100 Jahre "Peter Pan" -Ewiger Elfenjunge [german]

[Slim K team]

[shadow=red,left,300]100 Jahre "Peter Pan" -Ewiger Elfenjunge[/shadow]

Ein Klassiker: Vor 100 Jahren wurde das Theaterstück "Peter Pan" in London uraufgeführt
von Reinhard Wengierek (DIE WELT)

^{Aufruhr in der ganzen Szene: "Jetzt ist er endgültig verrückt geworden", schäumte die Londoner Theaterwelt. Und meinte den schottischen Journalisten und Dichter James Matthew Barrie (1860-1937). Denn was da vor der Uraufführung seines neuen, ungeduldig erwarteten Stücks durchsickerte, schien unverschämt blasphemisch, allzu befremdlich: Da sei die Rede von einem kleinen Mädchen namens Wendy, das zusammen mit seinen Brüdern von einem Elfenknaben im giftgrünen Wams namens Peter Pan in ein sagenhaftes Feenreich "Nimmerland" verschleppt wird, um dort gegen einen brutal bösen Kapitän namens Hook zu kämpfen.}


Gut gegen Böse: Peter Pan kämpft mit Piratenkapitän Hook

<sup>Solch eine Story hielten die Spitzen der englischen Gesellschaft für viel zu albern; man hegte schließlich allerhöchste Ansprüche. Und prophezeite lauthals ein gründliches Desaster; ja, einen deftigen Skandal.


Als denn vor just 100 Jahren am 27. Dezember anno 1904 der Vorhang hochging und ein als Hund verkleideter Schauspieler auftrat, erstarrte das Premierenpublikum. Es begriff nicht recht, wozu es gebeten war: Zu einer Kinderei oder zu einer raffinierten, wundersam poetischen Mär. Im Ensemble griff Angst um sich vor dem ohnehin befürchteten schweren Reinfall sowie dem drohenden finanziellen Debakel.

Doch im Verlauf des Spiels, so Augenzeugen, entfachte sich Begeisterung im Saal. "Peter Pan" wurde ein Riesenerfolg, und Barrie ein Star.

Es dauerte nicht lang, und die abenteuerliche Geschichte vom kämpferischen Peter, der nicht erwachsen werden wollte, wurde in ganz England gespielt - und schließlich in der halben Welt. James Matthew Barrie entschloß sich, "Peter Pan" als Kinderbuch herauszubringen. Es wurde ein weltberühmter Klassiker. Da kommt es gerade recht, daß Sotheby's pünktlich zu Peter Pans 100. Geburtstag nicht nur Fotografien, Briefe und Manuskripte aus Barries Archiv versteigerte, sondern auch die Kollektion von Andrew Birkin, der die große Studie über "J. M. Barrie and the Lost Boys" geschrieben hat und dabei eine Fülle von Material aus dem Familienarchiv der Llewelyn Davies verwertete.

So verrückt, so fantastisch es zuging in "Nimmerland", so real waren die Begebenheiten, die Barries Schreibkunst anstachelten: nämlich die Tollheiten der fünf Jungen des Ehepaars Llewelyn Davies, mit dem der Autor befreundet war. Seine eigene Kindheit blieb vom frühen Tod des Bruders sowie der Krankheit seiner Mutter getrübt; deshalb wohl die innige Bindung an die Jungenschar, mit der Barrie viel Zeit verbrachte. Nach dem Tod der Davies adoptierte er die Waisen.

Das Miteinander der fünf Brüder mit Barries und die Inspirationen, die sie ihm für "Peter Pan" gaben, davon handelt "Finding Neverland", ein mit Stars gespickter Film, der am 10. Februar nächsten Jahres auch in die deutschen Kinos kommt. Johnny Depp spielt den tollen Dichter Barries, und Kate Winslet Sylvia Llewelyn Davies, die Mutter der Jungen.

