BACKGROUND
Lewis Carroll’s original story, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, has been adapted for screen and stage numerous times over the years, however, despite seeming like a simple film to make, given the ample source material, Disney’s Alice in Wonderland actually took a number of years to develop and produce.
With all these adaptations over the decades, you’d think it would be difficult for a studio to make their mark with this story, yet Alice in Wonderland is likely to be the most memorable adaptation of Carroll’s famous stories, and for many, their first introduction to the story. This might lead viewers to believe that it was always a popular film, but in fact, it was not. When Alice in Wonderland was first released in 1951, its reviews were not kind, and it underperformed at the box-office.
I have always liked Alice in Wonderland, though it is not one that I revisit too often, but it does have a short enough running time – just 75 minutes – to make it easy to sit and watch whenever I have a spare hour. It is the best adaptation in my opinion as well. The 1999 made-for-television film Alice in Wonderland does stick in my mind, as it did feature an all-star cast, with actors like Martin Short, Miranda Richardson, Whoopi Goldberg and Gene Wilder, but it was just bizarre and not overly pleasing to the eye.
PLOT
Disney’s Alice in Wonderland begins with Alice, a little blonde girl, being read a history book by her sister in the park. Alice is not paying any attention to her lesson, and is distracted by her cat, Dinah, who is a very cute cat and doesn’t get nearly enough screen time, and everything else in the garden. Alice says she can’t possibly pay attention to a book with no pictures in it, and starts to imagine her own world, where everything would be backwards and not make sense. Soon, she sees a white rabbit with a watch and a waistcoat running nearby, shouting about being late for something. Curious, Alice follows the White Rabbit, wanting to know why he’s late. She crawls into a hole and tumbles down, leaving her cat and the world she knows behind.
Alice doesn’t fall, but floats downwards, passing by floating furniture, before turning upside down. Eventually, she hits solid ground, where she sees the Rabbit going through a door. Alice opens lots of tiny doors and steps into a hall, where she finds a door on the opposite side. She tries to turn it, but is surprised to find the doorknob can talk! The Doorknob tells Alice she is too big to get through the door and tells her to drink the bottle that’s on the table. Sure enough, she becomes small enough to fit through the door, but the Doorknob forgot to tell her that he’s locked, with the key up on the table that Alice can no longer reach. A box of “Eat Me” biscuits appears in front of her, which then makes her too big again. Alice cries, with huge tears falling down her cheeks, flooding the entire room. The Doorknob tells Alice to drink from the bottle again, which makes Alice too small and she falls inside the bottle. Luckily, as she floats down her sea of tears, the Doorknob swallows a bunch of it through the keyhole, including the bottle, and she gets through to the other side.
There, she sees a dodo, birds and lobsters swimming in the water. She soon hits dry land, tumbling out of the bottle, where these creatures are running around in a circle, called a “Caucus Race”, trying to dry themselves. Alice is told by the Dodo to join in, despite Alice’s protestations that they can’t possibly get dry this way as waves keep crashing on to them. She soon sees the Rabbit again, and follows him into the nearby woods, where she meets Tweedledee and Tweedledum. The twins introduce themselves to Alice, and want her to stay and talk to them for a while. Alice doesn’t, saying she is curious by the White Rabbit. This reminds the two of a story called “The Walrus and the Carpenter”, which features curious oysters. Alice sits down to hear it. The story goes that a walrus and a carpenter were walking along the beach, and sees loads of oysters in the sea. Thinking they’d be perfect for their dinner, the Walrus coaxes the young oysters out of the sea and leads them to a makeshift restaurant that the Carpenter has put together. As the Carpenter is told to get condiments and bread, the Walrus shocks the oysters by eating them all. The Carpenter returns to find the Walrus has eaten every last oyster and chases him down the beach. Alice decides as she’s not an oyster, she doesn’t need to worry about being curious and leaves.
Alice reaches a cottage, which turns out to be the White Rabbit’s. The Rabbit sends Alice in to find his gloves, but as she does so, she eats a biscuit which makes her grow so large that she fills the entire house and is stuck. The White Rabbit asks the Dodo and Bill, a lizard with a ladder, to help. The Dodo tells Bill to go down the chimney and pull the monster (Alice) out. As Bill falls down the chimney, soot flies into the air, making Alice sneeze and sends Bill shooting back out of the chimney. The Dodo then decides to burn the house down, “to smoke the monster out”, and starts to break up all of Rabbit’s furniture. Alice sees a bed of carrots nearby and pulls one out to eat. As she takes a bite, she shrinks down to a tiny size again, and rushes out of the house to follow the Rabbit again. This time, she finds herself in a garden, where the flowers talk and sing to her. They decide that Alice must be a weed, as she can’t say what type of flower she is, and chase her out of the garden.
Next, Alice meets a smoking caterpillar sitting on a mushroom. He wants to know who she is, but she can’t explain as she’s changed so much since she got to Wonderland. The Caterpillar insults Alice as she tries to recite, making her so angry she leaves. She is soon called back by the Caterpillar, and told to control her temper. He wants to know what is wrong with her. She says she wants to be taller, as being three inches high is a “wretched height”. It turns out the Caterpillar is this exact height. Furious, he suddenly turns into a butterfly, and tells Alice that the mushroom near her can change her size; one side will make her taller, the other shorter. After some trial and error, involving a bird and her nest of eggs, Alice gets back to her normal size and carries on. Alice goes back into the woods, but is confused by the poor signage. The Cheshire Cat materialises in front of her, and Alice asks him for directions. He tells her to talk to the Mad Hatter or the March Hare, telling Alice that “most everyone’s mad here”, annoying Alice who doesn’t want to talk to mad people.
