J.M. Barrie’s “Peter Pan” Premieres in London

It's 7:30 p.m.

on December 27th, 1904, backstage at the Duke of York's Theater in London, England.

Stagehands, costumers, and actors run about, getting the last details in order before opening night of a brand new play, a fairy tale for children called Peter Pan or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up.

Preparations are still going on right to the last minute.

Sets are being painted and complicated flying harnesses are being perfected.

The play's author, JM.

Barrie, stands off to the side, nervously smoking his pipe.

After writing the play and shepherding it through production for months, all there's left for him to do now is wait and worry.

Barrie has built a reputation as a serious playwright, but now he's risking it all on this bizarre children's fantasy.

Barrie remembers all too well when the respected and successful theater producer Herbert Bierbaum Tree read the script and said Barrie must be out of his mind.

Those words echo in Barrie's ears as the thiever doors open and the audience begins to take their seats.

Gazing out from behind the curtain, Barrie notices that this opening night crowd is mostly adults.

His new play has captured the attention of skeptical theater lovers, stuffy upper class businessmen and judgmental newspaper critics.

This is not the audience Barrie had in mind when he wrote his whimsical fantasy, and he realizes with fear that if this grown-up audience doesn't enjoy the play, there's one section in particular that could stop the performance dead in its tracks.

There's a scene in which the fairy Tinkerbell dies, and Peter Pan turns to the audience and says that fairies can be brought back to life if children believe and clap their hands.

But if this sophisticated audience doesn't clap, it won't only be humiliating, it'll leave the actors stranded, not knowing what to do without Tinkerbell coming back to life.

Barrie rushes down to the orchestra pit and finds the musical director.

Barrie tells him that if there's no response when Peter Pan asks the audience to clap, the musicians must put their instruments down and do the clapping themselves.

This last-minute maneuver gives Tinkerbell at least a little life insurance, but Barrie's fate as a playwright still hangs in the air.

He can hardly breathe as the lights dim, a hush falls over the crowd, and the curtain rises.

It isn't long before Barrie's fears are put to rest.

The adult audience is delighted to meet Peter Pan, Wendy, Captain Hook, and all of Neverland.

Even the coldest hearts on this December night are warmed with wonder, and sure enough, later in the play, the musicians in the orchestra pit don't have to clap to avoid a deadly silence.

The audience is more than happy to bring Tinkerbell back to life.

A weight is lifted off Barrie's chest, and following this opening night, Peter Pan will go on to succeed beyond its author's wildest dreams, becoming a fairy tale so well known that it's practically ingrained in the hearts of children more than a hundred years after its debut on December 27, 1904.

From Noiser and Airship, I'm Lindsay Graham, and this is History Daily.

I'm to Thank History is made every day.

On this podcast, Every Day, we tell the true stories of the people and events that shaped our world.

Today is December 27th, 1904.

JM.

Barrie's Peter Pan premieres in London.

It's January 1866 in Angus, Scotland, almost 40 years before Peter Pan will open at the Duke of York's Theater.

James Matthew Barrie stands in his grieving mother's bedroom, unsure how to comfort her.

Barrie is only six years old, but already he has known great loss.

His older brother David has just passed away in a tragic accident.

He fell while ice skating and fractured his skull.

The Barrie family is devastated, and none more so than the boy's mother, Margaret.

David was always Margaret's favorite, while the younger Barrie was considered the runt of the litter.

As Margaret weeps in her bed, Barrie, being shy and reserved, has no idea how to react.

He simply stands there quietly until his mother notices him.

Margaret sees his shadow in the dark and asks, Is that you?

And somehow Barrie knows that his mother isn't talking to him.

She's talking to David, wishing her older son was still alive.

Barrie replies in a meek voice, No, it's not him.

It's only me.

This moment stays with Barrie for the rest of his life.

In his mother's eyes, he's never enough.

He lives his life in the shadow of his dead brother.

The years pass, but Margaret never gets over David's death and thinks of her late son as frozen in time, believing that because he died just a boy, David would never grow up.

This too has a profound impact on young Barrie, planting a seed in his mind that will eventually grow into his most famous character.

Just a few years later, Barrie is sent to the first of a series of boarding schools where he becomes less painfully shy.

He joins the school drama club and writes his first play at the age of 17.

It's a goofy adventure starring gallant heroes and dastardly villains, but it upsets a local clergyman who writes to the newspaper to complain about Barrie's grossly immoral play.

The ensuing controversy over good taste reaches newspapers from Scotland to London.

Other writers might've been scared off by this, but Barrie is delighted by the reaction.

His first attempt as a playwright could have largely been forgotten, but instead Barrie has made a name for himself.

