Arthur Rackham: Peter Pan Passed Under the Bridge

The Peter Pan of J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens (1906) is not the older boy of the familiar stage play but a seven-day old infant. The book is sumptuously illustrated by Arthur Rackham. An original watercolor from the book held by Peter Harrington of London shows young Peter Pan navigating toward the Gardens in his sailing nest ship built especially for him by the thrushes.

Arthur Rackham
Peter Harrington listing accessed April 9, 2021

https://www.peterharrington.co.uk/original-watercolour-from-peter-pan-in-kensington-gardens-138694.html

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License Plate for Tinkerbell?

Do you believe in fairies?

—J. M. Barrie

"PIX1E"
New Jersey license plate

Note:  I'm always happy to receive photos of creative license plates.

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Disney in Pietra Dura

There is much to admire in the soaring lobby of the Grand Floridian, Disney World's outsized hotel that conjures up visions of the palatial architecture of Florida's golden age. Take a look up and you'll get a sense of the scale of this grand hotel. Take a look down and a different sort of treat awaits you.

The lobby of the Grand Floridian

The lobby floor of the Grand Floridian has several remarkable examples of pietra dura. The term, which translates as hard stone, is the art of taking thin slices of colored stone such as marble and arranging them in mosaic designs. It was practiced in the Renaissance in Rome and reached its fruition in Florence, where the Medici Chapels offer perhaps the most dazzling examples. Today pietra dura is crafted primarily in Italy and India. The designs in the Grand Floridian look Italian to my eye, but of course they're more Walt Disney than Lorenzo de Medici.

Grand Floridian monogram

One could almost miss Tinkerbell amid all the flowing design elements.

Tinkerbell

Peter Pan

The Rose from "Beauty and the Beast" outside the tea room

Mrs. Potts

Chip

The Prince and Cinderella

Hidden Mickey

Mickey Mouse (in plain sight)

The same Mickey up close

Minnie Mouse

Donald Duck

Gawrsh, it's Goofy

Pluto

One last round:

Oh, you know who he is!

Note:  There's lots to see in Disney World and some of it is here on the blog.

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The Main Street Electrical Parade 2014

The Main Street Electrical Parade is a nighttime extravaganza in the Magic Kingdom that remains hands down my favorite Disney parade. The lively music, "Baroque Hoedown," provides a synthesized backdrop against which a succession of classic Disney tunes are played, and it is one of the show's strongest features. For many years the SpectroMagic parade made a passable showing in Walt Disney World, but its disappointing music consisted of many predictable orchestral swells in a major key and could never generate the same kind of excitement. Now the Electrical Parade is back with some alterations, of course, and I find myself remembering how this parade thrilled me as a teenager.

I don't pretend to be able to capture the wonder or the spectacle of the parade with a few random photos or video clips all taken toward the tail end. The thing really has to be experienced firsthand. I can provide only a taste.

Cinderella float

Cinderella float

Cinderella float

Cinderella float

Cinderella float

Midnight for Cinderella

Midnight

Save the clock tower!

Captain Hook and Peter Pan

Cinderella and Peter Pan Floats
The Main Street Electrical Parade

The Pete's Dragon float is a reminder that this parade had its origin in the 1970's.

Pete's Dragon Float

The last float

Note:  How did I spend my summer vacation? It's all here in my Disney World posts.

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Oh, Snap!

Here is just one of the many Disney trading pins sold at the Disney parks. It's based on Walt Disney's "Peter Pan" (1953) and it contains a delicious surprise.

Disney trading pin

Disney trading pin

"Never Smile at a Crocodile"

from "Peter Pan" (1953)

Note:  See more of this blog's exploration of Walt Disney World.

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Alice B. Woodward's Peter Pan

In February of 2010, Illustration House offered this original watercolor illustration by Alice B. Woodward from the frontispiece to the second edition of The Peter Pan Picture Book by Daniel O'Connor. Here Peter Pan looks like his namesake, the Greek God Pan, and he makes music on the pipes of Pan.

Alice B. Woodward, The Peter Pan Picture Book frontispiece illustration

http://www.illustration-house.com/exhib/chld10/chld10pages/chld10_007.html

Item Description, Illustration House, February 2010

http://www.illustration-house.com/exhib/chld10/chld10pages/chld10_007.html

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