JM Barrie & Peter Pan

THE MAN WHO COULDN’T GROW UP

The fascinating story of J.M. Barrie, the author of the internationally famous book Peter Pan.

The film Finding Neverland, starring actor Johnny Depp, is all about the life of J.M. Barrie. It’s an incredible story of the success, love and tragedy of the man who couldn’t grow up.

A Tragic Death

J.M. Barrie was born on 9th May 1860 in the Scottish village of Kirriemuir. Barrie was the ninth of ten children, and he grew up with stories of pirates and adventure. When Barrie was six, something happened that would affect him for the rest of his life: his brother David, who was 14 at the time, died in a skating accident. As a result, Barrie’s mother fell into a depression as David had been her favourite child. Barrie was only six at the time, but he was overwhelmed by his mother’s grief. He later wrote about his desire to “become so like David that even my mother should not know the difference”. For a week, Barrie practised David’s way of whistling; and then, one morning, he dressed in his dead brother’s clothing and did his best to bring David back to life. And in his attempt to be loved and replace David, Barrie virtually became David.

Young Forever

All of this had a profound effect on Barrie; and it actually stunted his own development. When Barrie reached the age of 14 (the same age at which his brother had died), he literally stopped growing (he was only 160 cm tall), and never grew any taller. This idea of everlasting childhood stayed with Barrie for the rest of his life. It also became the inspiration for his most famous play, Peter Pan. However, it would be another 33 years before that inspiration emerged in the shape of the play and novel.

The Lost Boys

Later on, Barrie moved to London, where he became a popular writer. He knew all the great literary figures of the time, including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (author of the Sherlock Holmes books) and H.G. Wells; and he often surprised them with his remarks. He once said to Wells, “It is all very well to be able to write books, but can you waggle your ears?” In 1897, Barrie began a relationship with a group of boys that was to dominate much of his life. One day, in Kensington Gardens in London, Barrie watched three little boys (five-year-old George, fouryear-old Jack, and baby brother Peter) who were playing in the park with their nanny. Barrie befriended them, and together they talked about cricket, pirates, and fairies. He amazed them by the way he could waggle his ears; and before long, Barrie was meeting them on a regular basis.

Meeting the Mother

That same year, Barrie met the boys’ mother (Sylvia Llewelyn Davies) by chance during a New Year’s Eve party. Sylvia later invited Barrie to visit them at home, which Barrie promptly did. Soon, Barrie was going there all the time.

The Llewelyn Davies boys would be the inspiration for much of Barrie’s later work. Barrie’s novel The Little White Bird (1902) is based upon Barrie’s relationship with George. In the story, a man called Captain W. meets a little boy called Peter in Kensington Gardens. And the rest of the book is about the captain’s attempts to win the affections of both the boy and his beautiful mother. In 1900, Sylvia gave birth to Michael (he would become Barrie’s favourite); and in 1903, she became pregnant with Nicholas (called Nico), her fifth and final child. The day before Nico’s birth, Barrie started work on the theatre play Peter Pan. Unlike baby Peter in The Little White Bird, this Peter would be an older boy who lived in distant Never Land (called “Neverland” or “Never-never Land” in some editions), where he had adventures just like the ones that Barrie had so often play-acted with Sylvia’s children. Barrie set the first scene of the book in the Darling’s house in a shabby street in Bloomsbury. The beautiful Mrs Darling was modelled on Sylvia, and the angry Mr Darling, rather unfairly, on Arthur, her husband.

The Story of Pan Grows

Eventually the play was ready. The opening night was on 27th December 1904. Sylvia and the boys came into town to accompany the nervous Barrie to the theatre. Back in New York, producer Charles Frohman waited to learn if he had a hit or a disaster. Finally a cable came: Peter Pan was an overwhelming success. The critics were impressed, and an audience full of children had been enthralled. In fact, many of them ran out of the theatre screaming because they were so frightened by Captain Hook, who was played by Gerald du Maurier (Sylvia’s brother).

Disaster

Things seemed to be perfect, but then, in 1906, disaster struck. Arthur (the boys’ father) died of cancer; and Sylvia died shortly afterwards. Barrie took care of the boys, and paid for their education and everything. They became Barrie’s “lost boys”. Meanwhile, the Peter Pan story continued to develop. The tale of Peter Pan as a baby, originally published in The Little White Bird, was now available in a separate children’s book edition, called Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, with illustrations by Arthur Rackham. The script of the play was published under the title Peter Pan, the Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up; and eventually Barrie wrote a novel about the story in a book called Peter and Wendy. He ended this volume with a new scene in which Peter comes back to Wendy’s window years later, and discovers she is all grown up.

More Tragedy

But once again tragedy struck. In March 1916, George was killed in World War I. Gerald (Sylvia’s brother who played Captain Hook) also died. Charles Frohman drowned shortly afterwards in the sinking of the Luisitania. And, worst of all, Michael died on his 21st birthday, drowned in a boating accident. Barrie never fully recovered from Michael’s loss and almost lost the will to live. Barrie eventually died in 1937, with Peter and Nico at his bedside. “To die will be an awfully big adventure,” Barrie once wrote in the voice of Peter Pan. In his will, Barrie left the Peter Pan royalties to the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children.

The End

A few years before his death, Barrie had commissioned a statue of Peter Pan that is now in Hyde Park (London). Barrie said that he hoped it would allow Peter to be remembered long after the play was forgotten. But these days Peter Pan is just as popular as ever; and many children still dream of flying off with Peter to Never Land, where they’ll never bathe, or eat broccoli, or (the worst fate of all) have to grow up.

G L O S S A R Y

overwhelmed adj very, very sad grief n sadness to whistle vb to make music by blowing out air through your mouth to bring someone back to life exp to make a dead person alive again to stunt your own development exp to stop your growth everlasting adj that lasts forever to waggle your ears exp to make your ears move a nanny n a woman who looks after young children in a rich person’s house to befriend vb to make friends with someone a fairy n an imaginary little person who knows magic by chance exp accidentally to win the affection of someone exp to make someone like you to play-act vb to play the part of someone as part of a game a shabby street n a street that is not in good condition the opening night n the night when a play is first shown to the public a hit n a success a cable n a telegram an overwhelming success n a big success enthralled adj really impressed the script of the play n the text of a play to sink vb if a boat “sinks”, it goes to the bottom of the ocean the Luisitania n a famous American passenger ship that sank during WWI before America was in the war a will n a legal document that says who will receive your money when you die a royalty n money that artists receive for their work/music/writing, etc to commission vb to arrange for someone to do a piece of work for you a fate n your “fate” is the thing that must happen to you