Alice Comedies

The "Alice Comedies" is an American animated/live-action short film series created by Walt Disney in the 1920s, in which a live-action little girl named Alice and an animated cat named Julius have adventures in an animated landscape. Four actresses played Alice throughout the series starting with Virginia Davis in 1923. The other three actresses were Dawn O'Day, Margie Gay, and Lois Hardwick.
==Alice's Wonderland==
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. 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 a distribution deal, which was finally arranged through Winkler Pictures, run by Margaret J. Winkler and her fiancé, Charles Mintz.
As for what Alice's Wonderland is about, it starts off with Alice entering a cartoon studio so she can watch cartoons being created. The cartoons come to life and play around, and Alice is amazed by what she sees. After heading to bed that night, Alice dreams that she is in the cartoon world, being welcomed by all the creations. Alice plays around with the cartoons until danger approaches: 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.
==Content==
Although seen as cute and funny in their time, the Alice Comedies contain content that might be considered surprising and somewhat harsh today. Although Alice is a little girl, 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. Although all of Alice's threats are cartoon drawings, some might find the imagery a bit disturbing due to the character's young age, and the fact that she is a real person, or they might find it simply light-hearted and fun, due to the portrayal.
One cartoon created in 1925 was called Alice's Egg Plant, which was anti-union propaganda towards the IWW. Furthermore, some illegal activities such as bootlegging are portrayed, with Alice herself in ownership of "homebrew".
==List of short films by release date==
===1923===
*Alice's Wonderland (never theatrically released, but made in 1923; Available in the Disney Rarities: Celebrated Shorts: 1920s–1960s and Alice in Wonderland DVD sets)
===1924===
*Alice's Day at Sea (March 1)Motion Pictures News Booking Guide (1924)
*Alice's Spooky Adventure (April 1)Film Daily Year Book 1925
*Alice's Wild West Show (May 1; Available in the Disney Rarities: Celebrated Shorts: 1920s–1960s DVD set)
*Alice's Fishy Story (June 1)
*Alice and the Dog Catcher (July 1)
*Alice the Peacemaker (August 1)
*Alice Gets in Dutch (November 1; Available in the Disney Rarities: Celebrated Shorts: 1920s–1960s DVD set)
*Alice Hunting in Africa (November 15)
*Alice and the Three Bears (December 1)
*Alice the Piper (December 15)
===1925===
*Alice Cans the Cannibals (January 1)Film Daily Year Book 1926
*Alice the Toreador (January 15)
*Alice Gets Stung (February 1; Available in The Adventures of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit DVD set)
*Alice Solves the Puzzle (February 15; Available in the Alice in Cartoon Land DVD set)
*Alice's Egg Plant (May 30; Available in the Disney Rarities: Celebrated Shorts: 1920s–1960s DVD set)
*Alice Loses Out (June 15)
*Alice Gets Stage Struck (June 30)
*Alice Wins the Derby (July 15)
*Alice Picks the Champ (July 30)
*Alice's Tin Pony (August 15; Available in the Alice in Cartoon Land DVD set)
*Alice Chops the Suey (August 30; Available in the Alice in Cartoon Land DVD set)
*Alice the Jail Bird (September 15; Available in the Alice in Cartoon Land DVD set)
*Alice Plays Cupid (October 15)
*Alice Rattled by Rats (November 15; Available in the Cartoon Rarities of the 1920s DVD set)
*Alice in the Jungle (December 15; Available in the Disney Rarities: Celebrated Shorts: 1920s–1960s DVD set)
===1926===
*Alice on the Farm (January 1)
*Alice's Balloon Race (January 15; Available in The Adventures of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit DVD set)
*Alice's Orphan (January 15; Available in the Alice in Cartoon Land DVD set)
*Alice's Little Parade (February 1)
*Alice's Mysterious Mystery (February 15; Available in the Disney Rarities: Celebrated Shorts: 1920s–1960s DVD set)Motion Picture News (1926)
*Alice Charms the Fish (September 6)Motion Picture News (1927)
*Alice's Monkey Business (September 20)
*Alice in the Wooly West (October 4; Available in The Adventures of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit DVD set)
*Alice the Fire Fighter (October 18)
*Alice Cuts the Ice (November 1)
*Alice Helps the Romance (November 15)
*Alice's Spanish Guitar (November 29)
*Alice's Brown Derby (December 13)
*Alice the Lumberjack (December 27)
===1927===
*Alice the Golf Bug (January 10)
*Alice Foils the Pirates (January 24)
*Alice at the Carnival (February 10)
*Alice at the Rodeo (February 21)
*Alice the Collegiate (March 7)
*Alice in the Alps (March 21)
*Alice's Auto Race (April 4)
*Alice's Circus Daze (April 18)
*Alice's Knaughty Knight (May 2)
*Alice's Three Bad Eggs (May 16)
*Alice's Picnic (May 30)
*Alice's Channel Swim (June 13)
*Alice in the Klondike (June 27)
*Alice's Medicine Show (July 11)
*Alice the Whaler (July 25; Available in the Disney Rarities: Celebrated Shorts: 1920s–1960s DVD set)
*Alice the Beach Nut (August 8)
*Alice in the Big League (August 22)Motion Picture News Booking Guide (1927)
==Copyright details==
The copyright for Alice in Slumberland was assigned to Pathe while the rest were assigned to R-C Pictures. None of them were renewed.
==External links==
*http://www.disneyshorts.org/characters/alice.html
*Alice Comedies at Wikipedia
*Lumière Festival: Walt Disney’s ‘Alice Comedies’ Being Restored, Distributed by France’s Malavida (mentions the shorts are public domain)
*TVtropes
*publicdomainmovies.net
*Inkwell Images database
==Gallery==
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Julius the Cat.png
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Julius attacking Pete.jpg
FDJune_211925.jpg|An ad for Alice Comedies from the June 21, 1925 issue of Film Daily.
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==References==
Category:Animated shorts
Category:Alice Comedies
Category:Hybrid films