Dabei ist Peter Pan seit langem nicht nur im Theater zu Hause (deutsche Bühnen haben ihn stets im Programm), sondern auch im Kino. Die Walt-Disney-Version von 1953 gehört zu den erfolgreichsten Zeichentrickfilmen aller Zeiten - auch ein Klassiker. Später entstand eine filmische Fortschreibung der "Pan"-Geschichte mit Dustin Hoffmann und Robin Williams; auch "Hook" wurde ein Hit.

Und des Weiterspinnens ist kein Ende. Gerade eben wurde in Großbritannien ein Wettbewerb ausgeschrieben über die fantasievollsten Erfindungen über Peters künftiges elfenhaftes Dasein. Vom Londoner Kinderkrankenhaus Great Ormond Street. Barrie vermachte dieser Klinik alle Rechte an seinem Wunderwerk.</sup>

original textDer Ewiger Elfenjunge

*wusstet Ihr das sogar legende Charlie Chaplin als komparse bei einer der ersten produktionen mitmachte?
^{slim k}

[Slim K team]

[glow=red,2,300]Forever young: Peter Pan still touches our spirit at 100[/glow]
<sup>By David S. Skipper

Peter Pan, or the boy who never grows up, turns 100 today, Dec. 27. The first citizen of Neverland shows his age so remarkably well that he does not look a day over 12 years old.

"Nothing matters much after you are 12," remarked Scottish novelist and playwright Sir James Matthew Barrie, the son of Scottish weavers and father of the mercurial, literary nature child, Peter Pan.

Barrie scholars and Peter Pan fans will gather tonight at London's Duke of York Theater to offer congratulatory toasts and a slice of Christmas cake in honor of Barrie. The gathering will officially commemorate the exact moment the curtain ascended at the historic venue 100 years ago and introduced Peter Pan to the world.

Peter has been thumbing his nose at growing up for a century and he shows no sign of slowing down or growing up. Last year, P.J. Hogan's "Peter Pan" flew onto the big screen in his first-ever, sound, live-action retelling of Barrie's immortal classic. Andrew Birkin has re-published his landmark biography "J.M. Barrie and The Lost Boys." Birkin has also created a treasure trove of memorabilia on a Web site with hundreds of photographs and letters by Barrie and the Llewelyn Davies family, revealing an intimate portrait of how this endearing family influenced Barrie, in part, to write "Peter Pan."

In November, Miramax released "Finding Neverland" starring Johnny Depp as Barrie. A revealing new play written by Ron Paolillo sheds insight on the diminutive Scotsman's deeper, psychological inspiration for Peter Pan. The Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University will share its extensive collection of Barrie manuscripts, photographs and documents during a three-month exhibition beginning in February.

"Hide-and-Seek With The Angels: The Life of J.M. Barrie," a new biography by Lisa Chaney, will be published in March 2005. An annotated Peter Pan is in the works, and Cathy Rigby returns to the flying wire in her touring production of the boy who never grows up.

What the enduring appeal and fascination? Why does the eternal lost boy continue to grasp our imagination with adventures of wrecked islands, wolfish boys, bloodthirsty pirates and noble Indian braves?

Like Peter, the answer is simple, yet complex. On a primitive level, Barrie's lost boy is pure energy, adventure, myth and magic, one Joseph Campbell would call a "hero of a thousand faces." As we grow older we observe an ageless play in which lies a paradox of time-stealing crocodiles, budding sexuality and childhood, rebellion and restraint; a complex and intense allegory to rival that of Heaven and Hell.

The literary Peter sprang forth from a story game collaboration between the author and the five boys of Arthur and Sylvia Llewelyn Davies, Barrie's London neighbors.

Barrie's true genius is revealed in his ability to relate to children on an individual level, unassuming, unpatronizing and unfettered by age. He could read and map a child's mind and reveal the mysterious wonder of youth through enchanted prose.

Today, there are myriad psychological self-help books written for adults to facilitate the discovery of our inner child. However, none can compare to the literary architecture Barrie has built for us, a nostalgic window from which we may peer into our past and revel in our childhood dreams and aspirations. As adults, the pressures of the work-a-day world bear down upon us, crushing our spirit under a mountain of mortgage payments, power lunches and never-ending deadlines. Peter Pan is our liberator.

