Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) and Christine De Poortere

– Feb 1, 2024

     I met Christine De Poortere at the Charities of GOSH at 40 Bernard Street. She was very amiable and made me feel at ease, and boy does she know her Peter Pan!

Christine De Poortere in front of GOSH

Statue of Peter Pan in front of GOSH

     One fun fact she shared is that Peter’s costume was red originally. In the play, Barrie describes Peter’s clothes as made from “autumn leaves and cobwebs.” Later, in Peter and Wendy, Peter is clad in “skeleton leaves and the juice that flows from trees.” At some point, green became the color of choice.

London Museum: First Peter Pan costume worn by Nina Boucicault in 1904 at the Duke of York’s Theatre in London

     Interestingly, Betty’s wearing red for promotional images on lobby cards, and green for the film’s poster. The costume she wore during filming is a teal color.

     Christine had two copies of the original sheet music dedicated to Betty Bronson, and she gave me a copy for Ludwig, which he archived with much gratitude. She also gave me permission to use anything GOSH has in its archives for the book.

Cover of sheet music

The first page of the music