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Peter and Wendy

Peter Pan 1915 cover
Author	J. M. Barrie
Illustrator	Elisa Trimby
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Genre(s)	Fiction, Literature, Fantasy. Children's book
Publisher	HarperCollins
Publication date	1911
Media type	Print (Hardcover, Paperback, Mass Market Paperback), Audiobook, Compact Disc, MP3 on CD, Library Binding
ISBN	ISBN 1-59308-213-4, 0140366741
Preceded by	The Little White Bird • Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens
Followed by	Peter Pan, or the Boy Who Would Not Grow Up

Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up and Peter and Wendy are the stage play and novel (respectively) which tell the well-known story of Peter Pan, a mischievous little boy who spends his never-ending childhood on the island of Neverland, and his adventure with an ordinary girl and her brothers. The story was written by Scottish playwright and novelist J. M. Barrie (1860–1937). It features many fantastical elements, including children who can fly, a magical fairy, and mermaids. It was first staged at the Duke of York's Theatre on 27 December 1904, then adapted by Barrie into a novel published in 1911, and since adapted numerous times for film and other media, remaining popular with generations of children and adults.

Contents 1 Story summary 2 Background 3 Characters 3.1 Peter Pan 3.2 The Darling Family 3.3 The Six Lost Boys 3.4 Inhabitants of Neverland 4 Productions 5 Adaptations 6 Sequels and prequels 7 Copyright status 7.1 European Union 7.2 United Kingdom 7.3 United States 7.4 Other jurisdictions 8 Controversy 9 See also 10 References 10.1 General references 11 External links

Although the character appeared previously in Barrie's book The Little White Bird, the play and the novel based on it contain the portion of the Peter Pan mythos that is best known. The two versions differ in some details of the story, but have much in common. In both versions Peter often visits the "real world" of Kensington, London to listen in on bedtime stories told by Mrs. Mary Darling to her children. One night, Peter is spotted and, while trying to escape, he loses his shadow. On returning to claim his shadow, Peter wakes Mary's daughter, Wendy Darling. When Wendy succeeds in re-attaching his shadow to him, Peter takes a fancy to her and invites her to Neverland to be a mother to his gang, the Lost Boys, children who were lost in Kensington Gardens. Wendy agrees, and her brothers John and Michael go along. Their magical flight to Neverland is followed by many adventures. The children are blown out of the air by a cannon and Wendy is nearly killed by the Lost Boy Tootles. Peter and the Lost Boys build a little house for Wendy to live in while she recuperates (a structure that, to this day, is called a Wendy House.) Soon John and Michael adopt the ways of the Lost Boys, while Wendy plays the role of mothering them, all the while provoking the jealousy of Tinker Bell, Tiger Lily, and the mermaids. Peter is often oblivious, concentrating on real and make-believe adventures and on taunting his nemesis, the pirate Captain Hook of the ship the Jolly Roger. Later follow adventures at the Mermaids' Lagoon, the near deaths of Tinker Bell and Peter, a violent pirate/Indian massacre, and a climactic confrontation with Captain Hook. In the end, Wendy decides that her place is at home, much to the joy of her heartsick mother. Wendy then brings all the boys back to London. Peter remains in Neverland, promising to return and take Wendy back with him once a year to help him with his spring cleaning.

In the novel, Barrie includes an additional scene which was not in the play, but which he created for the stage under the title An Afterthought. In this scene, Peter returns to Wendy's house, not realizing that more than twenty years have passed since he took Wendy, John, and Michael to Neverland, and that Wendy is now a married woman with a daughter, Jane. Confronted with the news, he breaks down and cries. Wendy leaves the room to try to think, and Peter's sobs awaken Jane, who asks him to take her with him to Neverland and to let her be his new mother. Peter joyfully accepts, and the two fly off together with Wendy sorrowfully looking off after them. Peter will now return for Jane once a year as he once promised to return for Wendy. This scene is only occasionally used in presentations of the drama, but it made a poignant conclusion to the famous musical production starring Mary Martin, and provided the premise for Disney's sequel to their animated adaptation of the story.

