‘Peter Pan’…ULTRA RARE! Two 1955 & One ’56 Kinescope Scenes!
Make sure you open this article to see it all and the links to all three clips! I didn’t know any parts survived till now, so this was a big surprise and a real treat!
On March 7, 1955, NBC did the first live broadcast of ‘Peter Pan’ in a ‘Producer’s Showcase’ color special from NBC Brooklyn. It was such a hit that they did it again live on January 9, 1956. Like the first, it too was in color from Brooklyn with the entire Broadway cast returning for the television adaptation, starring Mary Martin as Peter Pan, Cyril Richard as Captain Hook and Sondra Lee as the incongruously blonde Indian princess Tiger Lily.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wb66Sw0C9Ss
This is the first of two rare clips and is the closing scene of the original 1955 broadcast. This has part of “I’m Flying” and Mary Martin’s closing tag and the credits, which you can barely see.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_UV1CA5FUU
This is the 1955 production with Sondra Lee as the indian princes in the “Ugg-a-Wugg” number.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_i5jzQDyXLI
This is the 1956 show open, cast credits and VO and also shows us the ending with the entire “I’m Flying” scene.
This was done in both studios…I and II (this is the way NBC memos always referred to them, not at 1 and 2, but I and II). I was the larger studio with 11,000 square feet, but it only had a 24 foot clearance from the floor to the grid. Studio II was the taller and had a 39 foot clearance and 9,700 square feet. I think the “I’m Flying” bedroom scenes were all (’55, ’56 and ”60) done in Studio II with it’s higher clearance. Enjoy and SHARE! -Bobby Ellerbee
Peter Pan – Mary’s “Thank You” Tag
This clip is a kinescope of the last few minutes of the LIVE broadcast from 1955, with an “enhancement” created by me!
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