Unfortunately, I looked at the dangerous side of certain animals yesterday. Two that I mentioned were crocodiles and alligators. And whenever I think of crocodiles, I am reminded of the great character in Peter Pan, whose belly “tick-tocks” for an excellent reason. That crocodile swallowed a clock.
Oh, the story of Peter Pan. We all know him as a fictional character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie.
What can you say about good Peter Pan? He is a free-spirited and mischievous boy. But no ordinary boy. He can fly and never grows up. And all of us have followed along as Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood having adventures on the mythical island of Neverland. Not by himself, though. He is the leader of the Lost Boys. He has a cling-on fairy. He mingles with pirates, mermaids, Native Americans, and countless others.
But most people don’t know how Peter Pan got his start. Well, as it turns out, Peter Pan first appeared as a character in Barrie’s The Little White Bird (1902), a novel for adults. He doesn’t enter the story until chapters 13–18, titled “Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens.” Peter is a seven-day-old baby there. Fairies and birds had already taught him to fly. He is described as “betwixt-and-between” a boy and a bird. So there it was. The beginning of our Peter.
But J. M. Barrie must have liked that boy he created. Barrie returned to the character of Peter Pan, putting him at the very center of his stage play called “Peter Pan,” or “The Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up.” The play premiered on December 27, 1904 in London.
Barrie later adapted and expanded the 1904 play’s storyline as a novel, which was published in 1911 as “Peter and Wendy.”
But here is a bit of interest. J. M. Barrie probably based the character of Peter Pan on his older brother, David. His brother tragically died in an ice-skating accident the day before he was supposed to turn 14. Their mother and J.M. thought of David as forever a boy.
J.M. stands for James Matthew, in case anyone was wondering.
And. Barrie left the rights to Peter Pan to the Great Ormond Street Hospital when he died. Apparently, Barrie had already supported GOSH for many years. Then, in 1929, he was approached to sit on a committee to help buy land. The hospital hoped to build a much-needed new wing. Barrie did not join the committee but said he “hoped to find another way to help.” Two months later, the Hospital board discovered that Barrie had donated all his rights for Peter Pan to GOSH. Later, Barrie explained the motivation for his gift: “At one time, Peter Pan was an invalid in the Hospital… and it was he who put me up to the little thing I did.”
At any rate, when Disney wanted to make the film in 1939, they had to strike a deal with the hospital. And GOSH agreed to give them exclusive animation rights. Since that time, Disney has been highly supportive of the hospital.
Walt Disney had a thing for the story, it seems. As a young boy, Walt saw a touring production of Peter Pan. He had even broken into his piggy bank to get the money for tickets to the performance starring actress Maude Adams. It really stuck with him, and he always remembered the performance with fondness. When he was producing his own movie, Disney asked Maude Adams to look at an early reel of his version of Peter Pan, but she declined. I don’t think many people probably turned down Mr. Disney, but old Maude sure did.
And finally, a sad bit about the little boy who wouldn’t grow up. The boy who voiced Peter Pan in the animated film fell victim to the child actor curse. Bobby Driscoll was his name. As he got older, the roles seemed to dry up, and he turned to drugs. He did prison time in the early ’60s. And. He died of heart failure in 1968 at the age of 31.
One of my favorite quotes from Peter Pan is this: “The moment you doubt whether you can fly, you cease forever to be able to do it.”
We should always — always — believe that we can fly.
“”””””””””””””””””””””
Youth is wasted on the young.
– George Bernard Shaw
“”””””””””””””””””””””
Youth is happy because it has the ability to see beauty. Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old.
– Franz Kafka
“”””””””””””””””””””””
If youth knew; if age could.
– Sigmund Freud
“”””””””””””””””””””””
