The "Alice Comedies" are a series of animated cartoons created by Walt Disney in the 1920s, in which a live action little girl named Alice (originally played by Virginia Davis) and an animated cat named Julius have adventures in an animated landscape.
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Disney, Ub Iwerks, and their staff made the first Alice Comedy, a one-reel (ten-minute) short subject titled Alice's Wonderland, while still heading the failing Laugh-O-Gram Studio in Kansas City, Missouri.
Alice's Wonderland begins with Alice entering a cartoon studio to witness cartoons being created. Alice is amazed by what she sees: The cartoon characters come to life and play around. After heading to bed that night, she dreams of being in the cartoon world, welcomed by all of the characters. Alice plays with them until a group of lions break free from a cage and chase her.
This short helped set the stage for what was to come in the later Alice Comedies, as it established the world as a playful dream and also introduced the elements which would soon define the series.
After completing the film, the studio went bankrupt and was forced to shut down. After raising money by working as a freelance photographer, Disney bought a one-way train ticket to Los Angeles, California to live with his uncle Robert and his brother Roy. In California, Disney continued to send out proposals for the Alice series, in hopes of obtaining a distribution deal, which was finally arranged through Winkler Pictures, run by Margaret Winkler and her fianceé, Charles Mintz, on the basis of Alice's Wonderland. Disney convinced Davis' family to bring her from Missouri to Los Angeles to star in the series.[1]
Although seen as cute and funny in their time, the Alice Comedies contain content which might be considered surprising and somewhat harsh today by sensitive viewers. Alice is a little girl, yet she spends much of her time avoiding danger, and even getting kidnapped by the cartoon villains, threatened with such perils as being tied to a log in a sawmill. These scenes are parodies of similar scenes in movie serials such as The Perils of Pauline (1914), starring actress Pearl White. One such Alice cartoon, Alice's Mysterious Mystery (1926) features two cartoon characters who allegedly resemble members of the Ku Klux Klan. One of the villains drags a dog character into a room marked "Death Chamber", and pulls out a long strand of sausage. In "Alice and the Dog Catcher" she is leader of a club called the Klix Klax Klub. Where all the kids wear paper bags over their heads with their faces painted on them.
The shorts are now in the public domain. In 2000, Inkwell Images released a DVD titled Alice in Cartoonland - The Original Alice Comedies by Walt Disney in the series Golden Classics with ten short films from the series as well as some documentaries and a poster gallery. In 2007, Kit Parker Films released another DVD called Alice in Cartoonland by Walt Disney: 35 mm Collector's Set with ten films from the series and a selection of bonus features. There are 14 films from the series on these two DVDs.
In 2005 and again in 2007, ten shorts in the series were released as part of the Walt Disney Treasures series. Seven were part of the Disney Rarities that was released in 2005, while three more were released as part of The Adventures of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, released in 2007.
Walt Disney both directed and produced every film this series. Four actresses have played Alice: Virginia Davis (15), Margie Gay (31), Dawn O'Day (1) and Lois Hardwick (10). The film Alice in the Jungle contains only archival footage of Virginia Davis.
| # | Short film | Date | Actress | DVD release |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alice's Wonderland | 1923 | Virginia Davis | Walt Disney Treasures: Disney Rarities: Celebrated Shorts, 1920s–1960s |
| 2 | Alice's Day at Sea | March 1, 1924 | Virginia Davis | |
| 3 | Alice's Spooky Adventure | April 1, 1924 | Virginia Davis | |
| 4 | Alice's Wild West Show | May 1, 1924 | Virginia Davis | Walt Disney Treasures: Disney Rarities: Celebrated Shorts, 1920s–1960s |
| 5 | Alice's Fishy Story | June 1, 1924 | Virginia Davis | |
| 6 | Alice and the Dog Catcher | July 1, 1924 | Virginia Davis | |
| 7 | Alice the Peacemaker | August 1, 1924 | Virginia Davis | |
| 8 | Alice Gets in Dutch | November 1, 1924 | Virginia Davis | Walt Disney Treasures: Disney Rarities: Celebrated Shorts, 1920s–1960s |
| 9 | Alice Hunting in Africa | November 15, 1924 | Virginia Davis | |