He begins to write books and articles, and one of his novels, The Little Minister, is so successful that Barrie adapts it into a play, which proves popular enough to travel to America where it's performed on Broadway in 1898.

The same year, a chance encounter in Barrie's new home of London changes the trajectory of the writer's life.

While taking his sheepdog for a walk in the Kensington Gardens of Hyde Park, Barrie meets two young boys, George and Jack Davis, aged five and four.

They take a liking to the funny little man with a giant dog, and Barrie strikes up a friendship with the boys.

He routinely meets them and their nanny in the park and tells them stories.

Many modern scholars will consider the possibility that Barrie had inappropriate intentions with the Davies boys, but there will be little factual evidence supporting this accusation.

And for their whole lives, George, Jack, and their three boys, Peter, Michael, and Nicholas, will refute any theories that Barrie was anything more than their cherished friend and a father figure.

Still, even by the standards of the time, Barrie develops a uniquely close relationship with the Davies family.

He becomes friends with their mother, Sylvia, and cultivates a slightly cooler friendship with their father, Arthur.

During the summer, the Davies stay for weeks at a time at Barrie's lake house with his wife, Mary, and Barrie thinks of the Davies children as his own.

And inspired by his friendship with the older boy, George, Barrie writes a novel called The Little White Bird in 1902.

In this book, the stand-in character for Barrie tells a story to the stand-in character for George.

This story within a story is the first appearance of the character Peter Pan.

The book is a success, but those middle chapters starring Peter Pan proved to be the most popular.

Barrie becomes famous with a new audience, children.

His walks through Kensington Gardens starts to get interrupted by kids who recognize Barrie and ask him for an update on their new favorite character.

It seems to Barrie that the public and the Davies boys all want to know what happens next, but children aren't the only ones anxious to hear more from the writer.

American theater producer Charles Froman wants Barrie to write another play to replicate the financial success they had together with the little minister on Broadway.

When Barrie eventually gives Charles his script for Peter Pan though, he's a little nervous.

The script is the indulgence of his fantasies and he feels embarrassed to have written something so pure and magical.

But Charles loves it.

He tells Barrie that he will give the play an enormous budget, but he has one request.

Charles wants Peter Pan to be a vehicle for the young American actress Maude Adams.

She's acted in Barrie's plays before and proven herself to be a star.

And if Peter Pan is a hit in London and comes to America, Charles wants Maude Adams to be the lead role, not as Wendy, but as Peter.

Barrie agrees and suggests the London version of Peter Pan be played by a young woman as well, setting a new theatrical tradition.

And for decades to come, the character of Peter Pan will most often be played by a woman.

The choices Barrie and Charles make and contemplating their new play will have an impact on generations to come.

But it will take a huge effort to build this legacy as Peter Pan turns out to be far more difficult to put on stage than anyone ever anticipated.

Participate.

It's October 1904 on the busy streets of London.

Hilda Trevelyan makes her way to the Duke of York's Theater.

It's her first day of rehearsal for the new play, Peter Pan.

Although she's 27 years old, she'll be playing a teenager, Wendy Darling, who befriends the titular Peter Pan.

Besides that, Hilda doesn't know much about the new play.

The author, JM.

Barrie, has kept the contents a closely guarded secret so as not to spoil the magic.

And as she walks to the theater, Hilda wonders what kind of scene she'll be playing today.

Perhaps she'll be crying or maybe falling in love.

She tries to prepare for these possibilities, but when Hilda arrives at the theater, she learns she won't be doing either.

She won't be rehearsing any scene at all.

Instead, she'll be learning how to fly.

The stagehands are trying out a brand new wire system to lift the actors off the ground.

This new flying contraption has been just invented by George Kirby.

He's been making actors and dancers fly through the air since 1899, but his previous harness was big, bulky, and took up to 10 minutes to connect to an actor.

And once in the air, the actors could only be yanked crudely around.

As pre-production began on Peter Pan, Barrie approached George Kirby and asked if he could come up with a better way to fly.

The inventor agreed and began to make improvements and updates to his old system.

Now, a new kind of harness is more easily hidden under costumes, and a wire can be attached in just seconds by a stagehand.

The wire itself can support two tons of weight, and a system of barrels and drums above the stage means that several actors can fly at the same time, but the actors still need to learn how to launch and land without getting hurt.

So, Hilda and each of her fellow actors sign a life insurance policy protecting the theater from any liability in case of injury.

Then they each take about two weeks to learn how to fly safely and convincingly, as well as a special pose for when they are ready to take off.

It's when stagehands see this pose that they pull their ropes and launch the actor.

The actors are able to look like they're the ones in control.

While this updated flying system seems to be a breakthrough, other special effects on set don't work the way they were intended to.