Barrie created Peter Pan in stories he told to the sons of his friend Sylvia Llewelyn Davies, with whom he had forged a special relationship. Mrs. Llewelyn Davies' death from cancer came within a few years after the death of her husband. Barrie was named as co-guardian of the boys and unofficially adopted them.

The character's name comes from two sources: Peter Llewelyn Davies, one of the boys, and Pan, the mischievous Greek god of the woodlands. It has also been suggested that the inspiration for the character was Barrie's elder brother David, whose death in a skating accident at the age of thirteen deeply affected their mother. According to Andrew Birkin, author of J.M. Barrie and the Lost Boys, the death was "a catastrophe beyond belief, and one from which she never fully recovered… If Margaret Ogilvy [Barrie's mother as the heroine of his 1896 novel of that title] drew a measure of comfort from the notion that David, in dying a boy, would remain a boy for ever, Barrie drew inspiration."

Peter Pan first appeared in print in a 1902 book called The Little White Bird, a fictionalised version of Barrie's relationship with the Llewelyn Davies children, and was then used in a very successful stage play, Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up, which premiered in London on December 27, 1904.

At one point Barrie's title for the play was Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Hated Mothers. Producer Charles Frohman disliked the title, in answer to which Barrie reportedly suggested The Boy Who Couldn't Grow Up; Frohman suggested changing it to Wouldn't. [1]

In 1906, the portion of The Little White Bird which featured Peter Pan was published as the book Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, with illustrations by Arthur Rackham. Barrie then adapted the play into the 1911 novel Peter and Wendy (most often now published simply as Peter Pan).

There are seven statues of Peter Pan playing a set of pipes, cast from a mould by sculptor George Frampton, following an original commission by Barney. The statues are in Kensington Gardens in London, England; Liverpool, England; Brussels, Belgium; Camden, New Jersey, United States; Perth, Western Australia, Australia; Toronto, Canada; and Bowring Park in St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada.

A new statue of Peter Pan was commissioned by Great Ormond Street Hospital to celebrate J.M. Barrie's generous gift of the copyright. Unveiled by former Prime Minister James Callaghan in 2000, the bronze by Diarmuid Byron O'Connor shows Peter blowing fairy dust over the passing children. The original design included Tinker Bell stealing Wendy's kiss from his finger. The Countess of Wessex unveiled this addition in 2005. A limited edition of this statue has been created to raise money for the children's charity.

Main article: Peter Pan (fictional character)

Peter Pan is the main character of the novel and various adaptations. He is described in the novel as a young boy who still has all his first teeth; he wears clothes made of hemp. He is the only boy able to fly without the help of fairy dust, and he can play the flute. Peter is afraid of nothing except women. He loves Wendy; however, it is not a romantic love — he thinks of her as his mother. Barrie attributes this to "the riddle of his existence".

• Wendy Darling — Wendy is the eldest, the only daughter and the heroine of the novel. She loves the idea of homemaking and storytelling and wants to become a mother; her dreams consist of adventures in a little woodland house with her pet wolf. She bears a bit of (mutual) animosity toward Tiger Lily because of their similar affections toward Peter. She does not seem to feel the same way about Tinker Bell, but the fairy is constantly bad-mouthing her and even has attempted to have her killed. She grows up at the end of the novel, with a daughter (Jane) and a granddaughter (Margaret). She is portrayed with both blonde, brown, and black hair in different stories. While it is not clear on whether or not she is in love with Peter, it is safe to assume that she does have feelings toward him, at least as a child. Perhaps consequently, Wendy is often referred to as the "mother" of the Lost Boys and, while Peter also considers her to be his "mother", he takes on the "father" role, insinuating that they play a married couple at least in their games.

