NINE DECADES OF ALICE IN WÜNDERBAR LAND (1903 - 1985)

 

Well, it's 2-2-22, and it's Groundhog Day to boot, so here's something worthy of a date like that! Ring the bell Deputy Dog cause it's time for another Weird Ass Wednesday in The Dungeon.

Every once in a while you can stump the internet. I've looked for a number of things or people over the years and still not gotten any answers, but I was really surprised that I could find no reference anywhere to a book I found in our public library back in the 1960's. The title was "Alice In Wünderbar Land" and was written in what I would call German Pigeon English. We just thought that "Alice In Wonderful Land" was hilarious. With Tabonga as my witness, I swear it's true.

 

 There have been so many versions of "Alice In Wonderland" made over the years, there was at least one every decade since the 1900's, and I guess it just proves that if a story is good enough, it never gets old.

So here you go, starting with this silent version from 1903 with May Clark as Alice.

This 1915 version had Viola Savoy as Alice. She was only fifteen at the time, made one more film, and retired.

Out of all the early versions, I think this one is more stunning than the rest.

This is the kind of scene I'm talking about.

Almost all the versions of Alice seen here can be seen for real on youTube, and this one is worth the effort!

This 1923 Disney version had Virginia Davis as Alice, a little girl who visits an animation studio, but it wasn't called "Alice In Wonderland," but instead was titled "Alice's Wonderland."

"Alice's Wonderland" was followed by fourteen more shorts featuring Alice in stories like "Alice's Spooky Adventure," and "Alice Cans The Cannibals."

In 1931, Ruth Gilbert got her turn at being Alice in one of the stranger versions. This was the first of five acting credits for Ruth up to 1954. She came back in 1992 to be in the movie "Me Myself and I."

A much more produced and well known version of "Alice In Wonderland" came out in 1933 with Charlotte Henry as Alice, and Cary Grant as Mock Turtle.

This rabbit creeps me out, and Alice is pretty creepy herself!

This 1949 production included odd stop-action animation, and had Carol Marsh as Alice.

Nine years later, Carol would be one of Hammer's first female vampires as Lucy Holmwood in "Horror Of Dracula."

1951 brought us probably the most famous version of "Alice In Wonderland," the animated Disney classic with a ten year old Kathryn Beaumont doing the voice of Alice. 

 

 

Kathryn was also the model for the animated Alice, and she was the voice of Wendy in "Peter Pan" too.

This TV movie musical version from 1966 was actually titled "Alice Through The Looking Glass," and not "Alice In Wonderland," but we'll count it anyway. There was also another "Alice In Wonderland" that was a British production made in 1966 that had Anne-Marie Mallik as Alice.

Judi Rolin was Alice in this feature and some of the rest of the cast included Jimmy Durante, Agnes Moorehead, Jack Palance, and the Smothers Brothers.

 

In 1976, it started getting really weird for Alice, and somebody decided it was a good idea to do a movie called "Alice In Wonderland: An X-Rated Musical Fantasy."

This version starred Kristine (Meatballs) DeBell as Alice.

After that, there's just more and more and more, but I'm going to end it with this 1985 TV movie that had Natalie Gregory in the lead role. Natalie has 26 credits to her name, but hasn't appeared on TV or in films since 2013. Last update on IMDB was 1995, and it said that she was studying to get a degree in physics. That might have something to do with it.

 

Or maybe it had something to do with being in a movie with Telly Savalas as The Cheshire Cat, that would do it to me! Any Questions??

Go Ask Alice!!