Mary Poppins author 'ruined son's life'

The first depiction of the icon Walt Disney in a film follows the family studio head, played by Tom Hanks, in his struggles to get a big-screen adaptation of Mary Poppins off the ground.

Mary Poppins author Pamela Lyndon Travers. Source: Getty Images

Tom Hanks as Walt Disney and Emma Thompson as Mary Poppins author P.L. Travers in the movie Saving Mr Banks. Picture: Supplied Source: Supplied

EMMA Thompson plays the Australian-born creator of Mary Poppins in a new movie. But omitted from the film are details from Travers? personal life that reveal a far darker side to the famously difficult writer.

Saving Mr Banks also stars Tom Hanks as Walt Disney, with the film depicting Disney’s 20-year battle to secure the movie rights for Pamela Lyndon Travers’ story.

But omitted from the film are details from Travers’ personal life that reveal a far darker side to the famously difficult writer.

Particularly disturbing was Travers’ adoption of her son, a twin who was separated from his brother because Travers decided she only wanted one of the boys. This decision was to have terrible repercussions for both their lives.

Actors Dick Van Dyke and Julie Andrews in a scene from the 1964 film 'Mary Poppins'. Source: Supplied

Travers was born in Queensland to British parents but it wasn’t till she moved to London in her 20s that her career took off.

After failed attempts at acting she devoted herself to writing, publishing Mary Poppins to great acclaim in 1934.

In spite of her literary success true love eluded her and craving a child, but without a partner, she decided to adopt from the Hones, an Irish family of artists and writers.

According to a report in the Mail Online, the Hone patriarch pleaded with Travers to take the family’s twin sons but the writer insisted she could only look after one, selecting the baby based on advice from her astrologer.

Author PL (Pamela Lyndon) Travers (real name Helen Lyndon Goff) who wrote childrens story Mary Poppins (1899-1996). Pic Handout 1966 P/ Source: Supplied

Split from his twin, Camillus was raised in luxury and told by his mother he was the son of a wealthy sugar baron.

However, when he was 17 his twin Anthony appeared at Travers’ home in Chelsea. Although Travers threw the boy out out she was unable to hide the truth from Camillus for long.

According to the boys’ oldest brother, Joseph Hone, Travers’ decision to separate the brothers ruined both their lives.

Unable to cope with the deception both brothers descended in to alcoholism and Travers, who became a millionaire after she sold the rights to Mary Poppins to Disney in 1961, was so concerned that Camillus would fritter away the family fortune she put all her money in trust for him and her grandchildren after she died.

“Pamela Travers saw herself as Mary Poppins and thought she could play Poppins with poor little Camillus,” Joseph Hone told the Mail.

Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins Source: Supplied

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