Lady and the Tramp
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| Lady and the Tramp | |
 Original poster |
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| Directed by | Clyde Geronimi Wilfred Jackson Hamilton Luske |
|---|---|
| Produced by | Walt Disney |
| Written by | Screenplay Erdman Penner Joe Rinaldi Ralph Wright Don DaGradi Concept Joe Grant Novel Ward Greene |
| Starring | Peggy Lee Barbara Luddy Larry Roberts BillThompson Bill Baucom Stan Freberg Verna Felton Alan Reed George Givot Dallas McKennon Lee Millar The Mellomen |
| Music by | Oliver Wallace |
| Editing by | Don Halliday |
| Studio | Walt Disney Pictures |
| Distributed by | Buena Vista Distribution |
| Release date(s) | June 22, 1955 |
| Running time | 75 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $4 million |
| Gross revenue | $93,602,326 |
| Followed by | Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure |
Lady and the Tramp is a 1955 American animated feature film produced by Walt Disney and released to theaters on June 22, 1955 by Buena Vista Distribution. The fifteenth animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, it was the first animated feature filmed in the CinemaScope widescreen film process.[1] The story centers on a female American Cocker Spaniel named Lady who lives with a refined, upper middle-class family, and a male stray mutt called the Tramp.[2]
Contents |
Plot
Christmas morning Jim Dear gives his wife Darling a cocker spaniel puppy that they name Lady. Though initially planning that Lady would sleep in a basket in the kitchen, she ends up sleeping on the bed with the couple. When she is six months old, she receives a collar and license. Lady goes to show off her badge of maturity to her canine friends Jock, a Scottish terrier and Trusty, a Bloodhound. Across town, a stray mutt, referred to as the Tramp, visits an Italian restaurant where he gets a large bone from the owner for his breakfast. He also spots his fellow strays Peg (a former Dog and Pony Show dog) Pekingese and Bull, a Bulldog, locked up in a dog catcher's wagon and sets them free, leading the dogcatcher away in a decoy chase.
Later, Lady is saddened after Jim Dear calls her "THAT Dog", and another occasion, when Darling swats her for pulling on the yarn she was using to knit. When she tells Jock and Trusty about these events, and how Jim Dear is always asking about Darling's "condition" they explain to her that Darling is expecting a baby. While her friends continue to explain what a baby is, the Tramp wanders into the yard, warning her that when the baby comes she'll lose her comfortable place in the home. Jock and Trusty take an immediate dislike to the stray and order him out of the yard.
The baby arrives and Lady goes to the nursery to finally get a look. Lady realizes the baby is harmless, and assigns herself as its protector. Soon after, Jim Dear and Darling decide to go on a trip together, leaving Aunt Sarah to look after the baby and the house. Aunt Sarah brings her two Siamese cats, Si and Am. While Aunt Sarah is busy with the baby, the two cats begin causing mischief. Lady barks at and chases them, and when Aunt Sarah comes down to investigate the noise, the two cats pretend to be hurt.
Aunt Sarah takes her to a pet shop and has her muzzled. Terrified, Lady escapes, attracting a pack of vicious street dogs. The Tramp sees she's in trouble and rescues her. He takes her to the zoo where they convince a beaver to remove the muzzle. Then the two dogs go around town and the Tramp tells her about his life, and all the "homes" and names he has.
At dinnertime, the Tramp takes Lady to his favorite Italian place, Tony's, where Tony and Joe prepare the couple a dinner of spaghetti and meatballs and serenade the couple. As they eat, the dogs inadvertently share a kiss when they attempt to eat the same piece of spaghetti. After dinner, they go for a walk through the park and eventually fall asleep. In the morning, the Tramp asks Lady to stay with him, but she feels she must watch over the baby so he agrees to take her home. On the way, he convinces her to chase some chickens with him, but while they are escaping, the dogcatcher catches Lady. At the pound, Lady is teased a bit by the rougher strays for being high bred, but Peg (who has been caught again), tells them to stop. The other dogs admire Lady's license, as it is her way out of the pound. Soon the dogs reveal the Tramp's many girlfriends and how he is unlikely to ever settle down. They also predict that if the Tramp ever does settle down, he'll grow careless and likely be caught and put to sleep. The talk upsets Lady, but she is soon taken home.
Aunt Sarah chains her to a doghouse in the back yard, much to her shame. Jock and Trusty visit to try to comfort her, and even propose marriage so she could move to one of their homes. Lady appreciates their gesture but gently turns them down. Then Tramp comes to visit but when he tries to apologize thunder starts to rumble as Lady furiously confronts him about all of his other girls, after which the Tramp sadly leaves. Moments later as it starts to rain, Lady sees a rat sneaking into the house. She barks frantically, but Aunt Sarah yells at her to be quiet. The Tramp hears her and runs back to help. Following Lady's directions, he gets into the house, finds the rat in the nursery and kills it, overturning the baby's crib in the process. Lady breaks her chain to follow him into the house. Aunt Sarah runs in, and seeing the overturned crib, thinks Tramp attacked the baby. She pushes him into a closet and Lady into the basement, then calls the pound to take Tramp away.
