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FOREWORD TO CENTENARY EDITION
“The Little Red Town and JMB”

On 27th December 1904 the theatre-goers of London were set back on their heels by a production of ground-breaking imaginativeness.
Yes, it was the first performance of James Matthew Barrie’s “Peter Pan”.
The man whose roots were dug deep in the little red town of Kirriemuir (the motto of which, “Jamais Arriere”, means “never behind”) had created an innovative theatrical masterpiece, incorporating some of the wizardry of the magician and the trapeze artist.
By so doing, he opened up a whole new world of possibilities for 20th century theatre.
Since then, the story itself has enjoyed myriad incarnations.
It has been printed in versions abridged and unabridged as a novel for children, and for adults.
Translated into most of the world’s languages, it is recommended reading for children from Japan to the USA.
Some of the world’s foremost artists and illustrators have been stimulated into creating visual images equal to the magic of the original fantasy.
According to www.peterpanfan.com, as a musical it was given 3 Tony Awards in 1955. Most recently, America’s Cathy Rigby reprised her starring role in it to critical acclaim which identified her as “arguably the best Peter Pan ever to hit the stage”.
A few years ago, this show took Australia by storm as well.
In addition, it has been set as a play, a children’s musical, a pantomime and a ballet.
Film versions abound. It was made into a silent film in 1924 and a Walt Disney cartoon, costing 4 million dollars, in 1953. Its more sinister aspects were edited out for this version, and for most youngsters, even today, this adaptation is unfortunately thought to be the original of the tale. It is now mostly watched as a video or DVD at home.
In 1991, Steven Spielberg moved the story forward in time with his film, “Hook”, for Universal Pictures.

Stars of the magnitude of Dustin Hoffman, Robin Williams, Julia Roberts and Bob Hoskins saw fit to accept major parts in it.
Disney gave his original cartoon a make-over into “Return to Neverland” in 2002. In it, Wendy had a daughter who seemed less enamoured with PP than her mother! Like “Hook”, it was a major cinema success.
To mark the centenary of the first performance, two multi-million movies were made.
In 2003, Mohammed Al Fayed was a principal investor in P.J. Hogan’s state-of-the-art animated film, unmistakably entitled “Peter Pan”. He saw it as a most appropriate memorial to his son, Dodi, killed alongside that fairytale princess, Diana, Princess of Wales.
For the makers of this film, close adherence to the original plot was a must. This was one of the few occasions when Peter Pan was played by a boy (Jeremy Sumpter).
In November of 2004, Miramax hit the big screen with “Finding Neverland”. Involving three different film studios and focussing on Barrie himself, it had its Scottish premiere at the Odeon at Douglasfield in Dundee. I had the privilege of highlighting Barrie’s Kirriemuir roots on that occasion.
Whilst taking liberties with a few facts and the chronology of events in Barrie’s life, it painted a sympathetic picture of him and his compassion for human suffering, especially that of the Llewelyn Davies family.
Oh, how JMB would have loved to be as ‘tall, dark and handsome’ as Johnny Depp!
Dustin Hoffman portrayed Charles Frohman, the impresario who had the courage to keep faith with genius, despite occasional setbacks. Kate Winslet was a beautiful, delicate yet strong-willed Sylvia Llewelyn Davies, and Radha Mitchell played that rather overlooked person in Barrie’s life, his wife, Mary Ansell.
Freddie Highmore received an Oscar as Best Newcomer for his interpretation of Peter Llewelyn Davies, who was to protest to his dying day that it was not he, but Barrie, who was Peter Pan.
The combination of Barrie’s inescapable Scottishness in this film and the centenary itself has produced unprecedented media interest in the impact of Kirriemuir on him.
What better time, then, to re-print this little volume which aimed to outline the heritage of his Kirriemuir and detail for posterity the strength of its place in his heart?