She stumbles upon the Mad Hatter’s tea party and hears of him and the March Hare singing about their “unbirthday”. Alice finds it’s her “unbirthday” too! They celebrate with a cake, and invite her to join them for tea. Alice doesn’t manage to drink a drop of it, as the two question her, constantly move seats, and call her mad. She also scares the Dormouse, who sleeps in the teapot, by mentioning her cat, Dinah. The White Rabbit runs past, shouting about being late, so the Mad Hatter takes a look at his watch. The watch is two days slow apparently, but the Mad Hatter can fix it! He spreads butter, jam, tea, and lemon into the mechanics of the watch and closes it up. The watch goes crazy and starts to jump and snap all over the place. There’s no option but to break it with a mallet. The White Rabbit is upset, but the Mad Hatter and March Hare cheer him up with their “Unbirthday Song” and throw him back into the woods. Alice leaves shortly after, deciding she wants to go home.
She walks through Tulgey Wood, where she encounters many strange creatures, but finds herself hopelessly lost. The Cheshire Cat returns to her and tells her she must meet the Queen who rules this land before she leaves. He shows her a shortcut to the Queen’s castle and Alice goes in. She sees a pack of cards painting roses red, and asks why they are doing that. It turns out they planted white roses, and knowing that would anger the Queen, must paint them red, the colour she wanted, before she finds out. But she does find out, because the Queen and her Cards enter the gardens. The Queen of Hearts sees paint dripping from the roses and questions the cards, eventually sending them off to have their heads cut off. Alice is invited to play croquet with the Queen. The Queen wins by cheating, which upsets Alice. The Cheshire Cat reappears, this time on the Queen herself, and starts to talk to Alice. Alice looks rude and insulting as she responds to the Cat as nobody else can see it since the Cat disappears without warning. The Cheshire Cat manages to flip up the Queen’s skirts, exposing her underwear to everyone. Alice is blamed for this and the Queen begins to shout “off with her head”, when the King asks for a trial instead.
Alice is taken to the Court Room, where they hear pointless evidence from the Mad Hatter, the March Hare, and the Dormouse, none of whom were even there. They celebrate the Queen’s “unbirthday” and gift her a crown, except the crown is actually the Cheshire Cat. Alice tries to get everyone to see him, but he vanishes. The Dormouse freaks out again at the word “cat”, which leads to the Queen having jam thrown in her face. The Queen is furious and thinks it was Alice who did it, and starts to shout “off with her head” again, when Alice finds the mushroom from earlier in her pocket. She eats both halves and grows tall again. This gives her the confidence to call the Queen a “fat, old tyrant”, but shrinks down to her normal size just as she finishes. Alice runs away, and is chased by hundreds of the Queen’s Card Soldiers. She is chased all through Wonderland, where she sees characters from her earlier adventures, who all try to stop her. She finally gets to the Doorknob from the start of the day and asks him to let her through. He shows Alice that she is already through; Alice is asleep by the river in the park, where she was before she fell down the Rabbit Hole. It turns out it was all a dream. Alice shouts at herself to wake up, and we are taken back to the park, where Alice’s sister is telling her to wake up. Alice wakes up confused, and starts reciting the Caterpillar’s earlier phrases, explaining her visit to Wonderland. Exasperated, her sister simply says they should get home for tea.
CHARACTERS & CAST
Alice is a precocious little girl, who is easily angered and annoyed, having multiple arguments with Wonderland’s residents, including the Caterpillar, the Mad Hatter, the March Hare, the Cheshire Cat, and the Queen of Hearts! She doesn’t seem to know when she should and shouldn’t talk. Most of the film seems to be about teaching Alice how to be courteous and polite, as she is taught how to speak “correctly” by the Caterpillar; how to sing sweetly by the Flowers; warned of the dangers of being too curious by Tweedledee and Tweedledum; and taught to address royalty by the Queen. Unfortunately, these lessons fall on deaf ears for the most part as Alice is so confident and headstrong that she keeps barrelling in to more difficult situations, getting to the point where she ends up on trial for angering the Queen. It’s not good, is it? If I was stuck in Wonderland with no idea about their rules of society, I’d spend my time trying to work out how to behave correctly so I could keep my head on my shoulders. But not Alice; she does the complete opposite. Whether that’s a good thing or not, I’ll let you decide! Kathryn Beaumont voices Alice, and also provided the live-action reference material for the character. Beaumont would go on to voice Wendy Darling in the next Disney animated feature film, Peter Pan (1953). She would also reprise both these roles on occasion for Disney projects. Kathryn Beaumont was named a Disney Legend in 1998.
The real-life inspiration for Alice was a five-year-old girl called Alice Liddell. She met mathematician, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, who would later be known under his penname Lewis Carroll, at that age, as her father was Dean at Christ Church College at the University of Oxford where Dodgson was a maths tutor. He would soon become a friend of the Liddell family. The stories were created on 4th July 1862 by Dodgson. He improvised the stories as a way of entertaining Alice and her sisters, Lorina and Edith. The first written manuscript of the story was given to Alice Liddell in November 1864, with illustrations also being provided by Dodgson; the book was titled Alice’s Adventures Under Ground. The story was then published widely in 1865, with illustrations by Sir John Tenniel, under the name Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. A sequel titled Alice Through the Looking Glass was later published in 1871. The books were a hit.
