“No little children love me.”

“Pauline Chase, the American actress who played Peter Pan from 1906 to 1913 in New York, recounted children’s reactions to this line: “Stern voices in front have been heard calling out in reply, ‘Serves you right!’ but all are not so hard-hearted. I remember two mites being brought round, behind the scenes because they had something they wanted to say to Captain Hook, but awe fell upon them when he shook their hands (with his hook), and they could only stare at him, and say not a word. When he had gone, however, they looked very woeful, and kept repeating ‘We wanted to tell him, we wanted to tell him,’ and they explained to me that what they wanted to tell him was that they loved him.’”