The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-03-01

Peter took flight from my fancy he found
a haven in the spirit of Maude Adams.
While he has no children of his own.
Barrie is yet the friend and playmate of
a small army Of little boys and girls. But
perhaps his greatest happiness comes
with the coming of Christmas time, when
he knows he is going to meet what he calls
the children of Peter Pan They are
the little lads and lasses that take the
parts \ his wonderful fantasy. II i a
wonderful sight to see them come before
the rehearsal. with eyes bulged out ana
their faces wreathed in anxiety lest Wnen
they are measured they Will be told they
are too big to be Peter Pan children any
more The little folks crouch down and
try all sorts of devices to keep WITHIN
the size limit. and of course this at1oros
Barrie great joy. In his original manu-
script of the playa fact that ] think mas
never been told before-Barrie had a scene
in the last act in which fifteen mothers
appear upon the stage to claim their lost
children. Now. the principal ENJOY meIt
that Barrie gets from Peter Pan is to
be one of those children. their playmate
and their friend. But when he found That
he would have to go among the tltteen
mothers and also be their playmate anu
their friend. he very speedily cut out the
whole scene and drove the mothers from
the theatre.
Next to the children who play the
parts in these Christmas performances OF
Peter Pan 7 suppose Barrie is most iona
OF MIS- barrie. ana lfltil AtiAA AttfE ~
both fondest Of the wonderful family dog
at their cottage i'm Leicester Road I ne
creature is a shaggy Newfoundland Dog
with really remarkable intelligence ne
is the original Of Mana. the cog ID feteI
PAN and Barrie has forever immortaHIed
him in that wonderfully ingenious descrip-
ton of the way Mana should depoft her-
self which Barrie put into the manu-
Script Of Peter Pan. One time BslfIts
brought his dog to the rehearsal OF Peter
Pan when the dog i'm the play was get
ting I'D in his part After apoioglzlnS 10
the actor who PLAYED the part Tor the way
in which the really hard work IN II useu
him up Barrie said. looking affectonately
at his own dog. You see how easily she
takes it all but she's just dog. Bar
rie is very fond of repeating the remark
one old lady made to another as they
! came slowly out Of the theatre after see
! ing the performance of Peter Pan Wnen
one said to the other:
g Well. it's wonderful how they can
train dog to do this
But ne has another story-that when
/ Peter Pan had become famous the world
/ over. and just as the man who had writ
/ ten It might feel some joy in its tame
/ he one day overheard an old couple gong
out of the theatre. the one murmurlng 70
I the other. Well. you would come
And so he will ramble along in con-
versation when the mood strikes Barrie
| 10 talk Perhaps he has wasted any
/ number Of wonderful stories that would
1 have become famous in print or told pr
/ drama but 7 am sure they never would
| have given him nearly as much pleasure
as he gets from telling them to the Peter
/ Pan children. the little children that PLAY
/ in the fantasy. with whom he chums pc
/ tween the matinee and the nisht-whicl
/ is always a great event at the Duke OF
/ York's theatre in the large room off the
stage where tea and cakes are served
! and everybody gathers around the floOr
with Barrie sitting in the middle telling
/ stories.
| s,Wben Barrie visits Paris he likes best
not fashionable Paris. but the fair grounds
| where all the takers are gathered 1t Is
1 the acme Of joy for him to throw the
/ rings for knives: and once Wheh ne wa
Z there while Peter Pan was running al
I the vaudeville theatre and Barrie was
/ living at the Maurice hotel. the maltr'
[ d'hoteI formed grave suspicious OF having
such a person in the house on finding sew
pntv-nine knives in BARRE room one
| morning That was the time when III
telegraphed from Paris to his little friend!
in London what he had been doing ant
/ ended his telegram with the CONNIE Mt
| Won much, lost more
/ 'srThe first meeting of Barrie and Maud'
/ Adams occurred in London and was {
great surprise even to me Miss Adams
had Just arrived. following her success;
in The Little Minister I was GONG Z
( superintend the meeting myself and Sc
out for Bsrries home with that idea II
I mind. but when 7 got there I found IN
little playwright and the little actress al
l ready very fast friends Without a wore
to me Barrie had himself called on Mis-
Adams dressed in a tall hattie T2TTes
of costumes for him. It seems that whel
they first met but one word passed be
tween them. Well" And then Mis-
| Adams returned the visit to Mr. Barrie
place on Leicester Road.
| 1T is a saying with Barrie that Mis-
u Adams understands his characters bette
I than ne understands them himself Whel
\ Barrie first told me the story of Pete
II pan ne always spoke OF the character a.
II Peter Adams
During the writing of What Ever
Woman Knows. when 7 wrote Barrie ask
ing him how he got on. his answer was
! think. the finest and the fullest eve
sent by playwright to manager. 1t wa
the simple remark that 'Maude Adams
/ dances all over my pages BarTie's grea
desire is to have Miss Adams appear il
one of his plays in London-a wish l an
going to grant him some day-and tina
day-or night-will mark the birth Of tn
next play in the great cycle of Barri'
dramas"