After the publications, Alice Liddell lived a life without fame. She married Reginald Hargreaves, who was a pupil of Dodgson’s, on 15th September 1880. They had three sons and lived in Hampshire. It wasn’t until financial problems many years later, forcing her to sell Dodgson’s original manuscript to an American collector, that Alice Liddell would find fame. She visited the USA for Carroll’s centenary celebrations at Columbia University, and later received an Honorary degree from there for services to literature. She also consulted on Paramount’s 1933 film, Alice in Wonderland. Liddell died in November 1934. A few years later, in 1948, the original manuscript of the story was returned to the UK[1].
There are multiple other characters in Alice in Wonderland, so I won’t discuss all of them, but I will mention some of the more important ones. First, the Mad Hatter, the March Hare and the Dormouse feature in two separate sequences: the Tea Party and the Trial. It’s quite clear that, although the Mad Hatter and the March Hare are bizarre and odd, they are harmless and mean well generally. They just want to celebrate, have a good time, and seem to quite enjoy meeting new people. The Dormouse doesn’t feature too much; he’s mostly just sleeping in his tea pot, so he’s definitely harmless and not mad at all really. The Dormouse’s voice was provided by Disney Sound Effects Head, Jimmy MacDonald. MacDonald created contraptions to make the sounds for many characters in Disney movies, such as the Crocodile’s “tick-tock” in Peter Pan (1953); Dragon Maleficent’s snapping jaws in Sleeping Beauty (1959), where castanets were used; and the buzzing of Evinrude the dragonfly in The Rescuers (1977). MacDonald was also the official second voice artist to voice Mickey Mouse, after Walt Disney, and the original voice of Chip, from the duo of Chip ‘n’ Dale.
Musician, comedian and actor Jerry Colonna voices the March Hare. He had previously narrated the segment “Casey at the Bat”, which features within the package feature Make Mine Music (1946) for Disney. Colonna was also one of Bob Hope’s sidekicks in Hope’s radio shows and films during the 1940s and 1950s. The Mad Hatter’s voice is provided by Ed Wynn, who began his career in radio shows before moving into film. He hosted his own variety show, The Ed Wynn Show (1949-50) for which he won the Emmy Award for Best Live Show. Ed Wynn also appears as giggling Uncle Albert in the Disney film, Mary Poppins (1964). I really like the March Hare and the Mad Hatter as characters, with the Tea Party being one of the funniest scenes in the film. During the live-action reference shoot for this scene, Ed Wynn ad-libbed many of his lines. When it came time for Wynn to record his lines clean in the studio, the team found they weren’t coming across funny enough, so they went back to the live-action tape and used those lines in the film instead[2].
The Cheshire Cat is the most lovable of the characters in my opinion, but that’s probably just because he’s a big, fluffy, pink and purple cat! He’s a bit tricky to deal with though, not answering questions directly, vanishing at random, and seeming to want to get Alice into trouble with the Queen! I still like him though; he’s fun and the choice of voice actor probably helps with his likeability too. Sterling Holloway voices the Cheshire Cat, with Holloway having provided the voices for numerous characters for the Walt Disney Company throughout his career. Some of these include Mr. Stork in Dumbo (1941), Kaa in The Jungle Book (1967) and the original voice of Winnie the Pooh. Holloway has a kind, warm voice, so you can see why Disney hired him so often.
Another prolific Disney voice actor credited in Alice in Wonderland is Verna Felton who voices the menacing Queen of Hearts. It’s clear from the Queen of Hearts’ first entrance that she is difficult to please, high maintenance, and easy to anger, as she immediately sends three of her Cards to be beheaded from the first moment we meet her! She’s certainly not easy to get along with, though her voice may come across as sweet and kind when she wants to, just to lure you into a false sense of security. Verna Felton has provided the voices of characters such as Mrs. Jumbo and the Elephant Matriarch in Dumbo (1941), the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella (1950), Flora in Sleeping Beauty (1959), and Winifred the Elephant in The Jungle Book (1967).
But that’s not all because there are a few more actors who appear in Alice in Wonderland and many other Disney movies. English actor and singer J. Pat O’ Malley, who was born in Burnley, which explains the Northern accents in this film, voices the characters of Tweedledee and Tweedledum, the Walrus, the Carpenter and Mother Oyster, so basically all the voices in that sequence, except for Alice. I always liked watching “The Walrus and the Carpenter” story when I was younger, rewinding the VHS tape to see it over and over. I find Tweedledee and Tweedledum a bit annoying though! O’Malley also voiced Colonel Hathi in The Jungle Book (1967); Cyril Proudbottom, the horse in The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949); and Jasper and Colonel in One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961).
Bill Thompson, who voiced Mr. Smee in Peter Pan (1953), Jock in Lady and the Tramp (1955), King Hubert in Sleeping Beauty (1959) and Uncle Waldo in The Aristocats (1970), voices both the White Rabbit and the Dodo in Alice in Wonderland. The Dodo acts like he is incredibly intelligent, but in actual fact, his ideas and plans don’t make any sense and don’t really work. The White Rabbit is the catalyst for Alice even coming to Wonderland, so he’s important for the story, but he is quite high-strung; he needs to relax and stop running around so much! I like both these two characters.
