Disney Rewind: Peter Pan 70th Anniversary
“Think of the happiest things. It’s the same as having wings”. With this year being the 70th anniversary of Walt Disney’s classic, Peter Pan, it’s hard to believe the trouble it lived through to be made.
Photo: Time
It all started in 1913 when the tour version of the classic play Peter Pan by James Mathew Barrie came to Marceline, Missouri. There, twelve year old Walt Disney saw the play with his older brother Roy.
The production had a real impact on Walt that it became one of his favorite stories next to Snow White. Sometime after, Walt would play Peter in his school production.
Photo: Plexreel
Years later, when Walt started plans to produce full-length animated features, he planned on Peter Pan to be his second one after Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. But unfortunately, he couldn’t get the screen rights to it until 1939.
After that, the story just started to take shape. But after the attack on Pearl Harbor, production on Peter Pan, and several other films, came to a halt.
Two years after World War II ended, work on the film resumed. What made Peter Pan special was that it easily translated as animated film. People that remember the play remember all the fanciful aspects such as Peter flying.
In the animated world, it can be done with pencil and paper instead of wires on people. Another part that made it special was that it can actually show the character of Tinker Bell instead of having her be a spot of light on the stage. However, one part that was a challenge was to recreate Barrie’s world of child fantasy.
Photo: Disney
But they remembered what the essence that made the play special. Which was it’s a world filled with the wonder of a child that adult could find. What made it really special was that it was a fairy tale for both children and adults.
When Peter Pan was at last released on February 5th, 1953, it would earn critical acclaim and was another success. Now it’s one of Disney’s most well remembered films and a classic. All it took was “faith and trust, and a little bit of pixie dust”.
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