Vanity Fair has been the title of at least five magazines, including an 1859–1863 American publication, an 1868–1914 English publication, and an unrelated 1902-1904 New York magazine, a 1913–1936 American publication edited by Condé Nast, which was revived in 1983.Vanity Fair was notably a fictitious place ruled by Beelzebub, in the book Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan. Later use of the name was influenced by the well-known 1847-1848 novel of the same name by William Makepeace Thackeray.
British Vanity Fair 1868-1914
Vanity Fair U.S. magazine 1902-1904
American Vanity Fair 1913-1936
American Vanity Fair 1983-present
JM Barrie
Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet
Peter Pan was first performed at the Duke of York’s Theatre, London, in 1904. The fantastic world of Peter Pan had previously been presented in Barrie’s The Little White Bird (1902). “All children, except one, grow up. They soon know that they will grow up, and the way Wendy knew this.” The story begins in the Bloomsbury flat of the Darlings, which is visited by Peter Pan. He is a boy who has run away from his home to avoid growing up. Like his attendant fairy Tinker Bell, he can fly and teaches the skill to the three Darling children. Wendy Darling with her brothers accompanies Peter Pan to Never Land where he lives with the Lost Boys, protected by a tribe of Red Indians. Wendy becomes mother to the boys. When Peter is away, she is captured with all her ‘family’ by the pirate Captain Hook. They are saved from the walk on the plank by Peter’s bravery. Hook is eaten by his nemesis, the crocodile that had swallowed a ticking clock. Peter takes Wendy and her brothers back home but he declines an offer of adoption from Mrs. Darling. Wendy promises visit him every year to do the spring cleaning. – Barrie himself was considered by Freudians a suitable target for analysis. Peter Pan has also been seen as an oedipal tale. Barrie himself had stopped growing when he reached five feet in height, he suffered from migraines and rarely smiled. Wendy, Peter’s girl friend, borrowed her name from Barrie – it was his nickname. W.E. Henley’s daughter Margaret called Barrie Friendly-Wendy. The portrait of Wendy owes much to Barrie’s mother, and orphaned “little mother” who had to raise her younger brother.
And his birthday 150th of JM Barrie, and his fantasy stores live on and telling a till now.