The Mellomen, a singing quartet founded by Thurl Ravenscroft, the original voice of Tony the Tiger for Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes, featured as singers for large groups of characters in Disney animated features, such as the Pirates and the Indians in Peter Pan (1953), the dogs in the pound in Lady and the Tramp (1955) and the Dawn Patrol in The Jungle Book (1967). In Alice in Wonderland, the Mellomen are the singing Card Painters.
A couple of other actors to mention are Richard Haydn and Heather Angel who provide the voices for the exacting Caterpillar and Alice’s frustrated sister respectively. Haydn would later play the role of Max Detweller in The Sound of Music (1965) and Angel would voice the part of Mrs. Darling, Wendy’s mother, in Peter Pan (1953).
PRODUCTION
Walt Disney’s fascination with Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland goes back to his time at school, where he loved reading Carroll’s original stories. In 1923, as part of Walt’s original studios, Laugh-O-Gram Studio in Missouri, him and his staff made a short film titled Alice’s Wonderland, which involved a live-action little girl dreaming of Cartoonland, an animated world, where she interacted with various animated animals, before being chased off a cliff by hungry lions. It was a silent, black-and-white short film, which combined animation and live-action, lasting about ten minutes. After the film was completed, the Laugh-O-Gram Studio went bankrupt and shut down, leading Walt to go to Los Angeles and set up a new studio over there. Walt and his new studio then produced 56 more shorts like this from 1923 to 1927, which became known as the Alice Comedies. In 1933, Walt Disney considered making a feature-length movie based on the Carroll stories as an animation/live-action hybrid like his Alice Comedies, with Hollywood actress Mary Pickford in the starring role. However, partly due to Paramount’s own adaptation being released that year, nothing further happened with the idea and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs became the Disney Studios first feature-length movie release.
In 1936, a Disney short was released, titled Thru the Mirror, which involved Mickey Mouse stepping through a mirror, after Mickey falls asleep reading Alice Through the Looking Glass. In the mirror, Mickey eats nuts to make him grow tall and then small. Whilst small, he skips with a phone cord, dances with a pair of gloves, and then marches alongside a pack of cards. Mickey dances with the Queen of Hearts card, angering the King, who sword-fights Mickey and orders the cards to attack him. Mickey gets away, and races over the Globe in the room. He falls through the Globe, but returns to the surface, normal-sized again, so he can return in time for Mickey to be woken by his alarm clock[3].
This shows that the Alice stories were still very much on Walt Disney’s mind. Though it wasn’t until 1938 that Walt moved forward with the idea of producing a movie again, when he formally registered the title with the Motion Picture Association of America and bought the rights to the story and Tenniel’s illustrations. Story man Al Perkins produced a 161-page analysis of the book and analysed each chapter, thinking about how it would work in animation. In June 1939, British art director David Hall spent three months producing around 400 paintings, drawings and sketches using Perkins’ book analysis as a guide. A film reel of these concept drawings was filmed in November 1939 and shown to Walt, who was not pleased. He felt that the animators were not understanding the spirit of the story correctly, making it too dark, and that Hall’s sketches were too close to Tenniel’s illustrations and therefore would be difficult to animate. Although the film later went in a different direction, some suggestions of Perkins’ were used in the final film, such as the White Rabbit wearing glasses, something Carroll had envisioned but did not translate into Tenniel’s illustrations, as well as the watch being fixed by the Mad Hatter belonging to the White Rabbit, and the Cheshire Cat appearing more.
In April 1941, the movie was considered again with a live-action girl. This time, actress Gloria Jean was considered for the main role. America’s involvement in World War II in this year then halted production on the movie. After the war had ended, the idea of Alice in Wonderland was returned to. This time, Ginger Rogers was considered for another live-action/animated hybrid film, and later Luana Patten, who starred in Song of the South (1946) and So Dear to My Heart (1948) for Disney[4]. In 1945, Aldous Huxley, who wrote the novel Brave New World, was hired to write the script for the movie, but Walt found it too close to Carroll’s novel, as well as too difficult to understand. From this point, Walt decided to make Alice in Wonderland a fully animated movie, with production moving forward in 1949.
As the original stories involve over eighty characters, many characters and sequences were cut from the final film. These include the White Knight, who Walt Disney was fond of, but felt that by cutting the character, Alice would be able to figure things out for herself in Wonderland instead of relying on the White Knight to help her. Another scene titled “Pig and Pepper” involving the Duchess, her cook and a screaming baby that transforms into a pig when Alice tries to rescue it from the mad house, was also cut, with this scene later being available to view with David Hall’s original artwork on home releases. Another was an early version of Alice daydreaming of a world of her own. Alice would have laid on the grass, watching birds fly, and seeing animal shapes in the clouds and moving trees blowing before the White Rabbit appeared[5]. There was a planned segment on the Jabberwocky, with Stan Freberg, who would voice the Beaver in Lady and the Tramp (1955) for Disney, being chosen for the character. Some animation was completed for the segment, but it was removed as Walt felt the scene would be too scary for children. Original pressbooks from 1951 credited Freberg with voicing the Jabberwocky despite this edit. Concept art of the sequence by Tom Oreb was released in 1992[6].