As the dogcatcher is taking the Tramp away, Jim Dear and Darling arrive and Lady leads them to the dead rat; Jim Dear and Darling realize what has really happened. Jock and Trusty, having overheard everything, chase after the dogcatcher's wagon. Jock is convinced Trusty has long since lost his sense of smell, but the old bloodhound is able to find the wagon. They bark at the horses to make it stop, causing it to fall. Jim Dear arrives by car with Lady, and Lady is happily reunited with the Tramp before they discover that the wagon fell on Trusty.
Christmas arrives and the Tramp now has his own collar and license and has been adopted by Jim Dear and Darling. She and the Tramp have a litter of four puppies. Jock and Trusty come to see the family and the Tramp's new collar, with Trusty carefully walking on his injured leg.
Cast
- Peggy Lee as Darling, Si, Am, Peg
- Barbara Luddy as Lady
- Larry Roberts as The Tramp
- Bill Thompson as Jock, Joe, Bulldog, Dachsie, Policeman
- Bill Baucom as Trusty
- Stan Freberg as Mr. Busy the beaver
- Verna Felton as Aunt Sarah
- Alan Reed as Boris
- Thurl Ravenscroft as Al the alligator
- George Givot as Tony
- Dallas McKennon as Toughy, Pedro, Professor, Hyena
- Lee Millar as Jim Dear, Dogcatcher
- The Mellomen as Dog Chorus
Characters' development
The Tramp
In early script versions, the Tramp was first called Homer, then Rags and Bozo.[2] However in the finished film, the Tramp never calls himself a proper name, although most of the film's canine cast refer to him as "the Tramp." The Tramp has other names that are given to him by the families he weekly visits for food, such as Mike and Fritzi. However, he doesn't belong to a single family, so his name is never confirmed.[3]
Aunt Sarah
The character that eventually became Aunt Sarah was softened for the movie, in comparison with earlier treatments. In the film, she is a well-meaning busybody aunt (revealed to be the sister of Darling's mother in the Greene novelization) who adores her cats. Earlier drafts had Aunt Sarah appear more as a stereotypical meddling and overbearing mother-in-law.
Si & Am
Earlier versions of the storyline, drafted in 1943 during the war, had the two cats appear as a sinister pair, suggesting the yellow peril. They were originally named Nip and Tuck.[2] In Ward Greene's novelization, they tearfully express remorse over causing the Tramp's impending execution by hiding the rat's body as a joke, and then try to make amends, while in the film they do not partake of the climactic scene.
Jim Dear and Darling
In pre-production, Jim Dear was known as Jim Brown, and Darling was named Elizabeth. These were dropped to highlight Lady's point of view. In a very early version, published as a short story in a 1944 Disney children's anthology, Lady refers to them as "Mister'"and "Missis". To maintain a dog's perspective, Darling and Jim's faces are rarely shown. The background artists made models of the interiors of Jim Dear and Darling's house, and shot photos and film at a low perspective as reference to maintain a dog's view.[4]
The film's opening sequence, in which Darling unwraps a hat box on Christmas morning and finds Lady inside, is based upon an actual incident in Walt Disney's life when he presented his wife Lily with a Chow puppy as a gift in a hat box.[5]
Beaver
The Beaver in this film is similar to the character of Gopher in Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree, down to the speech pattern: a whistling noise when he makes the "S" sound. This voice was created by Stan Freberg, who has an extensive background in commercial and comedy recordings. On the Lady and the Tramp Platinum Edition DVD he demonstrates how the effect was done, and that a whistle was eventually used because it was difficult to maintain the effect.[4]
Rat
The rat, a somewhat comical character in some early sketches, became a great deal more frightening, due to the need to raise dramatic tension.
