Walt Disney Productions

Mouse In The House

Disney has a monopoly on family fun and whimsy. It's their thing. If you make a cartoon with a lot of chirping birds and cute bunnies waltzing through the woods—you're gonna get called out for ripping off Disney. They know their turf and will defend it with a switchblade—er, a magic wand.

But Disney's not just about animation. They're all about live-action movies and the pre-teen television market. The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, anyone? Disney is an indomitable force.

But, as far as live-action goes, it wasn't always that way. And if Lao Tzu is correct and "The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step," Mary Poppins helped Disney take some of those first steps. (Though not the very first step: they'd already made live-action movies like Treasure Island).

Mary Poppins wasn't Disney's first live-action feature, but it was a pioneering example of what Disney could achieve with live-action. It's probably the defining non-cartoon Disney production, though it also contains an extended scene mixing live action with an animated sequence, featuring cute, singing animals. (They had to pay homage to their roots, after all.)

At the time Mary Poppins came out in 1964, the original creative genius named Disney—Walt himself—was still alive and deeply involved in the production of his company's movies. He hadn't yet been cryogenically frozen and placed under the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. (We know, we know; that's an urban legend. But it's such a cool urban legend.)

Man Behind the Mouse

Disney began his career as a humble cartoonist for newspapers. But he gradually built an animation empire, beginning with a character named "Oswald The Lucky Rabbit." But the rights to Oswald were deviously stolen from Disney, and he and animator U.B. Iwerks had to create a new flagship character—Mickey Mouse. Maybe you've heard of him?

Eventually, Disney made the first feature-length animated movie, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves in 1937, and the rest, as they say, is history. (Source)

When Disney bought the rights to Mary Poppins (which was originally a book), the company had very specific ideas about what they were going to do. They were going to give it the maximum Disney treatment: amp it up, make it extra-sparkly, and give the audience a potent injection of the warm and fuzzies. And Disney hired expert songwriters, The Sherman Bros., to make the movie a classic musical.

This method worked with all the feature-length cartoons, right?

Clash of the Titans

But before he could start spritzing the magic around, Walt ran into one little problem. Even though the author of Mary Poppins, P.L. Travers, had sold him the rights to adapt her workinto a movie, he'd promised her creative input in the movie's creation. This proved to be a sticky wicket, to use a ridiculous Britishism (Ms. Poppins would be proud.)

Unlike Walt, Travers wasn't all about the warm and fuzzy feelings. She wasn't vibe-ing with Disney at all. She hated the animated sequence and wanted to make Mary stricter…you know, like she was in her books. Walt delicately steered her away from these designs, even though she was harshing his mellow and alienating everyone else involved with the movie. (Source)

But Walt wasn't entirely tolerant of some of Travers' attitudes. After he called her "Pamela"—her first name—she insisted that Disney call her "Mrs. Travers," even though they were almost the same age. Disney wasn't about to fall for this power play, so he jokingly shortened her name even more, calling her "Pam" instead. (Source)

When Mary Poppins finally graced the silver screen, people loved it. It was Disney magic at its most lighthearted and pure, and earned Julie Andrews the Oscar for Best Actress in 1965. It even got nominated for Best Picture. (Source)

So, if you admire Walt Disney's work, write him a nice letter. If they ever un-freeze him, maybe he'll read it.