/34 "2014-09-05T02:26:43Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > I’ve seen the musical play and the movie, but I’ve never read the books. Is it ever revealed what sort of being Mary Poppins is? > > She obviously has powers, but is far from omnipotent, so I’d assume she’s some kind of witch. OTOH, she blends in perfectly with humans and seems to relate to them. Is it discussed where she came from (a Hogsmeade type place, perhaps)? Or if Bert is what she is? > > Straight answer or conjecture welcome. I’ve seen the movie. I’ve seen Saving Mr. Banks which is about how Walt managed to get the rights to make the movie. But I’d never read the books. We watched Saving Mr. Banks again a couple of weeks ago and I finally broke down and ordered the first book from Amazon. And I have got to admit…I was sorely disappointed by it. Mary Poppins, to me, is a totally arrogant snot. For the life of me, I don’t see how that series of books got to be so popular. Mary seems to be a very autobiographical representation of P. L. Travers: > [@](#): > > Travers died in London on 23 April 1996 at the age of 96. According to her grandchildren, Travers “died loving no one and with no one loving her.” ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2014, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-is-mary-poppins/697502/35 "2014-09-05T02:50:09Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > I assume she’s a witch, perhaps related in some way to the lady in Bedknobs & Broomsticks. I would had loved to see one reference of her in the background paintings at Hogwarts. A few critics noticed the similarities the Movie [Chocolat (2000)](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0241303/) had with Mary Poppins; with Juliette Binoche, Judi Dench and Johnnie Depp in the cast. I think that movie was the answer to the question of what would happen if Mary Poppins stopped saving others, **not** moving away when the wind changed, and finally settling down and looking after **her** family. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2014, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-is-mary-poppins/697502/36 "2014-09-05T02:52:51Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > Jesus fuck. Now I am sad. Yeah, I watched the movie with some friends maybe 6 months ago, and it was probably the first time I’d ever seen it as an adult. Watching the relationship between Bert and Mary made me really sad for some reason, and that’s why I started thinking about it. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2014, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-is-mary-poppins/697502/37 "2014-09-05T03:02:16Z")
English. ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2014, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-is-mary-poppins/697502/38 "2014-09-05T03:09:15Z")
> [@phouka](#): > > My theory is that she’s a dream, escaped from Oneiros’s realm during his century long absence. No; she’s Domesticity, the forgotten Endless. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2014, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-is-mary-poppins/697502/39 "2014-09-05T03:11:28Z")
Could she have been an angel? ---
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2014, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-is-mary-poppins/697502/40 "2014-09-05T03:38:47Z")
If she’s a witch, why does she work as a nanny? Why does she have to leave when the wind changes (so she can’t hang on to a job for more than a few days, I guess)? Has she got a job waiting for her in France, or maybe Kent? What’s Bert’s deal? Do the other chimney sweeps know what he is? Mary can do better than a penniless jack-of-all-trades like Bert, for goodness’ sake! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-is-mary-poppins/697502.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-is-mary-poppins/697502.md?page=3)