Several writers have stated that Barrie was the first to use the name Wendy in a published work, and that the source of the name was Barrie's childhood friend, Margaret Henley, 4-year-old daughter of poet William Henley, who pronounced the word "friend" as "Fweiendy", adapted by Barrie as "Wendy" in writing the play.^[1] There is some evidence that the name Wendy may be related to the Welsh name Gwendolyn,^[2][3] and it is also used as a diminutive variant of the eastern European name "Wanda",^[4] but prior to its use in the Peter Pan stories, the name was not used as an independent given name.^[5]

• John Darling — John is the middle child. He gets along well with Wendy, but he often argues with Michael. He is fascinated with pirates, and he once thought of becoming "Redhanded Jack". He dreams of living in an inverted boat on the sands, where he has no friends and spends his time shooting flamingos. The character of John was named after Jack Llewelyn Davies.

• Michael Darling — Michael is the youngest child. He is approximately five years old, as he still wears the pinafores young Edwardian boys wear. He looks up to John and Wendy, dreaming of living in a wigwam where his friends visit at night. He was named after Michael Llewelyn Davies.

• Mr. and Mrs. Darling — George and Mary Darling are the children's loving parents. Mr. Darling is a pompous, blustering businessman who seeks to attract attention (from his co-workers to his wife and children), but he is really kind at heart. Mary Darling is described as an intelligent, romantic lady. It is hinted that she knew Peter Pan before her children were born. Mr. Darling was named after the eldest Llewellyn Davies boy, George, and Mrs. Darling was named after Mary Hodgson, the Davies boys' nurse. In the stage version, the same actor who plays Mr. Darling usually also plays Captain Hook.

• Nana — Nana is a Newfoundland dog who is employed as a nanny by the Darling family in Kensington Gardens. Nana does not speak or do anything beyond the physical capabilities of a large dog, but acts with apparent understanding of her responsibilities. The character is played in stage productions by an actor in a dog costume. Barrie based the character of Nana, though not the breed, on his dog "Porthos", a Saint Bernard.^[6]

• There is also the servant or maid girl. In the stage version, the same actress who plays Tiger Lily often plays this character.

Main Article: Peter Pan's Lost Boys

• Tootles — Tootles is the humblest Lost Boy because he often misses out on their violent adventures. Although he is often stupid, he is always the first to defend Wendy. Ironically, he shoots her before meeting her for the first time because of Tinker Bell's trickery. He grows up to become a judge.
• Nibs — Nibs is described as gay and debonair, probably the bravest Lost Boy. He says the only thing he remembers about his mother is she always wanted a cheque-book; he says he would love to give her one. He's also the oldest and best looking Lost Boy.
• Slightly — Slightly is the most conceited because he believes he remembers the days before he was "lost". He is the only Lost Boy who "knows" his last name — he says his pinafore had the words "Slightly Soiled" written on the tag. He cuts whistles from the branches of trees, and dances to tunes he creates himself. Slightly is apparently a poor make-believer. He blows big breaths when he feels he is in trouble, and he eventually leads to Peter's almost-downfall.
• Curly — Curly is the most troublesome Lost Boy.
• The Twins — First and Second Twin know little about themselves — they are not allowed to, because Peter Pan does not know what Twins are. First Twin is a mighty dancer, who loves to wear a dunce cap. He is called proud in Peter Pan and Wendy.

