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The "Alice Comedies" are a series of animated cartoon
Animated cartoon

An animated cartoon is a short, hand-drawn film for the Movie theater, television or computer screen, featuring some kind of story or plot . This is distinct from the term "animation" or "animated film", as not all follow the definition....
s created by Walt Disney
Walt Disney

Walter Elias Disney was a multiple Academy Award-winning American film producer, film director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur and philanthropist....
 in the 1920s, in which a live action
Live action

In film, theatre and video, live-action refers to works that are acted out by human actors, as opposed to by animation. As it is the norm, the term is usually superfluous, but it makes an important distinction in situations in which one might normally expect animation, as in a Pixar film, a video game or when the work is adapted from an anim...
 little girl named Alice
Alice

Alice may refer to:* Alice ...
 and an animated cat
Cat

The cat , also known as the Domestication cat or house cat to distinguish it from other Felinae and Felidae, is a small predationy carnivore species of crepuscular mammal that is valued by humans for its companionship and its ability to hunt vermin, snakes, scorpions, and other unwanted household pests....
 named Julius (who had an odd resembelance to felex the cat) have adventures in an animated landscape.

ey, Ub Iwerks
Ub Iwerks

Ub Iwerks, A.S.C. was a two-time Academy Awards winning United States animator, cartoonist and special effects technician, who was famous for his work for Walt Disney....
, and their staff made the first Alice Comedy, a one-reel (ten-minute) short subject
Short subject

Short subject is a format description originally coined in the North American film industry in the early period of Film. The description is now used almost interchangeably with short film....
 titled Alice's Wonderland, while still heading the failing Laugh-O-Gram Studio
Laugh-O-Gram Studio

Laugh-O-Gram Studio was a film studio located on the second floor of the McConahay Building at 1127 East 31st in Kansas City, Missouri.The studio played a role in Animation in the United States during the silent era: it was home to many of the pioneers of animation, brought there by Walt Disney, and is said to be the place to have provided...
 in Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri

Kansas City is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson County, Missouri, Clay County, Missouri, Cass County, Missouri, and Platte County, Missouri counties....
.






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Encyclopedia


The "Alice Comedies" are a series of animated cartoon
Animated cartoon

An animated cartoon is a short, hand-drawn film for the Movie theater, television or computer screen, featuring some kind of story or plot . This is distinct from the term "animation" or "animated film", as not all follow the definition....
s created by Walt Disney
Walt Disney

Walter Elias Disney was a multiple Academy Award-winning American film producer, film director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur and philanthropist....
 in the 1920s, in which a live action
Live action

In film, theatre and video, live-action refers to works that are acted out by human actors, as opposed to by animation. As it is the norm, the term is usually superfluous, but it makes an important distinction in situations in which one might normally expect animation, as in a Pixar film, a video game or when the work is adapted from an anim...
 little girl named Alice
Alice

Alice may refer to:* Alice ...
 and an animated cat
Cat

The cat , also known as the Domestication cat or house cat to distinguish it from other Felinae and Felidae, is a small predationy carnivore species of crepuscular mammal that is valued by humans for its companionship and its ability to hunt vermin, snakes, scorpions, and other unwanted household pests....
 named Julius (who had an odd resembelance to felex the cat) have adventures in an animated landscape.

Alice's Wonderland

Disney, Ub Iwerks
Ub Iwerks

Ub Iwerks, A.S.C. was a two-time Academy Awards winning United States animator, cartoonist and special effects technician, who was famous for his work for Walt Disney....
, and their staff made the first Alice Comedy, a one-reel (ten-minute) short subject
Short subject

Short subject is a format description originally coined in the North American film industry in the early period of Film. The description is now used almost interchangeably with short film....
 titled Alice's Wonderland, while still heading the failing Laugh-O-Gram Studio
Laugh-O-Gram Studio

Laugh-O-Gram Studio was a film studio located on the second floor of the McConahay Building at 1127 East 31st in Kansas City, Missouri.The studio played a role in Animation in the United States during the silent era: it was home to many of the pioneers of animation, brought there by Walt Disney, and is said to be the place to have provided...
 in Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri

Kansas City is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson County, Missouri, Clay County, Missouri, Cass County, Missouri, and Platte County, Missouri counties....
. After completing the film, the studio went bankrupt and was forced to shut down. After raising money by working as a freelance photographer
Photographer

A photographer is a person who takes a photograph using a camera. A professional photographer uses photography to make a living whilst an amateur photographer does not earn a living and typically takes photographs for pleasure and to record an event, place or person for future enjoyment....
, Disney bought a one-way train
Train

A train is a connected series of vehicles that move along a track to rail transport from one place to another. The track usually consists of two rail tracks, but might also be a monorail or magnetic levitation train guideway....
 ticket to Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles is the largest city in the U.S. state of California and the List of United States cities by population in the United States. Often abbreviated as L.A. and nicknamed The City of Angels, Los Angeles is rated as a beta global city, has an estimated population of 3.8 million and spans over in Southern California....
 to live with his uncle Robert and his brother Roy
Roy O. Disney

Roy Oliver Disney was, with his younger brother Walt Disney, co-founder of what is now The Walt Disney Company. Roy served as the company's chief executive officer ? though title name was not given until 1968 ? president , and chairman ....
.

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.

Alice's Wonderland starts off with Alice entering a cartoon studio so she can watch cartoons being created. The cartoon characters 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 which might be considered surprising and somewhat harsh today. 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
The Perils of Pauline (1914 serial)

The Perils of Pauline was a motion picture film serial shown in weekly installments featuring Pearl White as the title character. Pauline has often been cited as a famous example of a damsel in distress, although Damsel_in_distress#Critical_and_theoretical_responses hold that her character was more resourceful and less helpless than the c...
 (1914), starring actress Pearl White
Pearl White

Pearl Fay White was an United States film actress, the so-called "Stunt Queen" of silent films, most notably in The Perils of Pauline ....
.

DVDS


In 2005 and again in 2007, 10 Alice Comedies were released as part of the Walt Disney Treasures
Walt Disney Treasures

The "Walt Disney Treasures" are two-disc DVD sets of classic The Walt Disney Company works, covering work from the studio's earliest days to more recent work....
 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.

Shorts


The following shorts were either released on DVD in 2005 or 2007
 Film
1923Alice's Wonderland
1924Alice Gets in Dutch
 Alice's Wild West Show
1925Alice Gets Stung
 Alice's Egg Plant
 Alice in the Jungle
1926Alice's Mysterious Mystery
 Alice in the Wooly West
 Alice's Balloon Race
1927Alice the Whaler


See also

  • Animation Before Hollywood: The Silent Period


External links