One thing that was definite in production of the movie was that Mary Blair’s concept art would be used as the overall animation style for the movie; because of her work, Walt finally believed that they could make Alice in Wonderland and do the original stories justice. Blair’s art style influenced Saludos Amigos (1942), The Three Caballeros (1944), Cinderella (1950), and later Peter Pan (1953), as well as Alice in Wonderland. The Tea Party and the March of the Cards sequences are the most obvious examples of Mary Blair’s art styling making its way into the film, with her concept art being perfectly mimicked in the scenes[7].
The March of the Cards is similar to the hallucinogenic “Pink Elephants on Parade” from Dumbo (1941), as it uses bold, bright colours, which quickly change. It was seen as the big spectacular scene in the movie, making the Cards appear as soldiers and the villain’s minions. Walt was inspired by Carroll’s depiction of the Playing Cards in the original stories here. Sammy Fain, who was involved with composing many of the songs for the movie’s soundtrack, was playing a two-bar intro one day that Walt happened to hear. Walt asked for it to be considered for this particular scene of the cards marching[8]. I think it’s a mesmerising scene to watch and I like the music that plays with it.
MUSIC
Alice in Wonderland features the most songs of any Disney animated feature, with a total of sixteen original songs, though some of these are more sung-through dialogue, used for narration purposes. Alongside Sammy Fain, Bob Hilliard contributed lyrics to the majority of the Alice in Wonderland songs, the first of which is the title song, “Alice in Wonderland”, which plays during the Opening Credits. It is a quiet, calming song, performed by the Jud Conlon Chorus. After that, the movie characters sing the rest of the soundtrack. As Alice, Kathryn Beaumont sung two solos, both written by Fain and Hilliard, which are “In a World of My Own”, sung by the riverbank as Alice dreams of her very own “Wonderland”, and “Very Good Advice”, which she sings when she is lost in Tulgey Wood and can’t find her way home. I’m not a big fan of either of these songs; they’re nice enough, but not particularly memorable. Alice also sings part of the song “All in the Golden Afternoon”, with the chorus of flowers. This song is my favourite of all the Alice in Wonderland songs, probably because it sounds like a real musical performance, and not just story narration.
Other Fain and Hilliard songs include “I’m Late”, which is more of a ditty, performed by Bill Thompson as the White Rabbit, and “The Caucus Race”, also performed by Bill Thompson but as the Dodo this time, alongside the Jud Conlon Chorus. I really like “The Caucus Race”, even though it’s not a long song, and doesn’t mean much; it just sounds fun and upbeat! For J. Pat O’Malley as Tweedledee and Tweedledum, Fain and Hilliard wrote “The Walrus and the Carpenter”. This is a sung-through story, more so than an actual song, but again I very much like this “song”, and the sequence that goes with it. The final songs they contribute to are “Painting the Roses Red” and the reprise of sorts “Who’s Been Painting My Roses Red”, with the first song being performed by Kathryn Beaumont as Alice and The Mellomen as the Card Painters, and the second by Verna Felton as the Queen of Hearts. These are quite catchy tunes, and probably one of the more recognisable songs from the soundtrack. In some versions of the soundtrack, “Painting the Roses Red” is combined with “The March of the Cards” instrumental, which I mentioned earlier.
Long-time Disney composer Oliver Wallace, who had composed the scores for films such as Dumbo (1941), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Original Score, alongside Frank Churchill; The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949); and Cinderella (1950), contributed to Alice in Wonderland’s soundtrack, alongside Ted Sears, who was the first head of Disney’s story department, where he also contributed song lyrics for films like Peter Pan (1953) and Sleeping Beauty (1959). These songs are “Old Father William”, performed by Tweedledee and Tweedledum, albeit briefly; “We’ll Smoke the Blighter Out”, another quick tune, performed by Bill Thompson as the Dodo; and the song “A-E-I-O-U (The Caterpillar Song”, sung by Richard Haydn as the Caterpillar. No lyrics as such feature in the song; the Caterpillar just sings the five letters in different variations, but nevertheless, it’s a fitting introduction to the Caterpillar, and sounds very mysterious as Alice figures out who or what is making the strange sounds.
Don Raye, known for writing songs for singers The Andrews Sisters with hits such as “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy”, and songwriter Gene de Paul, who had collaborated with Raye to write the songs for “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” section of the film The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, wrote one of the final two songs to mention in the soundtrack. This was “’Twas Brillig”, a musical recitation of the poem “The Jabberwocky” by Lewis Carroll, which is performed by Sterling Holloway as the Cheshire Cat. I love this song; again, it’s catchy and memorable. It was actually a late addition to the movie, as there was a plan as late as 1950 to have the Jabberwocky as a character, with a whole scene and song called “Beware the Jabberwock”. When it was cut, they decided to at least reference the Jabberwocky, by giving a song, reciting parts of the original poem, to the Cheshire Cat, which meant removing the Cat’s own song “I’m Odd”, which was written in 1949[9]. I’ve heard the re-recording of the original song, and it’s catchy, but I prefer “’Twas Brillig”.
The final song to mention is potentially the most well-known from the film: “The Unbirthday Song”. It is performed by Alice, the Mad Hatter and the March Hare and explains exactly what an “unbirthday” is. It’s a fun, upbeat song, perfect at this point in the movie when Alice is becoming more and more confused and irritated by the people of Wonderland! It was written by Mack David, All Hoffman and Jerry Livingston, who collaborated on the songs for Cinderella (1950), Disney’s previous animated release. Parts of this soundtrack can be heard within certain attractions at the Disney Parks where the characters of Alice in Wonderland appear. Oliver Wallace was nominated at the Academy Awards for Best Scoring of a Musical Picture for Alice in Wonderland but lost to An American in Paris (1951).
