Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-03-25
When Immortal Peter
Pan" Was a Sorry
"Flivver"

Peter Pan" is now such an enduring
success Of the centuries, welcomed when
ever Maude Adams revlves It. that hardly
one playgoer in a hundred realizes that
there was a time when certain New York.
ers were ready to put It down as a Broad.
way failure The critics guessed wrong
and the first night audience guessed
wrong. Mr.. woolcott. Of the New York
Times. is responsible for exhumng this
skeleton in Americas theatrical closet.
It was on the night of November 6.
1905. that Peter Pan was played for the
first time in New York. 1t had been pro.
duced triumphantly in London the year
before, and quite a fever of expectancy
awaited it's coming to New York The ar
resting poster with its "Do You Believe
In Fairies?" bedecked the billboards OF
Manhattan, and sleepy little messenger
boys curled up In the corner of the EN-
pire lobby waiting all night for the begin
ming of the box office sale. But the news
from the road was disheartening WASH
ington evidently did not believe in fairies.
and Buffalo was cold to Peter Pan" On
the opening night in New York. a polite
and baffled audience laughed and APP
plauded loyally--but at disconcertngly
wrong moments.
The author of THE Legend of Peter
Pan with whatever of reluctance or
malice may color his dlsposlton-must
write one inexorable chapter devoted to
the collapse of the New York reviewers.
Some there were who responded gayly
to the appeal of the play, but there were
others who did not respond at all. Now
listen to this oracle:
Mr.. Barrie. in the Of his faeetIous-
sSsn has n t nSS e yStfy 10 b ms
prolonged success here. tho blame must be
yaeqy as gtTSsy Sa at srss Rs dRGF s
a condemnation Of balderdash. cheap melo-
Of s second t
Sngss cCmEarson h With n Ploys IKE Ths WfsTd
to show either the sense or, fun or childhood
h iii %d0 ps'eF Sn Sssht af, to Of '9aes Sa6e
Adams standInE this Play f9oms IKE .T waste
a play at all, II is very bad one.
The most famous critic of them all, both
n better and an older soldier. spoke half
patronizlngly of the piece and described
II as a fantasy that sometimes runs into
puerllity," while still another opined:
Although It's novelty will doubtless catch the
town, you might imagine, after the charm of
It's dellshtful first act has T9rn of: thSt MT;
Dream, by getting up out of the wrong side
Of the dramatic bed.
1t is amusing to remember that the first
few enthusiasts who proselyted In the
fortnight before the tide turned and the
play began to win its way were regarded
by some as pseudo-intellectuals arrant
poseurs, indeed, for all the world as though
cheering for Peter Pan" were like walk
ing down Piccadilly with n tulip or a lily
in your medieval hand.
Where" asked one, SIS the convincing
spirit? Where is the Illusion? Where is
the seductive charm to transport us away
from this workaday world? Peter Pan is
diverting but is MT satisfying"
Where indeed? But the severest rebuke
that was administered to the playwright
appeared I'm "a morning newspaper" and
contained these bitter reflections:
Peter Pam is a riddle to which there is
no answer; II bafhed large and typical
Maude Adams house last night. His
(Barries 81 ideas OF Childlike simplicity are
ludLcTous They SEEM to be- the fqncss Of IA
q ntentions + quite pSss5s 6o e sse ia any Y
suggested jim.jams' but never the lncidity st OF
Miss Adams. with her delightful gifts. wasting
herself on such drivel
Well, the third-rate extravaganza is
observing its tenth anniversary; the fam
cies of a disordered stomach have re-
joiced more than a thousand audiences in
America. The Since, the Jukes and the
Captain Hook among the unbellevers have
been pushed into the sea, and Is it fancy
that the sound the wind brings from the
theatre is the crowning of Peter triumph
anti