• Tiger Lily is the proud, beautiful princess of the Piccaninny Tribe. She is apparently old enough to be married, but she refuses any suitors because she desires Peter over all. She is jealous of Wendy and Tinker Bell. Tiger Lily is nearly killed by Captain Hook when she is seen boarding the Jolly Roger with a knife in her mouth, but Peter saves her. In the stage version, the same actress plays Tiger Lily and the Servant or Maid in the beginning with the Darling family.
• Tinker Bell is Peter Pan's fiery, jealous fairy. She is described as a common fairy who mends pots and kettles and, though she is sometimes ill-behaved and vindictive, at other times she is helpful and kind to Peter (for whom she has romantic feelings). The extremes in her personality are explained by the fact that a fairy's size prevents her from holding more than one feeling at a time. In Barrie's book, by Peter's first annual return for Wendy, the boy has forgotten about Tinker Bell and suggests that she "is no more" for fairies do not live long.
• Captain James Hook is the vengeful pirate who lives to kill Peter Pan, not so much because Peter cut off his right hand, but because the boy is "cocky" and drives the genteel pirate to "madness". He is captain of the ship Jolly Roger. He attended Eton College before becoming a pirate and is obsessed with "good form". Hook meets his demise when a crocodile eats him. In the stage version, the same actor who plays Mr. Darling also plays this character.
• Mr. Smee is an Irish nonconformist pirate. He is the boatswain of the Jolly Roger. Smee is one of only two pirates to survive Peter Pan's massacre. He then makes his living saying he was the only man James Hook ever feared.
• Gentleman Starkey was once an usher at a public school. He is Captain Hook's first mate. Starkey is one of two pirates who escaped Peter Pan's massacre — he swims ashore and becomes baby-sitter to the Piccaninny Tribe. Peter Pan gives Starkey's hat to the Never Bird to use as a nest.
• Fairies — In the novel Peter and Wendy, published in 1911, there are fairies on Neverland. In the part of the story where Peter Pan and the Lost Boys built a house for Wendy on Neverland, Peter Pan stays up late that night to guard her from the pirates, but then the story says: "After a time he fell asleep, and some unsteady fairies had to climb over him on their way home from an orgy. Any of the other boys obstructing the fairy path at night they would have mischiefed, but they just tweaked Peter's nose and passed on." ^[7]
• There are also Mermaids.

There is a slight romantic aspect to the story, which is sometimes played down or omitted completely. Wendy's flirtatious (by standards of the day) desire to kiss Peter, his desire for a mother figure, his conflicting feelings for Wendy, Tiger Lily, and Tinker Bell (each representing different female archetypes), and the symbolism of his fight with Captain Hook (traditionally played by the same actor as Wendy's father), all could possibly hint at a Freudian interpretation (see Oedipus Complex). Most "children's adaptations" of the play omit any romantic themes between Wendy and Peter, but Barrie's 1904 original, his 1911 novelization of it, most musicals, and the 2003 feature film, all at least hint at the romantic elements.

The original stage production took place at the Duke of York's Theatre, London, on December 27, 1904. It starred Gerald du Maurier as Captain Hook and Mr Darling, and Nina Boucicault as Peter.^[8] Zena Dare was one of the early actresses to play Peter in the UK.

Following the success of his London production, Charles Frohman also mounted a production in New York City in 1905. The 1905 Broadway production starred Maude Adams who would play the role on and off again for more than a decade, and was the actress most associated in the public's conscious with the role for the next fifty years. It was produced again by the Civic Repertory Theater in November 1928 to December 1928, in which Eva LeGallienne directed and played the role of Peter Pan. A musical version was produced in the 1950s starring Mary Martin which was later filmed for tevlevision and rebroadcast several times. Martin remains today as the actress now most associated with the role.

It is traditional in productions of Peter Pan for Mr. Darling (the children's father) and Captain Hook to be played (or voiced) by the same actor. Although this was originally done simply to make full use of the actor (the characters appear in different sections of the story) with no thematic intent, some critics have perceived a similarity between the two characters as central figures in the lives of the children. It also brings a poignant juxtaposition between Mr. Darling's harmless bluster and Captain Hook's pompous vanity.

