Wikipedianlists 54 works written by the Scottish author James Matthew Barrien(who was born on this date in 1860). But I have only ever heard ofnone of them: Peter Pan.
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nNownthat I look at that list, I see several Peter Pan “extras”—perhapsnsequels or maybe even prequels—that I didn’t know existed. Theyninclude Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, When Wendy GrewnUp, and Peter and Wendy. n
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Actually,nmany of Barrie’s writings and plays were successful, although PeternPan was SO successful that it overshadowed his other works to somenextent even during Barrie’s lifetime. However, Barrie earned so muchnfame during his life, he was made a baronet by George V—so that’snSir J. M. Barrie, thank you very much!
Actually,nmany of Barrie’s writings and plays were successful, although PeternPan was SO successful that it overshadowed his other works to somenextent even during Barrie’s lifetime. However, Barrie earned so muchnfame during his life, he was made a baronet by George V—so that’snSir J. M. Barrie, thank you very much!n
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nBeforenhe died, Barrie gave the rights to the Peter Pan works to a Londonnhospital. What a wonderful legacy—one that continues to help thenhospital!
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Anothernlegacy of Barrie’s most famous play is the name Wendy. Before PeternPan burst onto the world stage in 1904, Wendy was a very unusual andnalmost entirely unknown name. It is quite likely that Barrie hadnnever heard the name before; he said that he “thought up” thenname because a young daughter of one of his friends, who couldn’tnpronounce her “R”s, playfully called Barrie her “fwiendy-wendy.”nThe name Wendy became more and more popular in the next fewngenerations, and although it isn’t all that common now—it isnroughly the 600th most common girl’s name—it is stillnfamiliar to all of us. I know one adult Wendy…and of course thencharacter Wendy in Peter Pan!
Anothernlegacy of Barrie’s most famous play is the name Wendy. Before PeternPan burst onto the world stage in 1904, Wendy was a very unusual andnalmost entirely unknown name. It is quite likely that Barrie hadnnever heard the name before; he said that he “thought up” thenname because a young daughter of one of his friends, who couldn’tnpronounce her “R”s, playfully called Barrie her “fwiendy-wendy.”nThe name Wendy became more and more popular in the next fewngenerations, and although it isn’t all that common now—it isnroughly the 600th most common girl’s name—it is stillnfamiliar to all of us. I know one adult Wendy…and of course thencharacter Wendy in Peter Pan!n
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nYouncan find out how common names are and have been using The Baby NamenWizard, which creates graphs about the popularity of each name overntime. Check out the chart for Wendy. Then check out your ownnname!
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nFornmore on Peter Pan, check out this earlier post.
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nPlannAhead…
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nChecknout my Pinterest boards of Maynholidays, historicalnevents in May,nand Maynbirthdays.
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nAlsonon this date:
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nAnniversary of the first laser beam to the moon
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nAnniversarynof the first American cartoon
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