Prior to his more well-known work, Peter Pan, J. M. Barrie wrote a play in four acts called Quality Street. Two sisters in the narrative open a school "for aristocratic children." In 1901, the first Broadway production debuted, and it barely ran for 64 performances. The musical was then performed in London, where it ran for 459 performances and became a success. Up until World War II, it was regularly renewed. The drama was adapted for the screen twice; in the first, in 1927, Marion Davies starred, and in the second, in 1937, Katharine Hepburn did. Christopher Hassall and Harry Parr Davies' adaptation for musical theater, Dear Miss Phoebe, debuted in 1950. Quality Street chocolates and caramels were named after the play since it was so well-liked, and the confectionery's initial advertising and packaging featured playgoers. Hicks and Terriss' cul-de-sac was renamed "Quality Street" when they relocated to a new house, The Old Forge in Merstham, Surrey. The play had its world premiere on October 11, 1901, at the Valentine Theatre in Toledo, Ohio. It was produced by Charles Frohman and starred Maude Adams, but it only lasted for 64 moderately successful performances.
Scottish author Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, is most known for creating Peter Pan. He was also a playwright. He was raised and educated in Scotland before relocating to London, where he penned a number of well-received books and plays. There, he met the Llewelyn Davies brothers, who later served as the inspiration for his works Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up, a 1904 West End "fairy play," about an ageless boy and an ordinary girl named Wendy who have adventures in the fantasy setting of Neverland. The story of a baby boy who has magical adventures in Kensington Gardens was first included in Barrie's 1902 adult novel The Little White Bird. Despite his ongoing success as a writer, Peter Pan eclipsed all of his earlier works and is credited with making the name Wendy well-known. After the deaths of the Davies boys' parents, Barrie adopted them clandestinely. George V created Barrie a baronet on June 14, 1913, and in the New Year's Honours of 1922, he was inducted into the Order of Merit.