Main article: Peter Pan (Adaptations)

The story of Peter Pan has been a popular one for adaptation into other media. In addition to its original form as a stage play and its subsequent adaptation by the author into a novel, the story and its characters have been used as the basis for a number of motion pictures (live action and animated), stage musicals, television broadcasts, a ballet, and ancillary media and merchandise. The best known of these are the 1953 animated feature film produced by Disney featuring the voice of 15-year-old film actor Bobby Driscoll; the series of musical productions (and their televised presentations) starring Mary Martin, Sandy Duncan, and Cathy Rigby; and the 2003 live-action feature film produced by P. J. Hogan starring Jeremy Sumpter.

Main article: Peter Pan (Sequels)

There have been several additions to Peter Pan's story, including the authorised sequel novel Peter Pan in Scarlet, and the popular sequel films Return to Neverland and Hook. Various characters from the story have appeared in other places, especially Tinker Bell as a mascot and character of Disney. Because the characters have been in the public domain in some jurisdictions, some of these extensions to the mythos and uses of the characters have been controversial, including unauthorised novels about Peter Pan, and a sexually explicit graphic novel featuring Wendy Darling.

The copyright status of Peter Pan varies from one jurisdiction to another, and is disputed in at least one of them. The question is complicated somewhat by the various versions in which the story has been published at different times in several countries, and changes in national and international copyright laws in the interim. Furthermore, elements introduced in the earliest versions of the story by Barrie may be in public domain in a given jurisdiction, but elements introduced in later editions or adaptations might not. For example, Disney holds the copyright for the character designs, songs, etc. introduced in the 1953 animated film, but not for the characters themselves.

Barrie had no natural heirs. In 1929, he gave the copyright to the works featuring Peter Pan to Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH), Britain's leading children's hospital, and they have exercised these rights internationally to support the work of the institution.

GOSH claims full copyright in the European Union until the end of 2007. In the 1990s, the term of copyrights was standardised throughout the EU (see Directive on harmonising the term of copyright protection) to extend 70 years after the creator's death. Although the play and novel were considered public domain in some jurisdictions within the EU at that time, this provision placed them back under copyright.

The UK copyright originally expired at the end of 1987 (50 years after Barrie's death), but was reestablished through 2007 by the European Union directive. Additionally, in 1988 James Callaghan, a former Prime Minister of the UK, persuaded the government to enact a perpetual extension of some of the rights to the work, entitling the hospital to royalties for any performance or publication of the work (or works based on the play, such as those re-using the characters). This is not a true perpetual copyright as it does not grant the hospital creative control nor the right to refuse permission. Nor does it cover the Peter Pan section of The Little White Bird, which pre-dates the play and was not therefore an "adaptation" of it. The exact phrasing is in section 301 of, and Schedule 6 to, the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988:

301. The provisions of Schedule 6 have effect for conferring on trustees for the benefit of the Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street, London, a right to a royalty in respect of the public performance, commercial publication, broadcasting or inclusion in a cable programme service of the play 'Peter Pan' by Sir James Matthew Barrie, or of any adaptation of that work, notwithstanding that copyright in the work expired on 31 December 1987.

…

1.—(1) In this Schedule—

"the Hospital" means The Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street, London,

"the trustees" means the special trustees appointed for the Hospital under the National Health Service Act 1977; and

"the work" means the play "Peter Pan" by Sir James Matthew Barrie.

…

2.—(1) The trustees are entitled, subject to the following provisions of this Schedule, to a royalty in respect of any public performance, commercial publication, broadcasting or inclusion in a cable programme service of the whole or any substantial part of the work or an adaptation of it.[2]

The conversion of U.S. copyright terms from a fixed number of years following publication, to an extending number of years following the creator's death, has introduced confusion over Peter Pan's copyright status in this country. Great Ormond Street Hospital claims that U.S. legislation effective in 1978 and again in 1998 extended their copyright until 2023, based on the copyright for the play script for Peter Pan, which was not published until 1928.