Many more songs were recorded as demos, but did not make it into the final cut of the film, mostly because those characters or scenes were removed from the storyline, and therefore could not be used. These original song demos appeared within the Bonus Features on the 60th Anniversary home release of Alice in Wonderland. Some of these include: “If You’ll Believe In Me”, written for the Lion and the Unicorn; “Everything Has a Useness”, originally meant for the Caterpillar; and “Beautiful Soup”, written for the Mock Turtle, which was to be set to the tune of “The Blue Danube Waltz” by Johann Strauss II[10].
Another interesting point to mention on the music is that “Second Star to the Right” from Peter Pan (1953) uses the melody of a song originally planned for Alice in Wonderland (1951). This song would’ve been called “Beyond the Laughing Sky”, to be sung by Alice in place of “In a World of My Own”. It was a slow ballad, and wasn’t seen to fit the tone of the movie particularly well. The music was written by Sammy Fain. As he worked on both films, he simply used his melody with new lyrics by Sammy Cahn for Peter Pan instead[11].
RECEPTION
As an early way of promoting the movie, a one-hour Christmas special by Walt Disney Productions, titled One Hour in Wonderland, aired on Christmas Day 1950. A few clips of the movie were shown, such as a brief clip of Tweedledee and Tweedledum and the full sequence of the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party. In June 1951, a short documentary titled Operation Wonderland featured further looks at the movie, including parts of “The Walrus and the Carpenter”, “All in the Golden Afternoon”, and the Mad Hatter fixing the White Rabbit’s watch. Other short clips and concept art were shown.
On 26th July 1951, Alice in Wonderland held its premiere in London, which was attended by Kathryn Beaumont and Walt Disney himself. Two days later, on 28th July 1951, the movie hit US theatres. Unfortunately, despite hopes that Alice in Wonderland would be as popular as Cinderella (1950) was during its first release, it received mostly negative reviews upon its general release, particularly in the UK, where audiences disliked the “Americanisation” of the Lewis Carroll story. It lost almost $1 million at the box office, against its $3 million budget, during its initial theatrical run. Reviews from the time stated that there was very little story, with lots of different sequences simply being thrown together. Disney did take the poem of the “Jabberwocky” and the characters of Tweedledee and Tweedledum from Alice Through the Looking Glass and put them into Alice in Wonderland, despite the fact the two Carroll novels have very different plots. Much of the main storyline of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was used in the film, with a few omissions, but by taking bits and pieces from both stories, the essence of the original stories was likely lost, which would have annoyed fans of the novels. Critics also did not like the characters, feeling that they lacked warmth and heart. Some did not like how much Disney deviated from the well-known Tenniel illustrations. It was generally agreed upon, though, that the film would be entertaining enough for children and anyone unfamiliar with Carroll’s original story. Many critics did think the music and colourful animation was pleasant.
LEGACY
Over the years that followed, particularly in the 1960s and the 1970s, Alice in Wonderland began to profit from its re-releases. The 60s and 70s were big for Alice in Wonderland due to its psychedelic artwork and music becoming part of pop culture at the time[12]. Since this point, Alice in Wonderland has become more and more popular, now being considered one of the best Disney animated feature films, which is evident from the number of references to it within the Disney Parks, as well as spin-offs to it on screen. Alice and its characters also appear in Disney video games, like Kingdom Hearts and Disney Infinity.
On screen, Alice in Wonderland was one of the first Disney animated films to receive not one but two live-action adaptations, though it is not right to call them “remakes” as the films feel completely different to the animated film and do not bear much resemblance to it. The first live-action film, titled Alice in Wonderland, released in 2010, was directed by Tim Burton. It follows a nineteen-year-old Alice returning to Wonderland, where she must restore the White Queen’s throne by fighting against the Red Queen. Even from this very brief plot description, it is obvious that this version of Alice in Wonderland involves different characters to those in the animated film, with many more characters from Carroll’s original stories being used. It features an all-star cast including Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter, Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen, Anne Hathaway as the White Queen, Stephen Fry as the Cheshire Cat, and Alan Rickman as the Caterpillar. I watched this film once for a university project and I found the story much too dark, and Tim Burton’s artistic style didn’t appeal to me! But it did well at the box-office and won Academy Awards for Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design. In 2016, the sequel, Alice Through the Looking Glass, was released, with much of the cast from the first film returning to reprise their roles. This time, the film was directed by James Bobin. The story follows a 22-year-old Alice travelling through time to help the Mad Hatter find his family. Alice Through the Looking Glass received mostly negative reviews for its plot, and did not do well at the box-office. It was Alan Rickman’s final film performance, as he died in January 2016, five months before the movie’s release.
On television, a computer-animated series titled Alice’s Wonderland Bakery (2022-present) is currently airing on Disney Junior. Its first season aired in February 2022; its second began airing in June 2023. It follows the great-granddaughter of the original Alice working at the Wonderland Bakery, exploring the kingdom on numerous adventures with creatures the same or similar to those from the original Alice in Wonderland film. A spin-off of the popular ABC television series Once Upon a Time (2011-18) took place in Wonderland with Alice and the characters of Wonderland. Once Upon a Time in Wonderland only aired for one thirteen-episode series, from October 2013 to April 2014, before being cancelled. Its reviews were mixed, as some disliked the confusing plot. One character from this spin-off, Will Scarlet / The Knave of Hearts, did later appear in the actual series.