So how has life been in “the little red town” since we first told its story?
Outstandingly, technology has become a dominant part of society worldwide.
In the late 1970’s, George Sampson (see “Dedication”) recorded in his log that “there is as yet no evidence of the micro-chip in Kirriemuir”.
Ah well, it arrived not long afterwards, and nowadays Kirriemuir is up there with the best of them! This second edition itself is testimony to such progress, being re-produced by scanning and digital “print-on-demand” techniques.
Kirriemuir as a community of some 7000 folk has been moving forward too, with lots of new quality housing and all the schools being upgraded to meet 21st century demands.
In common with much of the UK, changes in shopping trends have threatened the viability of local shops, but, with dogged determination and entrepreneurial use of the Internet, most of them have ‘hung on in there’.
J & D Wilkie Ltd. remain the main employer, maintaining production of a variety of synthetics, among them camouflage material and other industrial textiles.
The Strathmore Valley is as fertile as ever, but some kind of agricultural revolution has seen barley, beef and berries diminish, and methods of production and harvesting radically change. Gone are the days of holidays spent picking tatties or berries, and in to our native place have come new giants – harvesters of peas, potatoes, berries, oil seed rape and other grain. Great swathes of regimented polythene Nissen huts help propagate the berries, mostly furth of Kirriemuir itself, while metallic ones shelter piglets.
The main tourist attractions have continued to welcome visitors in pleasing numbers. A partnership between the National Trust for Scotland and Angus Council has enabled the Camera Obscura to be modernised and open to the public throughout the same season as Barrie’s Birthplace, April till September.
Richard Moss’s private Aviation Museum brings enthusiasts from around the world. The Den is still the only place in which to roll your Easter Egg satisfactorily and Visocchi’s ice-cream draws the crowds in their drouthy droves as it has done since 1930!
It is worth recording that, for several years, the Peter Pan Gateway Trust worked very hard to try to have a 21st century visitor attraction created on the 7 acres of Pathhead Farm so generously donated by the now deceased Allan Bruce.
This was to have marked for all time the fact that Kirriemuir and its Glens were the main wellspring from which so much of the life’s work of Sir James Matthew Barrie, Bart, OM, was drawn, not least “Peter Pan.”
Our vision was for an eco-friendly, natural, weather-proof children’s paradise, “not large and sprawly, with tedious distances between one adventure and another, but nicely crammed” (J. M. Barrie: Peter and Wendy). Ideally, it would have opened its doors in the centenary year of 2004.
Sadly, it was not to be: we could find no Frohman. We did make sure, however, that every child who was a pupil in the town or rural primary schools at the Millennium experienced the story of “Peter Pan” through the Purves Puppet Theatre’s version.
The good news is that there has been a pleasing upsurge of interest in the social, economic and cultural history of Kirriemuir and the Glens. A great deal of research, an exhibition and several publications were spawned by the Millennium. Others have followed.
Kirriemuir’s principal Millennium project took the form of an amazing sculpture in red sandstone by Bruce Walker. Entitled “The Circle of Time”, it consists of a huge globe of the world over which water from a nearby ancient artesian well cascades. It represents the philosophical belief that time is a continuum, a circle without beginning or end.
The Quatercentenary in 2004 of the Town House, extensively renovated at the turn of the century to house our now award-winning Kirriemuir Gateway to the Glens Museum, was combined with the Peter Pan Centenary to stimulate a summer of celebrations.
400 years of heritage were evoked in two dramatic performances loosely based on events and characters from Kirriemuir’s colourful past: “Cronies ‘n’ Closies”, street theatre which took people through some of the nooks and crannies of the old town, and “Common Threids”, a drama staged in and around the Glens and Kirriemuir Old Parish Church.
I conducted some guided walks “In the Footsteps of JMB” and two lectures were given about Barrie: on 25th June, Dr Karen McGavock, Kirrie born and bred, shared her impressive knowledge of Barrie’s life and work; and on 1st December, Professor Ronnie Jack, recently retired from the Chair of Scottish and Medieval Literature at Edinburgh University, left his audience in no doubt that the man was indeed a genius, in many ways ahead of his time.
Barrie’s gift of his copyright and other intellectual property rights of “Peter Pan” to Great Ormond Street Hospital in 1929 has generated undisclosed millions of pounds for the hospital, and truly helped to make it “great”. A special dispensation by Parliament has allowed this beneficence to continue without limit of time in the UK.
Even now, the hospital has commissioned Geraldine McCaughrean, one of Britain’s most prolific and talented writers for children today, to write a sequel.
Ms McCaughrean is quoted on www.gosh.org as saying “It is an astonishing, daunting privilege to be let loose on Neverland, armed with nothing but a pen, and knowing that I’m walking in Barrie’s revered footsteps….but completing this book is going to be the writing adventure of a lifetime.” Her provisional title is “Captain Pan”.
Barrie’s great- great-nephew, David Barrie, Chief Executive of the National Art Collections Fund, was one of the judges of the competition to choose the author.
“Captain Pan had a real fight on his hands, but he won through in the end. I think J M Barrie would have liked his style – if I’m wrong, he’ll be back to haunt us!”

So there you have it.

One small town.
One small man.
One magnum opus.

Sandra Affleck, June 2005.

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