GOSH's claim is contested by various parties, including Disney, which as licensee to the animation rights had cooperated with the hospital when its copyright claim was clear, but in 2004 published Dave Barry's and Ridley Pearson's Peter and the Starcatchers in the U.S. without formal permission and without making royalty payments. In 2006, Top Shelf Productions published Lost Girls, a graphic novel featuring Wendy Darling, also without permission or royalties. The Library of Congress catalog (the official register for copyright claims in the U.S.) states that the original edition of Peter and Wendy was published in 1911. Disney and others assert that this material, like any other work published before 1923, was already in the public domain at the time of these extensions, and was therefore ineligible to be extended, and that the separate copyright to the play script (even if valid) does not prohibit works derived from the novel.

A dispute between the hospital and writer J. E. Somma over the U.S. publication of her sequel After the Rain, A New Adventure for Peter Pan, was settled out of court in March 2005. GOSH and Somma issued a joint statement which characterized her novel – which she had also defended as a commentary on the original work rather than a mere derivative of it – as "fair use" of the hospital's "U.S. intellectual property rights". Their confidential settlement does not set any legal precedent, however. [3]

The original versions of Peter Pan are in the public domain in at least Australia, Canada, (where Somma's book was first published without incident), Yemen, Seychelles, São Tomé and Principe, Eritrea, San Marino, Palau and Switzerland (where the copyright expired and was not renewed when the term was later extended; see Copyright law of Switzerland). This is also true in Afghanistan and Ethiopia, which do not have copyright laws of their own and are not signatories to any of the international copyright treaties. It is however still in copyright in Mexico and other Latin American countries where the copyright term is author's life + 100 years, even for foreign authors.

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Like many other works of fiction from the era, the Peter Pan canon contains material which may be construed as offensive to modern audiences, though it was likely not intended to be offensive or considered inappropriate at the time. Specifically, the books have been accused of both racism and sexism. The former charge primarily concerns the portrayal of Native Americans in Peter And Wendy — the portrayal is highly stereotypical, with Native Americans being shown as warlike primitives who speak in guttural tones. Barrie's treatment of female characters has also been criticized by modern readers — most of the female characters in Peter And Wendy (Wendy, Tinker Bell, Tiger Lily, and the mermaids) fawn over Peter Pan (and Tinker Bell makes several attempts on Wendy's life, out of jealousy), yet Peter ignores all of their affections.

• Peter Pan (disambiguation)
• Peter Pan, the fictional character
• Peter Pan (musical)
• Peter Pan (1953) Disney animated film, and its sequel, Return to Never Land (2002).
• Peter Pan no Bōken (Adventures of Peter Pan) (1989) Japanese anime series.
• Fox's Peter Pan and the Pirates (1990), animated TV series.
• Hook (1991), a live-action film spin-off story.
• Peter Pan (2003), a live-action film adaptation of the original tale.
• Finding Neverland (2004), semi-fictional film about Barrie's authoring of Peter Pan.
• Peter Pan in Scarlet (2006 novel), official sequel to J.M.Barrie's Peter Pan.
• Peter Pan syndrome
• Peter Pan's Flight, an attraction at many of the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts.
• Randy Constan, a popular Peter Pan cosplayer.

• Peter Pan, available at Project Gutenberg.
• Internet Broadway Database for Peter Pan
• Theatre Cedar Rapids Peter Pan Photo Gallery
• Review of 2003 film version
• Common Sense Media review of the 1953 film (2002 DVD release)
• Illustrations from the First Edtion of Peter Pan by Arthur Rackham 1906

v • d • e Peter Pan
Major Characters	Peter Pan - Wendy Darling - Captain Hook - Tinker Bell - John Darling - Michael Darling - The Lost Boys - Smee - Tiger Lily - George Darling - Mary Darling
Official Books and Stage Plays	The Little White Bird - Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up - Peter and Wendy - Peter Pan in Scarlet
Feature Films	Peter Pan (1924) - Peter Pan (1953) - Peter Pan (2003) - Hook - Return to Never Land - Tinker Bell