The First ‘Peter Pan’ Blockbuster Turns 100 but Hasn’t Grown Up

How many film adaptations of Peter Pan can you name?

Just last year, Disney+ launched Peter Pan & Wendy, while Mary Martin starred in a 1960 televised version of the Broadway musical. In 2014, Allison Williams took on the role in Peter Pan Live!, and in 1991, Robin Williams played an adult Peter Pan in the unconventional sequel Hook. But perhaps the most iconic of them all is the 1953 Disney animated classic.https://wordpress.com/

Yet, there’s another version that predates all of these: the 1924 silent film Peter Pan, which celebrates its centenary this month and was a major success in its time.

The 1924 film, hailed by The New York Times as a “pictorial masterpiece,” was groundbreaking in its use of movie-related merchandise. However, it faded from public view as talkies became dominant and Walt Disney acquired the rights to create his own version. Many thought the film had been lost until the 1940s, when a film preservationist found a copy in a theater in upstate New York that had been training organists to accompany silent films.

To mark its 100th anniversary, the film has been shown in cities such as Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, and even in England.

One of the people relishing the revival of interest in this 1924 version is Theresa Wiegmann, whose grandmother, Betty Bronson, played the title role.

Bronson, a 17-year-old newcomer from Trenton, New Jersey, was personally selected by J.M. Barrie, the creator of Peter Pan, for the role. Her casting made headlines, with The Times reporting that Barrie had chosen her after reviewing more than 100 actresses. When Bronson traveled to New York to promote the film, photographers swarmed her at Grand Central Station.

“I love sharing with others that my grandmother was part of silent films, and especially that she was the first Peter Pan in cinema,” Wiegmann, 59, a retired lawyer, shared in a phone interview from Washington. “Though I didn’t get to spend as much time with her as I would have liked, I cherish her films as memories of her.”

Bronson passed away in 1971 at the age of 64.

Wiegmann first saw Peter Pan when she was about six years old, living in Los Angeles. “I think the story is timeless and beloved by so many,” she reflected, adding that her children found the silent film “fun.” “The acting, the direction, the special effects — they were all delightful.”

Some scenes would have been familiar to those who had seen Barrie’s original 1904 play, like the Darling children flying with the help of wires, and Nana the dog nurse being played by a man in a suit. But director Herbert Brenon added his own cinematic flourishes: Captain Hook’s ship floats above the water, Peter Pan sweeps away tiny fairies with a broom, and we get close-ups of a minuscule Tinker Bell, usually just a glowing light on stage.

The film is also notable for being an early role for Anna May Wong, the pioneering Chinese American actress who portrayed Tiger Lily. Additionally, it features the work of James Wong Howe, a groundbreaking Chinese American cinematographer, whose future credits include classics like The Thin Man and Sweet Smell of Success, and who later won two Academy Awards.

A review from The Times of the 1924 Peter Pan noted that it appealed to both children and adults. (One mother, for instance, read the title cards aloud to her child during the screening.) Bronson was praised as a “graceful, vivacious and alert Peter Pan,” though the reviewer remarked on the “marcel wave” in her hair.

David Pierce, a retired archivist from the Library of Congress, developed a deep attachment to the film and later helped distribute it. He noted that the movie played in around 250 theaters across the U.S., including two in Manhattan. “It was one of the first films to have an extensive merchandising campaign for clothing, books, and other products to cross-promote the movie,” Pierce explained.

After Barrie’s death in 1937, Paramount sold the film rights to Walt Disney, who went on to produce his 1953 animated film. The silent version was widely considered lost until the 1940s, when James Card, a film preservationist at the George Eastman Museum in Rochester, New York, rediscovered it.

“For years, I longed to see it again,” Card wrote in a 1994 essay. “It took 25 years before that dream was realized, and under the most unusual circumstances.”

Card found a copy at the Eastman Theater, which had a collection of silent films used to train organists for live accompaniment to movies. With the rise of sound films, these organist positions vanished, leaving films like Peter Pan to gather dust in vaults.

Card recalled his ecstatic reaction when he finally watched the film: “The picture sparkled on the screen with its amber toning” and the blue tint used for nighttime scenes in Kensington Gardens.

Thanks to preservation efforts, the magic of Peter Pan still enchants audiences whenever it’s shown, whether on television, in theaters, or even on YouTube.

Dr. Susan Ohmer, an emeritus professor at the University of Notre Dame, who taught the film for a decade, said it continues to resonate with viewers today. “People want to understand film history and appreciate its artistry,” she explained. “The film’s theme — the innocence of childhood — still speaks to us. We continue to care about protecting children and nurturing their imaginations.”

Wiegmann has enjoyed watching the film with her father, who was Bronson’s only child and perhaps her biggest fan. The family’s Peter Pan memorabilia was donated to UCLA, where her father worked, though they kept a few items, including a photograph of Bronson in character as Peter Pan, which now hangs in Wiegmann’s dining room.

“There’s so much to love about the movie,” Wiegmann said. “It’s a fun and touching story, and I hope that people will continue to be drawn to it.”