| 10 | Alice and the Three Bears | December 1, 1924 | Virginia Davis | |
| 11 | Alice the Piper | December 15, 1924 | Virginia Davis | |
| 12 | Alice Cans the Cannibals | January 1, 1925 | Virginia Davis | |
| 13 | Alice the Toreador | January 15, 1925 | Virginia Davis | Alice in Cartoonland - The Original Alice Comedies by Walt Disney |
| 14 | Alice Gets Stung | February 1, 1925 | Virginia Davis | Walt Disney Treasures: The Adventures of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit |
| 15 | Alice Solves the Puzzle | February 15, 1925 | Margie Gay | Alice in Cartoonland - The Original Alice Comedies by Walt Disney |
| 16 | Alice's Egg Plant | May 30, 1925 | Dawn O'Day | Walt Disney Treasures: Disney Rarities: Celebrated Shorts, 1920s–1960s |
| 17 | Alice Loses Out | June 15, 1925 | Margie Gay | |
| 18 | Alice Gets Stage Struck | June 30, 1925 | Margie Gay | Alice in Cartoonland - The Original Alice Comedies by Walt Disney |
| 19 | Alice Wins the Derby | July 15, 1925 | Margie Gay | Alice in Cartoonland - The Original Alice Comedies by Walt Disney |
| 20 | Alice Picks the Champ | July 30, 1925 | Margie Gay | (Only a fragment of this cartoon is known to exist) |
| 21 | Alice's Tin Pony | August 15, 1925 | Margie Gay | Alice in Cartoonland - 35 mm Collector's Set |
| 22 | Alice Chops the Suey | August 30, 1925 | Margie Gay | Alice in Cartoonland - 35 mm Collector's Set |
| 23 | Alice the Jail Bird | September 15, 1925 | Margie Gay | Alice in Cartoonland - 35 mm Collector's Set |
| 24 | Alice Plays Cupid | October 15, 1925 | Margie Gay | |
| 25 | Alice Rattled by Rats | November 15, 1925 | Margie Gay | Alice in Cartoonland - The Original Alice Comedies by Walt Disney |
| 26 | Alice in the Jungle | December 15, 1925 | Virginia Davis | Walt Disney Treasures: Disney Rarities: Celebrated Shorts, 1920s–1960s |
| 27 | Alice on the Farm | January 1, 1926 | Margie Gay | Alice in Cartoonland - The Original Alice Comedies by Walt Disney |
| 28 | Alice's Balloon Race | January 15, 1926 | Margie Gay | Walt Disney Treasures: The Adventures of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit |
| 29 | Alice's Orphan | January 15, 1926 | Margie Gay | Alice in Cartoonland - 35 mm Collector's Set |
| 30 | Alice's Little Parade | February 1, 1926 | Margie Gay | |
| 31 | Alice's Mysterious Mystery | February 15, 1926 | Margie Gay | Walt Disney Treasures: Disney Rarities: Celebrated Shorts, 1920s–1960s |
| 32 | Alice Charms the Fish | September 6, 1926 | Margie Gay | (Lost cartoon) |
| 33 | Alice's Monkey Business | September 20, 1926 | Margie Gay | (Lost cartoon) |
| 34 | Alice in the Wooly West | October 4, 1926 | Margie Gay | Walt Disney Treasures: The Adventures of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit |
| 35 | Alice the Fire Fighter | October 18, 1926 | Margie Gay | |
| 36 | Alice Cuts the Ice | November 1, 1926 | Margie Gay | (Lost cartoon) |
| 37 | Alice Helps the Romance | November 15, 1926 | Margie Gay | |
| 38 | Alice's Spanish Guitar | November 29, 1926 | Margie Gay | |
| 39 | Alice's Brown Derby | December 13, 1926 | Margie Gay | |
| 40 | Alice the LumberJack | December 27, 1926 | Margie Gay | (Lost cartoon) |
| 41 | Alice the Golf Bug | January 10, 1927 | Margie Gay | (Lost cartoon) |
| 42 | Alice Foils the Pirates | January 24, 1927 | Margie Gay | (Lost cartoon) |
| 43 | Alice at the Carnival | February 10, 1927 | Margie Gay | (Lost cartoon) |
| 44 | Alice at the Rodeo | February 21, 1927 | Margie Gay | |
| 45 | Alice the Collegiate | March 7, 1927 | Margie Gay | (Lost cartoon) |
| 46 | Alice in the Alps | March 21, 1927 | Margie Gay | (Lost cartoon) |
| 47 | Alice's Auto Race | April 4, 1927 | Margie Gay | (Lost cartoon) |
| 48 | Alice's Circus Daze | April 18, 1927 | Lois Hardwick | |
| 49 | Alice's Knaughty Knight | May 2, 1927 | Lois Hardwick | (Lost cartoon) |
| 50 | Alice's Three Bad Eggs | May 16, 1927 | Lois Hardwick | (Lost cartoon) |
| 51 | Alice's Picnic | May 30, 1927 | Lois Hardwick | (Lost cartoon) |
| 52 | Alice's Channel Swim | June 13, 1927 | Lois Hardwick | (Lost cartoon) |
| 53 | Alice in the Klondike | June 27, 1927 | Lois Hardwick | (Lost cartoon) |
| 54 | Alice's Medicine Show | July 11, 1927 | Lois Hardwick | (Lost cartoon) |
| 55 | Alice the Whaler | July 25, 1927 | Lois Hardwick | Walt Disney Treasures: Disney Rarities: Celebrated Shorts, 1920s–1960s |
| 56 | Alice the Beach Nut | August 8, 1927 | Lois Hardwick | (Lost cartoon) |
| 57 | Alice in the Big League | August 22, 1927 | Lois Hardwick |