The Peter Pan Chronicles: The Nearly 100 Year History of 'The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up'

by Bruce K. Hanson

To say that Peter Pan has universal appeal is an understatement. Generations of children and adults have crowded performances of the play, the silent motion picture has been revived to ongoing acclaim, a cartoon version is among Disney's best loved films, and a recent movie with a new twist on the story was among the most popular releases of 1991. James Barrie originally conceived the character in 1902, when Peter appeared in a novel titled The Little White Bird. Two years later, the first staged presentation of the play Peter Pan was an immediate success, with the popular actress Nina Boucicault receiving rave London reviews. In The Peter Pan Chronicles, Bruce K. Hanson tells the whole story of Peter Pan: how and why James M. Barrie wrote it and how his life was affected by it. Through meticulous research, Hanson brings to life the stellar performances of those who portrayed Peter over the years. Many of the world's foremost actresses have portrayed Peter. (Traditionally, Peter Pan has been played by a woman.) In America enraptured audiences have applauded Maude Adams, Marilyn Miller, Jean Arthur, and Mary Martin as the crowing boy who taught Wendy and her brothers to fly and took them to Never Never Land. On the London stage Maggie Smith, Elsa Lanchester, Glynis Johns, and Hayley Mills were only a few of the leads. In recent years Mia Farrow essayed Peter on television, the gymnast Cathy Rigby scored on Broadway, while Robin Williams appeared as a grown-up and somewhat jaded Peter, opposite Dustin Hoffman's Captain Hook in the Steven Spielberg film Hook. Readers of all ages will be delighted by The Peter Pan Chronicles. They will make fresh contact with Peter, Wendy, Tiger Lily, the Lost Boys, and, most especially, Tinker Bell, for whom most of us applauded when we were younger. Hundreds of rare photographs and illustrations are interwoven throughout the text.

Genres: Nonfiction

288 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2000

Reviews

[Alice Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this for research ten years ago. It's only interesting if you care to know who has played Peter Pan over the years, but I enjoyed it.

[Bruce K.]

I must admit that I agree with Reno regarding the repetiveness of "The Peter Pan Chroniclers", and, also, how often I overexpressed and overstateed my opinion of various productions of "Peter Pan" that I had seen. While I feel that one of the advanatges of writing such a book is that it allows the writer to express his/her opinions (as long as these opinions are clearly stated as belonging to the writer) it became obvious to me that I overdid it shortly after publication in 1993. It was my first published work. That is why I could not wait to write a second edition, "Peter Pan On Stage and Screen 21904-2010", which was published in 2011. I addressed my over zealous writing of the first edition in my new introduction and added many more anecdotes (as well as dozens of more photos)from primary sources at the expense of my opinions. However, I still stand behind my comment that "Never, Never Land" is beautiful and, like "I Won't Grow Up", and is easily hummed after a first listening (not that this makes a song good). And this can easily be verified by the many artist who have recorded "Never, Never Land" over the years. The film version of "The Wizrad of Oz" was met with several negative reviews during its intitial release in 1939 yet ten years later some of these same writers now embraced the children's film. The same goes for the stage musical "pal Joey". Of course, it's OK to add your own opinion as it is just that, like mine, an opinion. Thanks for the comments, Reno, and hopefully you will be able to check out the 2nd edition.

[Jenna (Falling Letters) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Update (4 March 2015): I have just been looking through my old reviews when I came back to this one and saw the author's response to my review. He addresses my criticisms and writes that he has published a second edition, which sounds much improved. I have yet to read it, but I encourage readers to check it out instead of the first edition.

Review originally posted 27 December 2012 on Falling Letters.

On adaptations of Peter and Wendy - I have seen the musical, the Disney film, the ballet, read the book, read the play, but somehow I have never seen the play! So, for me this was a somewhat-intriguing read about the various adaptations throughout the years with a heavy focus on the actresses playing Peter. The format of the book is fairly repetitive, with the author recounting each production in a similar fashion. I'm not suggesting that there be a better way to write such a book, the format fits for this kind, but as I said - it gets repetitive. I also found the author's judgments and opinions in the later half of the book intrusive and overstated. The author writes, 'It is inconceivable that one can not hum the beautiful "Never, Never Land" or even be able to sing a line or two of "I Won't Grow Up" after the first hearing.' This is a vast generalization, the credibility of which can be question, as the author offers this opinion after writing that the 'the score was generally not credited as an element for the success of the musical.' Perhaps the author could have included his own opinions in a separate section of the book, as an afterword or something of the sort. I feel that they detracted rather than added to the book (I found his opinions annoying and excessive, frankly.)

On a lighter note, the parts of the book I enjoyed best were the little anecdotes about performing the play from the actresses. Eva Le Gallienne shares a story of how she sent one little girl, who cried 'No!' when the audience is asked if they believe in fairies, hiding under her seat after giving Eva gave the girl many stern glances throughout the rest of the play. These anecdotes are few, however, and seem to be buried under lengthy descriptions of the actresses' careers beyond their roles as Peter Pan.

Overall, the book is a decent introduction to various productions of Peter Pan, but much of the writing is superfluous and made the book less interesting than I think it could have been.

[Tommy Grooms · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm reviewing the first edition, although many of my concerns have apparently been addressed in the second edition: http://bit.ly/1NdCz1B

I've always loved Peter Pan, and this was a lovely introduction to the author of the original story and the history of its tellings and retellings. This book's strong points are its tracking of dramatic and literary developments of the story over the years, the profiles of the principal actresses who have played the now-legendary role, and the occasional anecdote illustrating the impact the story has had on countless children (there should have been more of this!). Beginning with Mary Martin, the author's own opinions encroach upon the history far too often (dismissing the Mia Farrow performance with a very short chapter called "Another Musical" is representative of this tendency), though it ultimately doesn't spoil a well-researched and lovingly cataloged history of the captivating character.

[Nicole · Rating 2 out of 5]

A thorough history, but not a particularly intriguing one. Although based on the author's comments below, I would give his sequel a look for sure.