Alice in Wonderland is also a popular story to use for school productions. Disney condensed their story into a one-act stage show entitled Alice in Wonderland, Jr. but as of 2018, it is no longer available to license. I was in a strange adaptation of Alice in Wonderland at school, called Alice @ Wonderland.com. It was a “modern” version of the story from the early-2000s. As I can only find a couple of references to it anywhere, from people who were also in a school production of it, it must’ve been very short-lived; I can still remember some of the songs vaguely though. I was Crusty Crab, an incredibly minor part, but my dad made me a huge crab shell costume out of cardboard that fascinated my teachers! It was a non-Disney version, but just shows the number of adaptations of the story, which no doubt take elements from Disney’s animated film as well as the original Carroll stories.
At the Disney Parks, Alice in Wonderland is a basis for at least one attraction in all six of the Disney theme parks. Disneyland potentially has the most interesting attraction, a dark ride, unsurprisingly called Alice in Wonderland, that goes through the story of the film. It is two-storeys, with a zig-zagging outside track on the top floor. It looks great; I’m very jealous of Disneyland for having that because I love a good Fantasyland dark ride. But sadly, Disneyland is just that bit farther to travel than Walt Disney World, so I have not been on it before. The original version opened in June 1958. As well as this, the Storybook Land Canal Boats and the Casey Jr. Circus Train go past a miniature English village, based on the one from Alice in Wonderland. A doll of Alice and the White Rabbit appear within the UK section of the it’s a small world boat ride. Disneyland also has the Mad Tea Party, a spinning “tea cups” attraction, which is the only Disney one to be uncovered, in the open air. As for Alice in Wonderland character meet-and-greets, Alice, the Mad Hatter, and the White Rabbit have been spotted recently, with the Queen of Hearts and the Cheshire Cat being seen in the Frightfully Fun Parade at the Oogie Boogie Bash for the 2023 Halloween Season. Tweedledee and Tweedledum have not been seen for a while. There is also a gift shop in Disneyland’s Fantasyland named The Mad Hatter, after the Alice in Wonderland character.
At Walt Disney World Resort, within Magic Kingdom, they have their own version of the Mad Tea Party tea cups attraction. This one is under cover due to the ever-changing Florida weather. It has a huge tea pot spinning in the centre of it; the Dormouse even pops his head out on occasion. At Epcot, Alice has a permanent meet-and-greet location at the UK pavilion. In terms of other characters, the Mad Hatter was the most recently seen but that was a few years ago. The White Rabbit and the Cheshire Cat are even rarer at Walt Disney World, though you can find the Cheshire Cat Tail chocolate pastry at the Cheshire Café refreshment stand over by the Mad Tea Party. The Queen of Hearts is a regular at Walt Disney World’s Halloween and Villains Events, and is available as a meet-and-greet location at the 2023 Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party. You may see Tweedledee and Tweedledum here too. At the Grand Floridian Resort and Spa, you used to be able to meet Alice and the Mad Hatter at the Supercalifragilistic Breakfast character meal at their restaurant, 1900 Park Fare. The Wonderland Tea Party was also available for children to attend where they would also be able to meet Alice and the Mad Hatter, however, 1900 Park Fare has not yet reopened since its closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
At Disneyland Paris, there are two Alice in Wonderland-themed attractions, with the first being another “tea cups” attraction, this time called Mad Hatter’s Tea Cups. It also has a cover, like the one at Walt Disney World. The second is Alice’s Curious Labyrinth. It is a literal maze, with models of characters from the movie, such as the Caterpillar, the Dodo and the Card Painters dotted on, around and within the hedges. There is also a large flower bed shaped like the Cheshire Cat and a multi-coloured castle in the centre to explore. I vaguely remember going through this maze when I was younger on my first visit to Disneyland Paris; I can’t remember if we finished though, as I’m pretty sure I freaked out about getting lost in it! I don’t think it helped that I kept thinking of a 1990s advert for Disneyland Paris, which I must’ve seen on some VHS tape, where the Queen of Hearts is chasing children through this maze and was worried it would happen to me! The Queen is a terrifying walk-around character…The Queen of Hearts and Tweedledee and Tweedledum were seen in 2023 at Disneyland Paris, with the Queen and the Cheshire Cat also being around for Halloween Season. Alice, the Mad Hatter and the White Rabbit have been less visible in recent years, but are likely to be available for meet-and-greets around their attractions at some point. An Alice in Wonderland-themed BMX show arrived at Walt Disney Studios Park at Disneyland Paris on 25th May 2024, in the area that used to house Moteurs…Action! Stunt Show Spectacular, which ran from 2002 to 2020[13]. It has been named Alice & the Queen of Hearts: Back to Wonderland and is a BMX stunt show with musical performances by steampunk versions of the Disney characters. The show is currently listed as ending on 29th September 2024.
At Hong Kong Disneyland, Mad Hatter Tea Cups is the name of this park’s “tea cups” attraction and is another covered attraction. As for Alice in Wonderland characters, Alice and the White Rabbit were seen most recently, with the Queen of Hearts being available to meet throughout the 2023 Halloween Season.
