The Lion's Tail

[Carrie]

I came across a reference to Peter pulling off a lion's tail in Oliver Herford's "The Peter Pan Alphabet" (1907). Does anybody know what this is a reference to? Does Peter confront a lion in any of the early versions (stage or text)?

[Jay]

The 'Peter Pan Alphabet' doesn't actually say that Peter pulled a lion's tail, although it could be implied from the verse:
'L is the Lion who lashed his Fierce Tail,
And did Peter Tremble? did Peter turn Pale?
Not much! 'Twas the Lion who moved to adjourn,
He couldn't turn Tail, Peter Left none to Turn'.

As for references of Peter confronting a lion, the novel mentions lions living in Neverland and Peter's 'defiance of the lions' (chapters 5 and 7) but as far as I could see, not in the play (I might have missed it...). Since the novel was published in 1911, 4 years after Herford's Alphabet, it's unlikely anyway that the latter got its inspiration from the former.

Having said that, the Alphabet has some very strange examples for the letters, some of them having no relevance to the story - G for Old Glory? The White House? X-Ray? So, a lot of nonsense and whimsy all round!

[Carrie]

Jay - thanks for the response!

I've found yet another reference to the lion scene though, in an article from a 1906 issue of  _Good Housekeeping_, which leads me to believe that one of the early performances must have included Peter pulling the tail off a lion. The article states: "Michael begged away from Peter the tail which our hero had cut from a lion who was prowling about Wendy's house. Michael wished to give it to his dog nurse. 'Nana has such a scrubby tail,' he said, and that a lion's tail should do, is only another delightful fancy of this wonderful play.''

Since both the _Good Housekeeping_ article and the alphabet book are American productions, I'm guessing that this lion scene might come from an American performance? Maybe one with Maude Adams? If anybody knows its source, I'd love to find it.

Also, as Jay mentioned, there are lots of strange references in Herford's alphabet book, but many of them do come from previous performances or texts. I'm wondering if some of the odder ones (like the White House or the Blackbeard Joe references) might also come from previous sources. Ideas?

[KStirling]

There are two typescripts made for the first American production in 1905 in the Beinecke library, Yale. I was looking at them there just a couple of months ago.  I didn't transcribe the bit about the lion's tail, I'm afraid (time was short, and there were other things I needed more) but it was certainly there, and I do remember that Michael brings back the tail for Nana and she is wearing it in the return nursery scene. If you write to the Beinecke they might be able to scan it for you (40c a page I think)  <http://www.library.yale.edu/beinecke/brblresearch/ordering.html> though sometimes they say the materials are too fragile to be scanned (and it takes forever).

[Carrie]

Thank you KStirling - that's hugely helpful. I really need to get to the Beinecke library to look at their materials. Since you've looked at the 1905 typescripts, do you happen to remember if they refer to Capt. Hook blowing up the Eton Magazine in that version? I know it comes up in later textual versions, but I'm trying to track down the first theatrical reference. Thanks for your help!

[KStirling]

Sorry, I don't remember anything about Hook blowing up the Eton Magazine in the American typescripts, but that doesn't mean it's not there (like I said, time was short). (Though sounds more like an English in-joke than an American one...) I strongly recommend a trip to the Beinecke and warn you - you need to plan serious time to get through what is there (3 days was nowhere near enough). And I recommend (though you probably already know) the things they have already scanned on their digital archive:
http://beinecke.library.yale.edu/digitallibrary/
search - "Barrie"
including the full 1904-05 first performance script and the first 5 pages of the Fairy notes.