Los Angeles herald., 1907-07-09
By WILLIAM HAMILTON CLINE

ever doubted 1t? OF sourse there are
~ gnomes and stardust and crocodiles
that have clocks ticking in their insides,
and pirates bold, and funny dogs, and
why of course there is a Peter Pan!
Didn't we see all of them, really and truly
see them-over at the Mason last night?
Bah! You don't believe in such non
sense? I'm sorry for you-mighty sorry.
do. I'd recommend that you see Peter
Pan" for yourself. If you're an old
crouch it'll warm your very heart; II you
are skeptie it'll make & you ,t doubt o, your our
if you are a cynic it'll thaw out the icy,
blood in your veins and make child OF
you again.
That's it! I've been wondering all even
ing what Peter Pan" was doing to me,
and to all the rest of that vast throng that
packed the theater. And that's tit made
or gray-headed youngsters, perhaps, but
Youngsters, Just the same. That's the
secret Of Peter Pan" Doesn't Peter
himself say: Il am youth, eternal youth you
I am the sun rising; am poets singing;
/ am the new world. l am JOY, JOY joy!
For certainly Peter Pan" isn't play.
it lacks every element of dramatic
ethics. 1t is a whimsy, a fantasy, "a
childish dream. 1t violates dramatic tladi-
ton right and left; it is as inconsistent t.
childs own tale. Many a stage buresque
satirizes the earnest drama; here comes
the most individual playwright of the day,
and dramatzes the eXtrayaganza! He
travestes the serious with a nursery
rhyme, and yet puts into it an undercur-
rent of delicate pathos and luminous poeSY
so charming that 1t entrances the while
we recognize its biting satire and laugh
at it's Juvenile humor! But for it's in
herent cleverness, its imaginative quality
and its beauty one would instlnctlVeiy O.
clare that here were the first puerlle
slant it is .scintilant with brilliance and
tear-compelling with feelings. was ever
such madcap play writ before?
And how fiighty it is-just as irrespon-
sible in it's sequences as is child's mind
One jumps from prosaic Hannels to moon
shine; from a poetic parting. to house
cleaning; from Intangible fairies to cnll1
dren who must take their medicine and
must not bite their nails. And still You
feel that 1t is all true and real and actual;
certain things In your own nature verify
every incident; your own memory marks
back to times just such as these. and you
know--in your very homes yoU know
that if you shut your eyes tight and re"
there at ALL but only the home of the
Darlings, and the woods and the pirate
ship, and the children, and Mana, ana
most of all Peter Pan, who has lost his
shadow and found it again.
For every grown up man who sees Peter
Pan recognizes in him the romantic rest
lessness of youth; the desire to try one S
wings tnat ne Ielt m~lllS early uuHS, W
go upon this or that mad emprise; And
every woman perceives in Wendy the
maternal instinct just awakening, the in
stinct that leads TO the adoption of dolls
when mother isn't looking. And that is |
the real appeal of Peter Pan"
Upon your own mental attitude, how
ever, depends the joy that this unique skit
brings to you, as much as upon the
memories of your own experiences. If you
go disbelieving, disgruntled, predisillusion-
ized you will come away fre'fui, cross
and sorry that you cannot re-create withiu |
you the lost loneliness of your childhood.
But if you determine to revive the loves
and fears and hopes and hates and terrors
of your own tnfantile days, and to live
again those times, the while you recall
the youthful impressions of the tales you
then heard of Indians and pirates and
pixies and adventures strange, and i'm
probable-then Peter Pan will help you
and you will help Feter Pan.
If sorrow is gnawing at your heart; #
you have grown weary or the world ana
its cares; If you would blot some dark |
spot out of your life; if you doubt good
ness and truth, purity and merriment; If
you are hardened and cynical, callous TO |
joys worried, downcast or
you go to see Peter Pan.
But go with an open heart. Do not steel /
against its lightsome charms, it's
it's Illusions. Be free to be
to be uplifted; to be made
Maude Adams have message for you;
they will Undue you with the gospel of
happiness, will take you far into Never
Never Never land, and will make you
laugh and be glad you are living, in
spite of yourself.
Besides "Peter Pan is a good playa
pure. refined and appealing play. 1t i'm
bues us with a desire for better things
an idealism that may Tighten this worka-
day world and help us to unshoulder our
load of sordidness and money grabbing
and commercialism-and all that is sadly
needed in this matter of fact. age. 1t Is
glorious to be made to believe that you
are a boy or a girl again and that you
care less for dollars than for imaginary
adventure.
Great as is the charm of the play itself,
nevertheless one wonders how there ever
could have been a Peter Pan without
Maude Adams to interpret him. Maude
Adams is finer than the play. Her Peter
Pan is consummate creation, an inspira-
ion of art. The charm of this actress is
because it is so indefinable.
She is not great" in the accepted use of
he term. Her voice lacks the depth and
beauty and music of, say, Viola Aliens.
She possesses no wondrouS knowledge of
stage technique. She even lacks physical
beauty, though always delightfully."- girlish
md fresh. But she is winsome, whole
iome and at times almost eerle. The well
lfRh fntanqfhla oua1ftV Of her youth ie Il,