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It was almost half a century ago that Mary Poppins floated onto the silver screen, umbrella in hand, and two years before the star of Saving Mr. Banks, Tom Hanks, was born.

In anticipation of the new film, there’s been plenty of talk about how unhappy the author of the book, P.L. Travers, was with Disney’s interpretation of her work despite the hallowed place in holds in the childhood memories of many, and Flavorwire’s Michelle Dean found some other interesting facts about the movie’s history as well.

1. Walt Disney pursued the rights for 15 years before Travers would agree to give them to him. He was aware of the book because it was a favorite of his daughter, Diane. But Travers, who was a woman of a somewhat acidic temper, was skeptical about the sentimentality of Disney’s world view, and held out through many invitations and lunches. Finally he made her an offer she could not refuse, in light of her lack of income. She got a $100,000 advance on 5% of the gross producer’s revenue.

2. P.L. Travers ended up hating the resulting film. When she attended the screening — to which she had to beg for an invitation — she cried all the way through. Later in life she would be more breezily disdainful of the experience, once referring to Disney as “George Disney” in a presentation at the New York Public Library, feigning that she didn’t remember his name

3. Travers once said she probably (albeit unconsciously) modeled Mary Poppins on a figure from Hindu mythology:

“Not long ago, a young person, whom I don’t know very well, sent a message to a mutual friend that said: “I’m an addict ofMary Poppins, and I want you to ask P. L. Travers if Mary Poppins is not really the Mother Goddess.” So, I sent back a message: ‘Well, I’ve only recently come to see that. She is either the Mother Goddess or one of her creatures — that is, if we’re going to look for mythological or fairy-tale origins of Mary Poppins.'”

Full story at Flavorwire.

Juicy tidbits of movie history.

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