Production
Story
In 1937 legendary Disney story man Joe Grant[6] approached Walt Disney with some sketches he had made of his Springer Spaniel named Lady and some of her regular antics. Disney enjoyed the sketches and told Grant to put them together as a storyboard. When Grant returned with his boards, Disney was not pleased and the story was shelved.[7]
In 1943 Walt read in Cosmopolitan a short story written by Ward Greene, called Happy Dan, The Whistling Dog.[2] He was interested in the story and bought the rights to it.[8]
By 1949 Grant had left the studio,[6] but Disney story men were continually pulling Grant's original drawings and story off the shelf to retool.[7] Finally a solid story began taking shape in 1953[8], based on Grant's storyboards and Green's short story.[7] Greene later wrote a novelization of the film that was released two years before the film itself, at Walt Disney's insistence, so that audiences would be familiar with the story.[4] Grant didn't receive credit for any story work in the film, an issue that animation director Eric Goldberg hoped to rectify in the Lady and the Tramp Platinum Edition's behind-the-scenes vignette that explained Grant's role.[7]
Cinemascope
This was the first Disney animated feature filmed in CinemaScope.[2] Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.55:1 it is, to date, the widest film that Disney has ever produced. Sleeping Beauty was also produced for an original 2.55:1 aspect ratio, but was never presented in theatres this way — the film is nevertheless presented in its original 2.55:1 aspect on DVD and Blu-ray Disc Platinum Edition release.
This new innovation of Cinemascope presented some additional problems for the animators: the expansion of canvas space makes it difficult for a single character to dominate the screen, and groups must be spread out to keep the screen from appearing sparse.[2] Longer takes become necessary since constant jump-cutting would seem too busy or annoying.[1] Layout artists essentially had to reinvent their technique. Animators had to remember that they could move their characters across a background instead of the background passing behind them.[8] The animators overcame these obstacles during the action scenes, such as the Tramp killing the rat.[1] However, some character development was lost, as there was more realism but fewer closeups, therefore less involvement with the audience.[8]
More problems arose as the premiere date got closer. Although Cinemascope was becoming a growing interest to movie-goers, not all theaters had the capabilities at the time. Upon learning this, Walt issued two versions of the film to be created: one in widescreen, and another in the original aspect ratio. This involved gathering the layout artists to restructure key scenes when characters were on the outside area of the screen.[9]
Script revisions
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This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2009) |
The finished film is slightly different from what was originally planned. Although both the original script and the final product shared most of the same elements, it would still be revised and revamped. Originally, Lady was to have only one next door neighbor, a Ralph Bellamy-type canine named Hubert. Hubert was later replaced by Jock and Trusty. A scene created but then deleted was one in which, while Lady fears of the arrival of the baby, she has a "Parade of the Shoes" nightmare (similar to Dumbo's "Pink Elephants on Parade" nightmare) where a baby bootie splits in two, then four, and continues to multiply. The dream shoes then fade into real shoes, their wearer exclaiming that the baby has been born.[citation needed]
Another cut scene was after Trusty says "Everybody knows, a dog's best friend is his human". This leads to Tramp describing a world where the roles of both dogs and humans are switched; the dogs are the masters and vice-versa.[7]
Prior to being just "The Tramp," the character went through a number of suggested names including Homer, Rags, and Bozo. It was thought in the 1950s that the term "tramp" would not be acceptable, but since Walt Disney approved of the choice, it was considered safe under his acceptance. On early story boards shown on the Backstage Disney DVD had listed description "a tramp dog" with "Homer" or one of the mentioned prior names.[4]
Spaghetti sequence
The spaghetti scene is an often-parodied scene, including in the film's own sequel, Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure. The scene was also parodied in Hot Shots Part Deux.
Release
At the time, the film took in a higher figure than any other Disney animated feature since Snow White.[10] An episode of Disneyland called A Story of Dogs aired before the film’s release.[11] The film was reissued to theaters in 1962, 1971, 1980, and 1986, and on VHS and Laserdisc in 1987 (this was in Disney's The Classics video series) and 1998 (this was in the Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection video series). A Disney Limited Issue series DVD was released on November 23, 1999. It was remastered and restored for DVD on February 28, 2006, as the seventh installment of Platinum Edition series.[12] One million copies of the Platinum Edition were sold on February 28, 2006 [13] The Platinum Edition DVD went on moratorium on January 31, 2007, along with the 2006 DVD reissue of Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure.[14]
This film began a spinoff comic titled Scamp, named after one of Lady and the Tramp's puppies. It was first written by Ward Greene and was published from October 31, 1955 until 1988. Scamp also stars in a direct-to-video sequel in 2001 titled Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure. Walt Disney's Comic Digest — issue #54 has A New Adventure of Lady and the Tramp dated copyright 1955.[15]
Critical reception
Despite being an enormous success at the box office, the film was initially panned by many critics: one indicated that the dogs had "the dimensions of hippos," another that "the artists' work is below par".[16] However the film has since come to be regarded as a classic.
