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HAPPY 50th,
PETER PAN |
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Walt Disney’s animated feature
PETER PAN was first released in 1953 and was an instant critical and box
office success. After the disaster that was ALICE IN WONDERLAND two
years earlier, Disney badly needed an Animation fans have also in more
recent years made Tinker Bell a favorite. A glance at Ebay shows that
anything with More and more, fans are collecting Peter Pan items, so I would like to shift focus to Peter Pan merchandise. There is a problem for Peter Pan collectors that doesn’t exist in collecting any other Disney character or film. Many collectors seek and only collect original release items on Disney films—for example, Peter Pan items from 1953, Cinderella items from 1950 and so on, that came out when the film first did. They want the 1953 Peter Pan comic book and not the later reprints. With all other Disney items both originals and reprints are clearly identified, but not so for Peter Pan items, leading to confusion.
The reason goes back to 1939. That is when Walt Disney bought the rights to do an animated feature of Peter Pan. The author, Sir James M. Barrie, assigned his copyright to a children’s hospital known as The Great Ormond Street Hospital, in London, England, and they benefited greatly by his generosity. The copyright notices for Disney Peter Pan items was not the usual simple © 1953, Walt Disney Productions, as was the usual Disney custom, the year mentioned changing with each reprinting. The copyright notice for Peter Pan was a long, involved many-lined blurb mentioning the hospital and so on. In future years rather than update it, or check into any new legalities, the publishers just reprinted the original copyright notice. As a result, you can pick up a
book of Disney’s Peter Pan published decades later that has only a 1953
date mentioned, and think it was a book from 1953. I have seen many
reprints offered on Ebay as originals and to be fair, the
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Here is a guide on how to tell some original 1953 Peter Pan items: MOVIE ITEMS: The film was released by RKO Radio Pictures, and all posters, lobby cards, and the pressbook from 1953 will say RKO. Disney created their own distribution company, Buena Vista, later that year, so all subsequent items of these types will say Buena Vista. PHOTO STILLS:
As with all films, there were 8x10” black and white glossy publicity
photos made of scenes from the film. Like the movie items above, they
were distributed to theaters by National Screen Service, which issued a
release number to all films.
LITTLE GOLDEN BOOKS: There were three titles, and all will have the letter “A” on the last page. It is at the very bottom right, right under the spine. You actually have to lift the spine to see it at the very bottom. Any other letters denote later printings (B=2nd, C=3rd etc.) COZY CORNER BOOK: Gorgeous artwork by Samuel (SNOW WHITE) Armstrong, the clue to a first printing is by seeing the titles of other books in the series on the back cover. The first is Donald Duck and the Wishing Star and the last is Young MacDonald on the Farm. There is a number at the bottom, 202225. COLORING BOOKS: There were four different ones. One cover shows Tinker Bell painting Peter Pan’s face in Indian warpaint, and comes in a thicker version, #218625 and one with many fewer pages, #677:10. There was also PETER PAN FUN BOOK, #218525, mostly an activity book, and a huge giant one, #405249.
BIG GOLDEN BOOKS: There were two different ones. The forest-scene cover Big Golden Book reprinted into the 1980s will have Simon and Schuster as the publisher of the 1953 version, not Whitman or Golden. The second is STORYBOOK OF PETER PAN, 112 pages, and has a wrap-around scene of the ship with the film’s main characters on the cover. The 1953 one has this title in yellow. Later printings have the title in orange. And here is a general tip: If the “T” in “Peter” as the title on a book or some other item is crossed with a drawn red feather, like he has on his cap in the film, and not by a line, the way one normally crosses a “T”, it is likely an early item from the 1950s, maybe not 1953, but 1950s anyway. There are, of course, many more Peter Pan items from 1953, so email me if you want more information on how to date an item you may have.
Peter Adamakos is an animation producer and director who founded an
animation company 31 years ago. He has also founded the Animation Museum
which has sent traveling exhibitions to museums in various countries for
many years.
Peter Adamakos |
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animated hit. Since then PETER PAN has taken its place among the Disney
classics. Somewhat dismissed in the past by animation commentators as
fun but not adding to the art of animation, it has been better regarded
more recently. The chief reason is for its animation by Frank Thomas of
Captain Hook, and by Ollie Johnston of his sidekick, Mr. Smee. Here is
personality animation, its acting and execution at its finest. The film
has other elements worth studying by animation professionals, including
marvelous layouts and other visual treats. Among the finest sequences
ever done for storytelling is the one that takes place in Skull Rock.
Captain Hook and Smee take the kidnapped Princess Tiger Lily into the
cave as Peter and Wendy observe. The sequence is wonderfully told with
suspense, humor, delicious animation, bits of business and imagination.
It builds beautifully as narrative, effortlessly it seems at first,
until you realize the skill and craft that makes it work so well. 
Tinker Bell on it gets attention. I get a lot of mail from animation
fans, and after Mickey Mouse, the personalized return addresses on the
envelopes sport a Tinker Bell image most often.
book does say 1953 (or 1952 in many cases. The film came out in February
1953, so the publishing was done in 1952 to be ready for the store
shelves.)
Peter
Pan’s number is 53/17 meaning it was the 17th film of the
year they numbered. At the bottom right of all the items they handled
(posters etc.) is the number 53/17. Some stills may not have a number,
but they will mention RKO (if 1953) or Buena Vista (if a later date.)
COMIC
BOOKS: There were three different ones, all
Dell Comics. The movie story is Dell #442. There was a special, CAPTAIN
HOOK AND PETER PAN, Dell #446, (both 10 cents) and a Dell Giant (extra
thick, 50 cents) titled PETER PAN TREASURE CHEST, worth $1,700 in Near
Mint today.