Hi Friends!
"BACK IN THE DAY" © stevenn beck
Last Thursday - after The Big Bang Show (AKA "Best Show EVER") aired - I uncharacteristically remained on the couch - nursing a painful back injury - and channel surfing. I came across the latest version of the play "Peter Pan" - broadcast live - and watched it until the end, enjoying every minute - and reliving my youth. Allison Williams and Christopher Walken were fine…but - and to be fair it may just have to do with my age - but the magic of an earlier time just could not be recaptured.
The first musical play I remember seeing was "Peter Pan". Mary Martin (as Peter) and Cyril Richard (as Captain Hook) - both of whom won Tony awards in 1954 for their performances in the original Broadway production - were so very wonderful. When it was re-staged for the small screen, I watched in on a tiny black and white television set; I am not sure which televised version I saw…there was a videotaped performance of the play in the late 50s and then a new, live performance shown for the first time in 1960….that was most likely the one. Either way, I remember sitting in front of that tiny TV set with my little brother, totally mesmerized by the acting, dancing and of course the delightful music.
So for as I was concerned Mary Martin WAS Peter Pan, I kind of remember asking my mother at some point how a "girl" could play the role of a "boy" and Mom of course gave me the correct answer: this was an actor playing a part and it was the job of that individual to do the role in such a manner as to make the audience totally accept the character - no matter who the actor might be. (Well….she may not have phrased it in those words….but that's the gist of her response.) In any event: Martin and Richard were wonderful and in all the incarnations of the play I have seen since, I have yet to see any two actors measure up to them.
"Peter Pan" was such a terrific childhood memory that I also remember singing the songs out loud for weeks - or maybe for years? - especially, of course "I Won't Grow Up" (which I would also categorize as the baby Boomers National Anthem. lol) And - in those dark days without home VCRs, DVDs, hundreds of cable stations and NETFLIX - I would periodically - and wistfully - ask my parents if "Peter Pan" would ever be shown on television ever agin. (The play would in fact be re-run several times in the early and mid-60s.)
I also recall being greatly moved by the final scene, when Peter returns to find Wendy all "grown up", her brothers out of the house - and with children of her own. That may have been the first time it may have occurred to me that one day I would indeed "grow up" and become a parent. I can't say I was in love with the idea. At least at the time…
At some point this holiday season I think I'll rent the original "Peter Pan" - perhaps watch it with my own "grown-up" daughter….and for a few minutes become a kid again. After all - I'm a "baby boomer" too. And I never really wanted to grow up. Did you?
Bye for now- be safe!
Stevenn
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