Lady and the Tramp was named number 95 out of the "100 Greatest Love Stories of All Time" by the American Film Institute in their A Hundred Years...A Hundred Passions special.[17]
Soundtrack
| # | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Main Title (Bella Notte) / The Wag of a Dog's Tail" | |
| 2. | "Peace on Earth (Silent Night)" | |
| 3. | "It Has a Ribbon / Lady to Bed / A Few Mornings Later" | |
| 4. | "Sunday / The Rat / Morning Paper" | |
| 5. | "A New Blue Collar / Lady Talks To Jock & Trusty / It's Jim Dear" | |
| 6. | "What a Day! / Breakfast at Tony's" | |
| 7. | "Warning / Breakout / Snob Hill / A Wee Bairn" | |
| 8. | "Countdown to B-Day" | |
| 9. | "Baby's First Morning / What Is a Baby / La La Lu" | |
| 10. | "Going Away / Aunt Sarah" | |
| 11. | "The Siamese Cat Song / What's Going on Down There" | |
| 12. | "The Muzzle / Wrong Side of the Tracks" | |
| 13. | "You Poor Kid / He's Not My Dog" | |
| 14. | "Through the Zoo / A Log Puller" | |
| 15. | "Footloose and Collar-Free / A Night At The Restaurant / Bella Notte" | |
| 16. | "It's Morning / Ever Chase Chickens / Caught" | |
| 17. | "Home Sweet Home" | |
| 18. | "The Pound" | |
| 19. | "What a Dog / He's a Tramp" | |
| 20. | "In the Doghouse / The Rat Returns / Falsely Accused / We've Got to Stop That Wagon / Trusty's Sacrifice" | |
| 21. | "Watch the Birdie / Visitors" | |
| 22. | "Finale (Peace on Earth)" |
Peggy Lee
Legendary recording artist Peggy Lee wrote the songs with Sonny Burke, and assisted with the score as well.[2] In the film she sings: "He's a Tramp", "La La Lu", "The Siamese Cat Song", and "What Is a Baby?".[18] She helped promote the film on the Disney TV series, explaining her work with the score and singing a few of the film's numbers.[2] These appearances are available as part of the Lady and the Tramp Platinum Edition DVD set.
In 1991 Peggy Lee sued the Walt Disney Company for breach of contract claiming that she still retained rights to the transcripts, including those to videotape.[19] She was awarded $2.3m, but not without a lengthy legal battle with the studio which was finally settled in 1991. [20]
References
- ^ a b c Finch, Christopher (2004). "Chapter 8: Interruption and Innovations". The Art of Walt Disney. pp. 234–244.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Lady and the Tramp History". Disney Archives. http://disney.go.com/vault/archives/movies/ladytramp/ladytramp.html.
- ^ Lady and the Tramp Platinum Edition DVD: "Film dialogue".
- ^ a b c d Lady and the Tramp Platinum Edition DVD. Disc 2: "Disney Backstage".
- ^ (DVD) Walt: The Man Behind the Myth: Pre-production of Lady and the Tramp. 2001.
- ^ a b "Joe Grant". Disney Legends. http://legends.disney.go.com/legends/detail?key=Joe+Grant.
- ^ a b c d e Eric Goldberg. Lady and the Tramp Platinum Edition DVD, Disc 2: "Behind the Scenes: Story Development".
- ^ a b c d Thomas, Bob (1997). "Chapter 7: The Postwar Films". Disney's Art of Animation: From Mickey Mouse to Hercules. pp. 103–104.
- ^ Lady and the Tramp Platinum Edition DVD, Disc 2: "Behind the Scenes".
- ^ Newcomb, Horace (2000). Television: The Critical View. Oxford University Press. p. 27. ISBN 0-19-511927-4.
- ^ Newcomb (2001), p. 27.
- ^ "Platinum Edition". http://www.ultimatedisney.com/ladyandthetramp-platinumedition-pressrelease.html.
- ^ "Sales information of the DVD". http://www.videobusiness.com/article/CA6312352.html.
- ^ "Lady and the Tramp II information". http://dvd.ign.com/articles/736/736573p1.html.
- ^ "Labeled IVR D.D.B.P #2 (Donald Duck's Beach Party #2)". Walt Disney Comics Digest (54).
- ^ "Walt and Education: Part I". http://disney.go.com/disneyatoz/familymuseum/exhibits/articles/ladyandthetramp/index.html.
- ^ "100 Years...100 Passions List of 100 Winning Movies" (PDF). AFI. http://connect.afi.com/site/DocServer/passions100.pdf?docID=248l.
- ^ "Peggy Lee's Film Appearances". Peggy Lee's Official Website. http://www.peggylee.com/solos/films.html.
- ^ "Peggy Lee article". http://www.peggylee.com/library/910219.html.
- ^ "BBC News". June 26, 2002. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/music/2066858.stm.
External links
- Lady and the Tramp at the Internet Movie Database
- Lady and the Tramp at Box Office Mojo
- Lady and the Tramp at Disney's Archives
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