At Tokyo Disneyland, their “tea cups” attraction is titled Alice’s Tea Party. It is also covered and has the tea pot with the Dormouse popping his head out, like at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom. Like at Disneyland, a doll of Alice and the White Rabbit appear within the UK section of Tokyo’s it’s a small world boat ride. As for character meet-and-greets, Alice and the Mad Hatter were seen previously, however, Tweedledee and Tweedledum, the White Rabbit and the Cheshire Cat have not been spotted for a while. The Queen of Hearts also seems to be a no-show; however, Tokyo Disneyland does have a quick-service dining location named after her, Queen of Hearts Banquet Hall, which appears to be quite popular with park guests. It is a cafeteria-style restaurant, with Card Soldiers and garden sets in place throughout the location. At the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel, you can also choose to stay in one of their Alice in Wonderland rooms. They are designed with motifs from the film and its characters, as well as pictures of concept art and paintings from the movie on the walls. There is even a clever lamp shade that looks like the Mad Hatter’s hat!
At Shanghai Disneyland, there is another maze, this time called the Alice in Wonderland Maze, but in this case themed after the live-action 2010 film, not the 1951 animated film, meaning it is slightly darker, with less bright colours than Alice’s Curious Labyrinth in Paris. The centre features an area themed to the Red Queen’s castle, with a huge model of her head watching you as you pass! Unlike the other five Disney Parks, Shanghai’s “tea cups” attraction is not themed to Alice in Wonderland, but instead uses honey pots for its vehicles as it is Winnie-the-Pooh themed. It is unclear if Alice in Wonderland characters are available for meet-and-greets at this park.
It looks very likely that the Alice in Wonderland characters will be available for meet-and-greets, random or permanent, for many years to come. They are also featured in parades and nighttime shows at the Disney Parks, be that as a walkaround character or through clips from the movie. For example, the Mad Hatter and Alice make an appearance at the Festival of Fantasy Parade at Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World, whilst Alice, Tweedledee and Tweedledum appear in Tokyo Disneyland’s Harmony in Color Parade. Previously, Alice featured in the now-defunct nighttime parade SpectroMagic and in the Main Street Electrical Parade, which occasionally comes back to Disneyland every now and again. In SpectroMagic, Alice and the White Rabbit were standing on one float, but in the Main Street Electrical Parade, there were many floats dedicated to the movie, with two huge mushroom floats being the main attention-grabbers; one had Alice and the Cheshire Cat, whilst the other one had the Caterpillar sat on top. As Alice in Wonderland is quite an old movie from the Disney Animation catalogue, the characters from the film are not likely to have starring roles in any current or upcoming shows or parades, but at least one character should still be there.
FINAL THOUGHTS
In recent years, Alice in Wonderland has become iconic. Walt Disney was disappointed with the initial reaction to his movie, but did state that he felt it would become a valuable property for the company – and that it did. Alice in Wonderland features prominently at the Disney Parks around the world, which might have seemed odd considering the film did not do well around the time Disneyland was being planned and when it first opened in 1955.
But it wouldn’t be too much later, during Alice in Wonderland’s re-releases, that it would become popular and generate big profits for the Disney Studios. It has stood the test of time, having celebrated its 70th anniversary back in 2021, with adults and children alike finding admiration and love for the movie today.
REFERENCES
[1] Credit: Author Unknown, ‘The real Alice in Wonderland’, VAM.ac.uk, date unknown.
[2] Credit: Disney, “Reflections on Alice”, from Alice in Wonderland (1951) 1-Disc 60th Anniversary DVD (2011).
[3] Credit: Disney, “Thru the Mirror (1936)”, from Alice in Wonderland (1951) 1-Disc 60th Anniversary DVD (2011).
[4] Credit: Jim Korkis, ‘The Disney “Alice in Wonderland” Never Made’, CartoonResearch.com, 24th July 2020.
[5] Credit: Disney, “Deleted Scene: Pig and Pepper”, “Deleted Concept: Alice Daydreams in Park”, from Alice in Wonderland (1951), 60th Anniversary DVD and Blu-Ray (2011).
[6] Credit: Jim Korkis, ‘Animation Anecdotes’, MousePlanet.com, 1st October 2014.
[7] Credit: Disney, “Reflections on Alice”, from Alice in Wonderland (1951) 1-Disc 60th Anniversary DVD (2011).
[8] Credit: Jim Korkis, ‘The Playing Card Characters in Alice in Wonderland’, MousePlanet.com, 14th September 2016.
[9] Credit: Disney, “I’m Odd” Cheshire Cat Song”, from Alice in Wonderland (1951) 1-Disc 60th Anniversary DVD (2011).
[10] Credit: Disney, “Original Song Demos”, from Alice in Wonderland (1951) 60th Anniversary Blu-Ray (2011).
[11] Credit: Disney, “From Wonderland to Neverland: The Evolution of Song”, from Alice in Wonderland (1951) 60th Anniversary Blu-Ray (2011).
[12] Credit: Brittany DiCologero, ‘Today in Disney History, 1951: Alice in Wonderland Premiered in the U.K.’, WDW Magazine (online), 26th July 2023.
[13] Brittani Tuttle, ‘BREAKING: Disneyland Paris Confirms Alice in Wonderland BMX Show, Announces New Drone Nighttime Show and Daytime Character State Show’, WDWNT.com, 28th August 2023.
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