Caryl Cook: the Peter Pan Girl

              Figure

CARYL COOK
The Peter Pan Girl IN J. M. BARRIE'S
PETER PAN



PETER PAN
OR THE BOY WHO WOULDN'T GROW UP


J. M. BARRIE


Interpreted by
CARYL COOK
THE PETER PAN GIRL



PROGRAM

CAST OF CHARACTERS

PETER PAN
MRS. DARLING
MR. DARLING
WENDY
JOHN
MICHAEL
CAPTAIN HOOK
SMEE
THE LOST BOYS




FOREWORD.
Mr. Barrie says in his instructions to the actors in Peter Pan: The actors in a fairy play should feel that it was written by a child in all earnestness, and that they are children playing it in the same spirit.  And so when little Liza, the supposed author of the play appears, we are prepared for all the strange things that follow.

Peter Pan is a boy who did not want to grow up.  When he was a very little fellow he ran away from the human world and lived with the fairies in Never, Never, Never Land.  But he had a great fondness for stories, and so, now and then, he would fly to earth at Story Time and peep into nursery windows.  One night, when Mrs. Darling was telling stories to her children he crept into the room to listen.  Mrs. Darling saw him and was frightened, and Peter tried to escape, but Nana, the faithful dog, who had always been the Darling children's nurse, close the window so quickly that it cut off Peter's shadow, and he was forced to fly away without it.


Figure





ACT I.
In the first act Peter returns to the Darling house in search of his lost shadow.  The children are asleep and the nursery unguarded, and with the aid of Tinker Bell, the little fairy whom mortals see only as a ball of light, he finds his shadow.  But he can't make it stick on.  Fortunately Wendy wakes and sees the trouble he is in, and being a motherly little soul, sews the shadow on for him.  Peter tells her about the fairy would he lives in and it seems very charming to Wendy, So she wakes the other children.  Peter teaches them all to fly, and away they go through the window to the Never, Never, Never Land.



ACT II.
The second act is in the Never, Never, Never Land where Peter and his band build a little house for Wendy.  And here we see the bloodthirsty pirates and their wicked leader, Captain Hook, who is Peter's mortal enemy.



ACT III.
The third act shows the children's home underground, guarded above by their faithful friends, the Red Skins.  The Pirates attack the Red Skins and drive them away, and Hook puts poison in Pan's medicine glass, but Tinker Bell saves him by drinking it himself, and is about to die when she, in turn, is saved by the reassuring message that all children believe in fairies.



ACT IV.
The fourth act shows how Hook captures the little Darlings and the band of lost boys and carries them of to the Pirate Ship.  But in the darkest moment of terror, Peter comes to the rescue, and the band throws the Pirates into the sea.



ACT V.
In the fifth act the children return to their mother, for the heart of a child goes home when the day of adventure is done.

The last scene is a glimpse into Fairyland itself.  There Peter, in the little house high up in the tree tops, waves a friendly goodbye to all who believe in fairies.



For Terms and Dates Address
J. B. POND LYCEUM BUREAU
908 WASHINGTON STREET   IOWA CITY IOWA.
(Head Office: Metropolitan Life Building, New York)




Who are you, Pan?
I'm youth, eternal youth,
I'm the sun rising, I'm poet singing,
I'm a new world, I'm a little bird
That has broken out of the egg,
I'm joy, joy, joy!




COMMENTS OF PRESS AND PEOPLE
The Managing Editor of THE BOOK OF KNOWLEDGE.

It is not often that we are privileged to see informally 'off the boards,' such an original and highly interesting presentation as was given by Miss Caryl Cook, in her re-creation of Peter Pan.  Had you been asked, you would have said, 'Peter Pan!  After Maude Adams?  It cannot be done.  There is only one Peter Pan.' But it was done, and there are two Peter Pans, so much alike that you could hardly tell one from t'other with your eyes shut or open.  To those who have not seen this charming drama of the 'Never, Never Land,' nothing could be more delightful or satisfactory, than Miss Cook's interpretation of the different characters; and to those who had seen it, it furnishes hardly less pleasure, from the skill and passion which the young 'actress' (I use the word advisedly) brings to the different parts,—all of which she is able to render without change of costume, simply by means of her unusual gifts.

