Sir James M. Barrie
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"When the first baby laughed for the first
time, the laugh broke
into a thousand pieces
and they went skipping about and that was the beginning of faeries."

J.M. Barrie




Click Tinkerbell to
Email David Skipper
with your questions.










American actress
Maud Adams
first 
played Peter on Broadway in 1905.

The Writer Who Never Wanted To Grow Up!





David Skipper as
Sir James M. Barrie mimicking the
infamous Captain
James Hook in his
one-man show
"The Lost Boy."




Skipper at the
Peter Pan statue
in
Kensington
Gardens
, London
.







Sir James Matthew Barrie (1860-1937), was a Scottish novelist and playwright, the son 
of a weaver.  As a graduate of Edinburgh University he became a newspaper journalist 
on the Nottingham Journal and then in 
London. He first caught public attention with a selection of Scottish sketches, Auld Licht 
Idylls
and A Window On Thrums, based on his home in Kirriemuir, County Angus. His 
first novel, The Little Minister was met with 
acclaim both in Great Britain and the United 
States and was followed by the success of Sentimental Tommy and Tommy and Grizel.

Beginning in 1901 he
wrote almost entirely for
the stage and became one of the most individual and beloved British dramatists of his time.

His plays, from comedy to romance,  include: 
Quality Street, The Admirable Chricton, What Every Woman Knows, Dear Brutus, Rosalind, Mary Rose
 
and Pantaloon.  













Statue detail.

Barrie's stories and plays are noted for               
 
their genuine charm, romance, depth of               
character, and sentimental, sometimes               
melancholy pathos.                

"Peter Pan"

But it is his eternally youthful play "Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Would Not Grow Up
that we remember Barrie with the greatest literary 
fondness. Peter Pan  
was an overnight 
sensation when it premiered in 1904 and has been continuously in production throughout 
the world ever since.

   

         NEVERLAND

The play is a wish 
fulfillment story about the triumph of youth 
over age. It’s warmth 
and spirit captivated 
the mood of the new, young century and still captivates us today.  The hope that there is a "Never Land" full of boys, pirates, Indians, mermaids, and faeries -- near that magical morning star -- 
is a theme that still tugs at our lost youth.

In 1929, Barrie gave 
The Great Ormond 
Street Hospital for Children, in London, all the rights and royalties to Peter Pan in both the play and his books.  The hospital today still enjoys the benefits of this generous endowment.

James Matthew Barrie was a part of every 
character he created. 
He was truly the writer
who never wanted to
grow up.



Barrie and "Peter
Pan"
muse Michael Llewelyn Davies.










"Peter Pan" has
been translated to
film only four times.
 Paramount Pictures
 produced the first
 motion picture in
1924 and Disney re- leased the animated
classic in 1953, with a weak sequel "Return to Neverland" in 2002.
Steven Spielberg's
 Hook broke Barrie's
 cardinal rule...  Peter
 never grows up!

The first SOUND live-action motion picture of "Peter Pan" was released in December, 2003 starring Jason Issacs as Captain James Hook.
Johnny Depp stars in the Miramax fantasy "Finding Neverland" scheduled to be released in Fall, 2004. The film loosely tells the story of how Barrie came to write "Peter Pan." 

Andrew Birkin's 1976 BBC trilogy starring Sir Ian Holm as Barrie will at long last be released on DVD in the Fall of 2004. 

The Mary Martin
television special
and more recent
Cathy Rigby
production of

"Peter Pan" are
available both on
VHS and DVD.











"Come Fly Away
To Neverland..."




Mary Martin
as 
Peter Pan.















Peter Pan in
Kensington Gardens
by
Arthur Rackham




"The Lost Boy"
A One-Man Show by David Skipper
As Sir James M. Barrie


"The Lost Boy" features Skipper as Sir James Matthew
Barrie, Scottish author and playwright of the classic
children’s book "Peter Pan" and other popular works
such as "The Little Minister" and
"Sentimental Tommy."

Join Barrie as he takes you on a journey through old 
Scotland, of his adventures as a young boy, his 
exploits as a newspaperman in London, and the
staging and success of his now classic play "Peter
Pan"
which has enchanted and warmed the hearts of
millions.  Meet the Lost Boys, the Darling family, Tiger
Lily and her Indian braves, and one of the most evil
villains ever to sail into children's literature, Captain
Hook.  This program is entertaining for both children
and adults.

The program premiered March 4th at the 2001 Rocky
Mountain Book Festival in Denver, CO.

SUGGESTED READING

The Plays of J.M. Barrie In One Volume.   
Charles Scribner's Sons, 1956.

Inventing Wonderland  
by Jackie Wullschlager.  The Free Press, 1995.

J.M. Barrie and The Lost Boys: The Love Story That
Gave Birth To Peter Pan
 
by Andrew Birkin.  Clarkson N. Potter, Inc., 1979.
(Sadly, this book is out of print, but you can find copies
on Ebay quite often... it is where I obtained my copy.)

Peter Pan Chronicles: The Nearly 100 Year History Of
The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up
 
by Bruce K. Hanson.  Carol Publishing Group, 1993.


Selected Works of J.M. Barrie:

Auld Licht Idylls (1888), novel
When a Man's Single (1888),
literary autobiography
Better Dead (1888), novel
An Edinburgh Eleven: Pen Portraits of 
College Life
(1889)
A Window in Thrums (1889)
My Lady Nicotine (1890), 
a pro-smoking piece
The Little Minister (1891), novel
Richard Savage (1891), play, produced 
with C. Marriot
A Holiday in Bed (1892)
Allahakbarries (1893)
An Auld Licht Manse (1893)
Jane Annie (1893), play, co-written with 
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
A Lady's Shoe (1893)
A Tillyloss Scandal (1893)
Two of Them (1893)
The Sabbath Day (1895)
Scotland's Lament (1895)
Margaret Ogilvy (1896), novel, based on 
his mother
Sentimental Tommy (1896), novel
Life in a Country Manse (1899)
Tommy and Grizel (1900), sequel to 
Sentimental Tommy
The Wedding Guest (1900), play
Quality Street (1901), play
The Little White Bird (1902), 
children’s book
The Admirable Crichton (1902), play
Peter Pan (1904), play
Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens (1906),
children’s book
What Every Woman Knows (1908), play
Peter and Wendy (1911), children’s book
Quality Street (1913), play
The Twelve-Pound Look (1914), play
The Will (1914), play
A Kiss for Cinderella (1916), play
Dear Brutus (1917), play
The Old Lady Shows Her Medals (1918), 
play
Mary Rose (1924), play
Shall We Join the Ladies? (1927), play
Farewell Miss Julie Logan (1932), novel

      This page designed by David Skipper, Copyright © 2001


   

Skipper as Barrie.   










                       
   

Visit The   
Great Ormond   
Street Hospital   
 for Children   

 Charity Website   
by clicking the   
image above.   
The mission   
of the hospital   
is to improve the   
health of children   
by being the   
foremost center of   
excellence   
in Europe for   
specialized pediatric   
services, research,   
evaluation and   
education   
in the field of   
child health
.   


   

  James Matthew Barrie   

Visit "Anon: The J.M. Barrie   Society" by clicking on the   picture above.  



 

 

 

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