Hey fellow Boomers . . . remember when Producer’s Showcase on CBS broadcast a live black and white version of Peter Pan? On March 7th of 1955, everyone who had access to a TV (about 65 million viewers in all) was tuned in to watch the Tony Award-winning revival of the J. M. Barrie play with Mary Martin and Cyril Ritchard in their Tony Award-winning performances. As with the Wizard of Oz, it became required family TV viewing. There was no videotaping available at the time so there is just a crude kinescope of the broadcast. It was such a hit that the following year the cast did another live performance before the cameras and once again delighted TV audiences. In 1960 a third live version was broadcast — this time on a sound stage, in color, and videotaped. This version was rebroadcast in 1966, 1968, and in 1970 and is the version most of us remember. Mary Martin became a television icon and was the Peter Pan most of us consider to be the “real’ Peter Pan. Mary Martin had a son who was an actor and he, too, became a TV icon. His name was Larry Hagman and he created the role of the dastardly J.R. Ewing on the show “Dallas.” He will never be forgotten as the Texas villain you loved to hate. Hagman laughingly admitted in an interview that he considered his mom to be Peter Pan and his kids loved to watch their grandma flying over Never Never Land.
So while we are on the subject, why is it that a girl is always cast in the role of Peter Pan? Well, in 1905 theatrical entrepreneur Charles Frohman took on the production. There was a hard and fast rule that no adolescent (14 or younger) could work past 9 p.m. The show’s director Dion Boucicault argued that a male actor would simply be too big to be believable in the role and Frohman felt that a young woman could better project the tone of voice and body shape of the perennial adolescent Peter. Despite Barrie’s objections, an actress was cast in the role.
It has often been written and stated that Maude Adams originated the role of Peter Pan. This is not true. Director Boucicault had a sister named Nina who was an actress and it was she who was cast in the role of Peter. The play was a critical and box office hit. Nina Boucicault played the lead for a year and then left the show for another play. It was in 1906 that the legendary Maude Adams took the role and made it her own. She played Peter for the next fifteen years, going on tour in the United States and Canada in the traveling production. From that time on with a few exceptions, girls have played Peter. Actresses such as Jean Arthur, Veronica Lake, Sandy Duncan, and Mia Farrow have taken to the wires to fly over Neverland. In 1970 Haley Mills starred in an acclaimed London production. Gymnast Cathy Rigby was hailed for her portrayal of Peter in the 1970s. So that’s the reason for the tradition. As for Mary Martin, I remember that as a nine year old watching the 1960 TV presentation that Peter had himself a really shapely set of legs.
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