Here We Go! Peter Pan: Again and again through the years

Thu., March 6, 2025

Color TV sets first came out in 1954. By the next year, fewer than 1% of U.S. homes had a color TV. For that matter, only about half the homes in the U.S. had a TV set at all in 1955.

Nevertheless, on March 7, 1955 — 70 years ago today — NBC broadcast the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical “Peter Pan” starring Mary Martin in color.

It became the highest-rated TV production seen up to that time.

'Look At Me, Way Up High... Suddenly, Here I am: I'm Flying'

Mary Martin was already a huge Broadway star, having won a Tony Award playing the female lead in the Rogers and Hammerstein production, “South Pacific” in 1949.

After the run of that production ended, producer Edwin Lester hunted for a suitable starring role for Martin, and found it in “Peter Pan,” the story about a young boy who lives in a fantasy land, leads a band of lost boys and a fairy and who refuses to grow up. The story of Peter Pan had originated a half-century before on stage in London, where youngsters were not allowed to act on stage. So from the beginning, Peter was typically played by a woman.

Lester bought the American rights to the stage production, had a lot more music added — turning the play into a musical designed to highlight Martin’s talents — and changed the ending to make it happier.

Effects manager Peter Foy was hired to develop a way for Pan and his young friends to fly — instead of fairy dust, Foy had the actors supported by harnesses hooked up to a system of overhead pulleys. Stagehands could pull a cord to make the actors rise or descend.

Foy’s harnesses had a breaking weight of 30,000 lbs. This gave the diminutive Martin a comfortable safety margin.

The musical premiered in San Francisco on July 19, 1954 and then moved to Los Angeles four weeks later. It opened on Broadway on Oct. 20, 1954 and became a huge hit, selling out every performance. Martin and Cyril Ritchard — who played the villain, Captain Hook — won Tony Awards. The show closed on Feb. 26, 1955 after 152 performances.

Just ten days after it closed on Broadway, “Peter Pan” was performed live on the 90-minute NBC series “Producers’ Showcase.” The show had been launched the year before and broadcast in color in hopes of boosting interest in color TV sets — especially those manufactured by NBC’s parent company, RCA.

The musical was as popular on TV as it had been on Broadway: 65 million people tuned in, the highest number ever for a single TV program at the time. Martin won an Emmy Award for her performance.

An elated NBC brought back the cast to perform the production live once again on Jan. 9, 1956. While both this and the 1955 performance were broadcast in color, no color recordings of either of these broadcasts exist today: Color videotape wasn’t yet a thing.

On Dec. 8, 1960, “Peter Pan” was broadcast once again on NBC. This time, it lasted longer — 100 minutes instead of 90 — and was recast, because the original child actors had grown too old to play their roles. This time, NBC shot the production on color videotape. This allowed NBC to rerun “Peter Pan” — at least five times over the next 31 years. This version can be found today on YouTube.

In 2014, NBC would try it again: Another live TV production of “Peter Pan” starring Allison Williams as Peter and Christopher Walken as Captain Hook.

Martin won Tony Awards for “South Pacific” in 1900, “Peter Pan” in 1954 and “The Sound of Music” in 1959. In 1989, she was given Kennedy Center honors. Her son, Larry Hagman, would earn fame as a TV actor, playing astronaut Anthony Nelson in “I Dream of Jeannie” and oil magnate J.R. Ewing on “Dallas.” Credit: NBC

Other Incarnations Of The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up

1902 - As a character in a novel

Peter Pan originated as a character in a book — aimed at adults, not children — by Scottish novelist and playwright J.M. Barrie. In “The Little White Bird,” Peter is a seven-day-old baby who is taught how to fly by fairies and birds and flees his nursery to London’s Kensington Gardens.

1904 - In a stage production

Two years later, Barrie made Peter the star of a stage production, “Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up.” The play opened in London on Dec. 27, 1904 and featured a female actor as Peter as well as the characters who’d become so familiar later: Tinker Bell, Wendy Darling, her two brothers, Captain Hook and the Lost Boys.

1905 - In a broadway play

The next year, “Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up” opened on Broadway, starring Maude Adams — who was 33 years old at the time. Her success as Peter and in other roles earned her an annual income of more than $1 million, making her Broadway’s highest paid performer at the time.

1907 - Featured in a picture book

Barrie’s 1904 play was adapted as a children’s picture book by Daniel O’Connor and illustrated by Alice B. Woodward. It’s the first novelization of the stage production — and, therefore, the first novelization of what we know today as the story of Peter Pan.

1911 - Featured in a novelization

Four years after the picture book, Barrie wrote “Peter and Wendy,” his own adaptation of his original play, adding elements from a short theatrical sequel he had written in 1908, “When Wendy Grew Up — An Afterthought.”

1915 - Featured in a children's novel

Barrie’s 1911 adaptation was, in turn, adapted again by May Byron in an abridged novelization, “Peter Pan and Wendy.” It was the first time this exact title had been used for Barrie’s work. In 1921, Byron’s novel would be republished featuring illustrations by Mabel Lucie Attwell.

1924 - In a silent film

Barrie licensed his property to Paramount Pictures and even wrote a screenplay for the film, but Paramount chose to go with Barrie’s original stage script. The movie featured Betty Bronson as Peter and Ernst Torrence as Captain Hook, Mary Brian as Wendy Darling and Virginia Brown Faire as Tinker Bell.

1953 - In an animated Disney film

Walt Disney saw the silent movie in 1935 and was inspired to create an animated version. He bought the film rights from Paramount Pictures but then production was postponed by World War II. “Peter Pan” grossed $6 million domestically and $8.6 million worldwide. It would be re-released five more times over the next 36 years.

1991 - In a live-action movie sequel

Steven Spielberg made “Hook,” an authorized sequel to “Peter Pan” in which Peter decides to grow up, marry Wendy’s granddaughter and have children. The film starred Robin Williams as an adult Peter Pan, Julia Roberts as Tinkerbell and Dustin Hoffman as Captain Hook. The movie grossed nearly $120 million in the U.S.

2003- Again and Again and Again ...

A number of live-action Peter Pan movies have come out in the 21st century: “Peter Pan” and “Neverland” in 2003, “Pan” in 2015, “Wendy” and “Come Away” in 2020, and “Peter Pan & Wendy” in 2023 — the latter from Disney and featuring Alexander Molony as Peter, Ever Anderson as Wendy and Jude Law as Captain Hook.

Sources: Internet Movie Database, Library of Congress, NPR’s “Fresh Air,” New York Daily News, Eyes of a Generation.com