Mary Poppins (character) of the stage musical, the Mary Poppins character is more deliberately mysterious than in the movie version. She is slightly stricter with the children (who are also naughtier than their book and movie counterparts) but only because she wants them to become the best they can be. Mary in the stage version is also more aware of Bert's feelings towards her. Mary Poppins first appeared in the short story "Mary Poppins and the Match Man" in 1926, and in several early bits and pieces of the first novel. P.L. Travers later changed the story of the character's origins, stating that
Think of the children According to Kathryn Laity, early use of the phrase may have stemmed from its appearance in the 1964 Walt Disney Pictures film "Mary Poppins". In an opening scene, the character of Mrs. Banks pleads with her nanny not to quit by begging her to "think of the children!". Laity wrote that the popular use of the phrase evokes strong feelings in those who object to a nanny state, pointing out the conflict in the United States between the country's conservatism (derived from the Puritans) and its desire to use sex in advertising. It was also used in John Huston's 1982