Alice Comedies

**Alice Comedies** are a series of short films produced and directed by Walt Disney. They are unusual for their early combination of live action with animation, with Alice leaving her real world and entering Cartoonland with Julius the cat.

## History

Walt Disney, Ub Iwerks, and their staff made the first *Alice Comedy*, a one-reel (ten-minute) short subject starring Virginia Davis, 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, and the film was never released.

After raising money 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. A deal was finally arranged through Winkler Pictures, run by Margaret Winkler and her fiancee Charles Mintz. Because of a recent falling out with Pat Sullivan, the studio needed a quick replacement for their centerpiece *Felix the Cat* animated series. Disney convinced Davis' family to bring her from Missouri to Los Angeles to star in the series for a hundred dollars per week.

Walt Disney both directed and produced all the films in this series. Animation was done by Walt Disney, sometimes assisted by Rollin "Ham" Hamilton.

Over the fifty-seven shorts in the series, four actresses played the role of Alice: Virginia Davis, Dawn O'Day, Margie Gay, and Lois Hardwick.

## Availability

All of the shorts are now in the public domain, though many are currently lost. Some are extant only with Dutch title cards.

In 2000, Inkwell Images released *Alice in Cartoonland – The Original Alice Comedies by Walt Disney* in VHS, and in 2007 in DVD as part of the *Golden Classics* series with ten of the films as well a documentary, poster gallery, and DVD ROM. In 2007, Kit Parker Films released another DVD called *Alice in Cartoonland: The 35mm Collector's Set*. 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.

In October 2016, it was announced that the *Alice* shorts held by the EYE Film Institute in Amsterdam had been restored for global re-release.

## Films

### Starring Virginia Davis

* Alice's Wonderland
* Alice's Day at Sea
* Alice's Spooky Adventure
* Alice's Wild West Show
* Alice's Fishy Story
* Alice and the Dog Catcher
* Alice the Peacemaker
* Alice Gets in Dutch
* Alice Hunting in Africa
* Alice and the Three Bears
* Alice the Piper
* Alice Cans the Cannibals
* Alice the Toreador
* Alice Gets Stung
* Alice in the Jungle

### Starring Margie Gay

* Alice Solves the Puzzle
* Alice Loses Out
* Alice Gets Stage Struck
* Alice Wins the Derby
* Alice Picks the Champ
* Alice's Tin Pony
* Alice Chops the Suey
* Alice the Jail Bird
* Alice Plays Cupid
* Alice Rattled by Rats
* Alice on the Farm
* Alice's Balloon Race
* Alice's Orphan
* Alice's Little Parade
* Alice's Mysterious Mystery
* Alice Charms the Fish
* Alice's Monkey Business
* Alice in the Wooly West
* Alice the Fire Fighter
* Alice Cuts the Ice
* Alice Helps the Romance
* Alice's Spanish Guitar
* Alice's Brown Derby
* Alice the Lumberjack
* Alice the Golf Bug
* Alice Foils the Pirates
* Alice at the Carnival
* Alice at the Rodeo
* Alice the Collegiate
* Alice in the Alps
* Alice's Auto Race

### Starring Lois Hardwick

* Alice's Circus Daze
* Alice's Knaughty Knight
* Alice's Three Bad Eggs
* Alice's Picnic
* Alice's Channel Swim
* Alice in the Klondike
* Alice's Medicine Show
* Alice the Whaler
* Alice the Beach Nut
* Alice in the Big League