THEODORA URSULA IRVINE, Dramatic Reader.

Her Peter Pan is one of those charming creations that will live in the memory forever; and the remarkable thing about it is that Miss Cook not only gives to Peter all the witchery and magic of youth and boyishness, but also that she gives to Captain Hook all the fiendish glee and the bold swagger that belong to the traditional pirate.

MARY B. CLEVELAND, Executive Secretary, The Civic Forum, New York City.

I have seen Maude Adams in her famous role many times, and had always believed that the bewitching charm of Peter Pan was exclusively Miss Adams' creation, but now I know that you too have ciscovered Peter's secret of eternal youth.

In your transition from the little Spirit Boy to Captain Hook, then to Wendy, all with fidelity and naturalness, you revealed a true dramatic instinct and a versatility of unusual quality, and I consider your recital of Sir Barrie's play second only to hearing Miss Adams, with her Company of actors, in a full dramatic performance of Peter Pan.

Private schools, literary and dramatic clubs ought to welcome the opportunity of hearing you.  For children the entertainment would be delightful.

NATIONAL KINDERGARTEN COLLEGE.

All this week teachers and students have been expressing the keen enjoyment your work gave them.  We appreciate especially the artistic restraint and poetic charm of your interpretation, for it is this delicacy,—this very elusiveness which seems to make the eternal youth so understandable.  You surely took us all to fairyland, and we thank you for one of the most delightful entertainments ever given at the College (Chicago).

JULIA PATTON, Instructor in English, Vassar College.

It is a pleasure to hear and to see Miss Caryl Cook's clever presentation of Barrie's delightful fantasy Peter Pan.  She has caught its own spirit of whimsical humor and grace, and gives it with an affectionate delight in it which is felt with a responsive pleasure by her audience.  Her gentle Wendv, her surprisingly grisly Pirate, and her sprightly, joyous, and irresistible Peter will surely meet a ready approval from any audience.

LOUIS KAUFMAN ANSPACHER, Author of Our Children and The Unchastened Woman.

I wish to thank you for your beautiful reading of Peter Pan.  It seems to me that as a reader, you have a discerning and reverent love of what is beautiful in a text, an appreciation of dramatic possibilities and a charming talent, which enables you to bring these things to the appreciation of an audience.  I wish you great success.


NEW YORK HERALD.
Miss Carl Cook, a young, flashing, dark-eyed Peter Pan from Boone, Iowa, pleased an audience that filled Miss Theodora Ursula Irvine's studio in Carnegie Hall yesterday afternoon in an interpretation of Sir J. M. Barrie's charming story.  Apparently Miss Cook has studied Miss Maude Adams very carefully and to ome purpose, yet her work is no mere impersonation.  She has too much temperament and individuality and sincerity.  The impetuous and roguish moods of the boy who never grew up she portrayed delightfully and her youth and vivacity give her a peculiar charm.


NEW YORK EVENING MAIL.
Miss Caryl Cook, a highly talented artist, gave a charming interpretation of Peter Pan at Miss Irvine's Carnegie Hall studio The young reader took all the parts from the pirate captain to Peter himself, and showed remarkable versatility in assuming the characters.


THE PEORIA TRANSCRIPT.
Miss Caryl Cook gave a most interesting and realistic reading of that most delightful of fairy story plays, Peter Pan, by James M. Barrie at the Universalist church last evening.  As everyone knows, the play was made famous by Maude Adams and no greater compliment could be paid the artist of last evening than to say that she has acquired the charm and happiness of interpretation which Maude Adams gave the wholly delightful character.