To make the fairy Tinkerbell look just a few inches tall to the audience, Barrie planned to use a giant reverse magnifying lens that a normal size actress could step behind.

But finding a lens of that size and getting the lighting right proves too difficult.

Instead, Tinkerbell becomes a small brilliant point created by shining a bright light onto a small mirror backstage with a stagehand tilting the mirror around to make Tinkerbell move.

With these bits of stagecraft magic, combined with JM.

Barrie's delightful fantasy writing, Peter Pan is a hit in London.

Charles Froman gets his wish and the play moves to Broadway where Maude Adams plays Peter Pan.

And if the play had been a success in London, it's a box office smash in New York.

Audiences and critics alike are won over.

And while there have been plays for children before, none have been put on with such daring and gusto and unable to delight the adults just as much as the children.

It turns out the adults of the era are famished for lighthearted entertainment.

Most productions are problem plays, a genre dealing with social issues and ethical dilemmas.

Though important and dramatic, these productions are rarely fun.

So when Peter Pan debuts on Broadway in 1905, it's a breath of fresh air.

Giving audiences permission to enjoy themselves at the theater again.

And the legacy of the play will prove an enduring one.

Over the next 120 years, Peter Pan will grow from a character and a few chapters of a novel, to a play, to its own novel, and then to something even more.

It will inspire a generation of storytellers to tell their own version of the story.

From the elves and JRR.

Tolkien's Lord of the Rings books, to Steven Spielberg's film Hook, starring Robin Williams as a grown up Peter Pan.

But no one will be more inspired to produce their own version of Peter Pan than the century's most influential animator.

It's 1909 in Marceline, Missouri.

Backstage at Park Elementary School, a young man is about to make his debut as Peter Pan in front of an audience of parents and classmates.

His name is Walt Disney.

Young Walt recently saw Maud Adams perform the role as the play toured across America and through his hometown.

He was enchanted by the play, emptying out his piggy bank to afford a ticket.

And now it's his chance to bring one of his favorite characters to life.

Although this is a low budget production, Walt is about to fly just like all the Peter Pans before him.

But instead of George Kirby's professional flying equipment, Walt's brother holds a rope tied around Walt's back.

And when it's time, Walt is thrust into the air and soars out over the crowd.

But his flight is cut short when the rope gives way and he flies right into the faces of a surprised audience.

It's a humble start to Walt's entertainment career.

After working as a cartoonist in Kansas City, Walt moves to Hollywood at age 21.

There, he and his brother start Walt Disney Pictures, where Walt goes on to create Mickey Mouse, star of many short cartoons.

But Walt isn't satisfied.

He wants to tell a full length fairy tale.

And against all odds, he does in 1934 with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the first ever full length animated feature and it's a smash hit.

With Snow White's success, Walt has the opportunity to turn any story he wants into his next animated movie.

But he chooses Peter Pan.

Production is delayed because of World War II, but it's eventually released in 1953 and remains the version of Peter Pan most people remember today.

In the Disney film, Tinkerbell is changed from a point of light to a fully articulated fairy and she becomes one of the Walt Disney Company's most popular mascots.

Disney will later create a theme park ride based on the movie.

Peter Pan's flight will be one of the original rides on opening day of Disneyland in 1955 and will remain one of the most popular rides today.

Then following the Disney film, there will be seven major live action film adaptations of Peter Pan as well as a movie starring Johnny Depp as JM.

Barrie called Finding Neverland.

This film will be nominated for several Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

It will follow Barrie creating the story for The Davies Boys, but the tale will be a romanticized one.

The real story is a bit sadder.

Although The Davies Boys will be financially compensated for their contributions to creating the iconic character, their association with the play will haunt them throughout their lives.

The British press will sensationalize their personal successes and private failures as they live their lives known as the real Peter Pans.

And Barrie will never write another play as popular or successful as Peter Pan.

He'll die of pneumonia in 1937.

Having no children of his own, he'll leave all the rights and royalties of every Peter Pan work to the Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital in London.

Today, the hospital is one of the largest centers for children's heart transplants in the world.

And near the entrance is a bronze statue of Peter Pan, who along with his friends, the Darlings, the Lost Boys and even Captain Hook and Mr.

Smee have become part of one of the universal myths of childhood since their stage debut on December 27, 1904.

Next, on History Daily, December 28th, 1832.

After clashing with President Andrew Jackson, John C.

Calhoun becomes the first vice president of the United States to resign.

From Noiser and Airship, this is History Daily.

Hosted, edited, and executive produced by me, Lindsay Graham.

Audio editing by Mohammed Shahzib.

Sound design by Misha Stanton.

Music by Lindsay Graham.

This episode is written and researched by Jack O'Brien.

Executive producers are Alexander Curry Buckner for Airship and Pascal Hughes for Noiser.