"God gave us memory so we might have roses in December," Barrie said. God gave us Barrie so we could revisit our youth.

Peter Pan rekindles the wonderment and pleasures of childhood happy days. Peter reminds us that while he may often forget, spring cleaning is just a memory away. We need only look up into the starry night and wish upon that glistening second star to the right and by morning we will fly away to Neverland and be young once again, if only for a fleeting moment. This is the enduring legacy of Peter Pan.

Thank you, J.M. Barrie.</sup>

original text Forever young: Peter Pan still touches our spirit at 100

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[Slim K team]

Peter Pan, the boy who refused to grow up, celebrates 100 years
<sup>Agence France-Presse/ London, December 24, 2004

Peter Pan, the little boy who refused to grow up, celebrates his 100th birthday on Monday, having become one of the best-loved characters in children's fiction.

On December 27, 1904, the Duke of York Theatre in London staged the premiere of Scottish playwright J.M. Barrie's masterpiece about Wendy and her brothers, dragged by Peter Pan into the imaginary land of "lost boys" and the fairy Tinkerbell, and pirates led by the sinister Captain Hook.

Numerous events are being held to mark the anniversary, including a special performance at the Duke of York and workshops for children on the Peter Pan theme at the Theatre Museum in London's Covent Garden.</sup>


This photo released by Sotheby's in London on December 23, 2004 shows the first production of the play "Peter Pan."

<sup>Museum spokeswoman Caroline Malbon explained the play's enduring appeal. "It captures the children's imagination, going away from routine life to enter a magical, fantastic world, leaving the parents behind," she told AFP.

An auction of Peter Pan memorabilia, including manuscripts, at Sotheby's last week fetched 116,100 pounds (165,000 euros, 223,000 dollars).

The proceeds of the sale went to Great Ormond Street Hospital, designated in 1929 by Sir James Matthew Barrie -- to give the playwright his full name -- as the sole beneficiary of the profits from the rights to Peter Pan.

The hospital, which specialises in the treatment of sick children, receives all monies from plays, films, books and other products inspired by the story.

Under the terms of Barrie's will, the hospital is not allowed to divulge how much Peter Pan brings in.</sup>


silent movie: PETER PAN(1924)

<sup>One of the most successful pieces of children's literature of all time, the play has packed theatres around the English-language world every year since it premiered.

The boy who did not want to grow up has inspired a swathe of films, from the famous Disney cartoon version in 1953, to the most recent, released this autumn, "Finding Neverland" starring Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet, which concentrates on Barrie's own life.

The Sotheby's auction aroused great interest from universities and libraries, fascinated by the astonishing and tragic genesis of the story.

J.M. Barrie (1860-1937) was walking in London's Kensington gardens in 1897 when he bumped into a little boy, five-year-old George Llewelyn-Davies, and his four-year-old brother Jack, accompanied by their nanny and their brother Peter in a pram.

Barrie rapidly became a friend of the family, which grew in size with the birth of two more little boys, Michael and Nicholas.

The five children appear to have been the inspiration of the "lost boys" and Michael in particular the model for Peter Pan, in the same way as the friendship between Lewis Carroll and Alice Liddell inspired that other great children's classic, "Alice in Wonderland".

But the Llewelyn-Davies family was struck by tragedy, with the death of the father and then the children's beautiful mother, Sylvia, in 1910.

"When she died, it seems that Barrie falsified her will, to become the custodian of the children, replacing the name of Jenny Hodgson, the boys' nurse, with that of his own, 'Jimmy'", Sotheby's manuscript expert Peter Beal said.

Tragedy continued to dog the family: George was killed in 1915 in World War I, Michael drowned with a friend in 1921 in a suspected suicide and Peter committed suicide in 1960.

The curse appears to have even affected Barrie's biographer Andrew Birkin. Barrie had written: "May God blast anyone who writes a biography about me". Birkin's son, a promising poet and musician, was killed in a car accident in September 2001 at the age of 21.</sup>