“Poppins! That woman is a menace! Over 2,000 documented violations of the Statue of Secrecy in the last year alone, yet she always manages to slip away before the Aurors show up. But this time… this time, she’s gone too far!”
“What do you mean?”
“Oh, at first, it was just the usual. Flying on a umbrella in full view of the public, showing off a carpetbag with an Expansion Charm to Muggle children… but, then, she nearly wrecked the Muggle economy by causing a run on a major City bank!”
“Tampering with the Muggle economy?! That’s ten years in Azkaban, that is!”
“Oh, yes, and that’s not even the worst of it! She dared speak the Ancient Secret Word of Merlin himself in the presence of Muggles — and taught them to say it as well!”
(gasp) “You don’t mean… supercali —”
“YES! She dared to blaspheme our most sacred traditions! I swear to you, Dawlish, I won’t rest until I see that witch sentenced to the Veil!”
Of course, we all know that Mary Poppins is actually the same sort of being as Tom Bombadil. Ding-a-dong-a-dillo…
Agreed with you on the love story. They are both from the same realm as guardian angels, but somehow they have gotten a dispensation to assume physical forms in certain cases. Bert’s current assignment, not shown in the movies as we only see him taking time off, is to offer some protection to the children who work as sweeps, and we know Mary’s assignment is with children of more prosperous families. There are limits to what they can actually do to change circumstances…their main function is to bring hope and belief in possibilities and the transcendance of limits.
I think she just values helping children. The wind isn’t so much something that makes her have to go, but a signal that there is someone else in need of her help. And, even if Bert is not Warlock, he’s definitely more than he appears. And it’s not like they are actually together, anyways. She probably has boyfriends all over the world, unless Bert also goes with her.
Yes, she adopted a son. IIRC, it’s a horrible story: there were two identical twins, she adopted one but not the other, and never told her adopted son about his brother. They met by accident in a pub, as adults.
Bert as a character in the books is very minor, quite unlike the movie; Bert is mostly a Disney creation.
I think that people who STARTED with the books feel the opposite (certainly, me wife does.) Yes, Mary P in the books is arrogant, rude, obnoxious, and never (NEVER!) has that insipid Julie Andrews smile.
She’s just a very effective con artist. She and Bert find targets with deep access to money,Bank Managers,CEOs and the like. Skillfully manipulating a situation where she will be invited into the home. She delights the children,but also instills a great deal of fear, to keep them unquestioningly in line, Then deftly using hallucinogens and stage tricks she ingratiates with the children, gaining the parent’s trust, while destroying any credibility the children might have as they start to talk about magic and flying umbrellas.
Lying in wait, gathering passwords, Fingerprints and personal knowledge which she passes along to Bert, until the day they execute the big job stealing millions from the accounts they now have access, when they both flee suddenly off to the wilds, where they start scouting for the next victim.
Ya know, now I’d like to see Phoebe Figalilly (from Nanny and the Professor), Mary Poppins and Nanny McPhee together in a kind of Maiden, Mother and Crone configuration.
