Factual error: The scene at LAX incorrectly has signage for Trans World Airlines as Trans World Airways.
Saving Mr. Banks (2013)
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Directed by: John Lee Hancock
Starring: Tom Hanks, Colin Farrell, Emma Thompson, Ruth Wilson
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Saving Mr. Banks is a sometimes funny and sad look at the challenging relationship that forms between Walt Disney and the very serious and cautious author of Mary Poppins when he tried to gain her trust and permission to take the beloved work and make his animated/live-action musical. Both share troubled childhoods and find some commonality, eventually...the film delves into their backstories and why they're so opposite. Emma Thompson's irritable and passionately defensive portrayal of P.L. Travers practically steals the show, leaving Tom Hank's exasperated Walt Disney almost sedate in her wake. While not entirely historically accurate, Saving Mr. Banks is touching and pleasant viewing for those interested in learning more about the many difficulties faced in bringing Mary Poppins to life.
More mistakes in Saving Mr. Banks
P.L. Travers: I will not have her called Cynthia, absolutely not. It feels unlucky. It should be something warm, a bit sexy. How about Mavis?
Trivia: In the final scene from Walt Disney's office when P.L. Travers has arrived for the premiere you can spot a map of Florida with a marked area of where today's Walt Disney World is located. Walt Disney was indeed planning WDW in 1961 and it was in the early stages of development on the drawing board. Ultimately, Walt died before the new park opened. (01:50:40)
Question: Was P.L. Travers left-handed, as Emma Thompson portrays her when she is shown writing?
Answer: I do not know the actual answer to your question. However, I would like to point out as a lefty myself that we often have to use our right hand for certain activities just due to the fact that left handed options are not readily available. Scissors and shears are a great example of this. Very often you cannot just switch them to your left hand and have them work. They actually have to be put together to be left handed to work properly. Also, many left handed writers are also ambidextrous. For example I golf right handed but bat left handed so the two swings don't negatively affect each other.
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Chosen answer: It seems P. L. Travers was, in fact, right-handed. With just a bit of research, I found this YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeiEumLxTcM. At time reference 4:05, archive video shows Ms. Travers in her garden, holding a basket hooked on her left arm, and making clippings with a scissors in her right hand. Feeling convinced, I stopped, though I suspect further research (it's a six part biography) would yield other examples of P. L. Travers engaged in right-handed activities.
Michael Albert
Only problem with the assumption that travers was right-handed because she trimmed plants with her right hand is that there were no (to my knowledge) scissors for lefties. I was born in 1955 and I am a lefty who cuts right-handed, wear my watch on my left wrist, and made other adaptations due to the fact that left-handers were ignored, and travers was born over 50 years earlier.