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Lady and the Tramp

From The Film Guide

Lady and the Tramp
File:Lady-and-tramp-1955-poster.jpg
Directed by Clyde Geronomi
Wilfred Jackson
Hamilton Luske
Produced by Walt Disney
Written by Ward Greene (novel)
Erdman Penner
Joe Rinaldi
Ralph Wright
Don DaGradi
Joe Grant (early 1943 concept as seen on the DVD)
Starring Peggy Lee
Barbara Luddy
Larry Roberts
Bill Thompson
Bill Baucom
Stan Freberg
Verna Felton
Alan Reed
George Givot
Dallas McKennon
Lee Millar
The Mellomen
Distributed by Buena Vista Distribution
Release date(s) June 16, 1955
Running time 75 minutes
Language English
Budget $4,000,000
Followed by Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure (2001)
IMDb profile
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Lady and the Tramp is a 1955 animated feature film produced by Walt Disney Productions, and originally released to theaters on June 16, 1955 by Buena Vista Distribution. The fifteenth animated feature in the Disney animated features canon, it was the first animated feature filmed in the Cinemascope widescreen film process. The story pairs a female Cocker Spaniel named Lady who lives with a rich family and a male mutt named Tramp who lives on the streets. Once the two of them meet, they share an adventure together and eventually fall in love.

Contents

[edit] Characters

  • Lady: A cute, pampered but very loving female Cocker Spaniel.
  • Tramp: A mixed-breed stray (possibly part schnauzer) with a knack for dodging dog-catchers and ability to pick locks.
  • Jock: A scottish terrier with the accent to prove it, Jock is a show dog with numerous trophies.
  • Trusty: A bloodhound who used to track criminals with his Grandpappy, Old Reliable, until he lost his sense of smell.
  • Si and Am Twin Siamese cats owned by Aunt Sara, who had a knack for mischief
  • Peg: A sassy, blonde stray female dog, whom Lady meets, (along with the other dog inmates she was put in a cage with), when she is caught by the dog pound. It is implied that she had a relationship with Tramp in the past, through the lyrics of the song she sings, (He's A Tramp). She was formerly from the dog and pony follies (dog and pony show), either the shows ended or she was left behind. Created for singer Peggy Lee (thus the name), to be a part of the movie.[1]
  • Toughy: A stray male mongrel from the dog pound.
  • Boris: A stray male Russian wolfhound; from the dog pound. Like Pedro, he speaks in a strong accent which represents his Russian nationality.
  • Pedro: A stray male chihuahua from the dog pound. He talks with a thick Mexican accent.
  • Bull: A stray male English bulldog; from the dog pound. He talks with a slight Cockney accent.
  • Jim Dear: name as known by Lady, the fatherly human figure.
  • Darling: name as known by Lady, wife of Jim Dear and motherly human figure.
  • Tony: Owner and chef of Tony's Italian restaurant.
  • Joe: Tony's assistant chef.

[edit] Plot Synopsis

WARNING: Spoilers follow here.
If you have not seen this film, it is recommended to skip to another section.

[edit] Lady's early days

Lady is a gift from "Jim Dear" to his wife, "Darling,"(as Lady hears them call each other), one Christmas and soon quickly becomes the center of their attention. When Lady is six months old, she is given a collar and a license and is able to leave the house. She makes friends with two dogs living nearby, Jock and Trusty. A short time afterwards, she becomes friends with another dog — a stray dog called Tramp. Surprisingly enough, Tramp himself never refers to himself by that name, at least on-screen, but is instead referred to by pretty much two thirds in the film's canine cast (save Jock and Trusty) by the name at one point or another, including Lady, who recognized the name when it was brought up, which indicates that he did at some point tell her he was called the Tramp. It isn't until the second film in which any human calls him Tramp and it is never explained why they 'named' him with the very name he was known by on the streets.

[edit] The baby and Aunt Sarah

Darling then has a baby son and Lady feels that Jim Dear and Darling are not giving her as much attention as before. Soon after the baby is born, Jim Dear and Darling go away for a few days and Aunt Sarah comes to the house to look after the baby. Aunt Sarah has two Siamese cats, Si and Am, who are curious and interested in exploring, regardless of the mischief they create. During the memorable musical number "We Are Siamese," Lady manages to keep the goldfish and canary safe from harm, but she begins to bark when the two cats go up the stairs to see the baby and steal its milk. Lady scares Si and Am and they pretend to have been hurt. Aunt Sarah then takes Lady to a pet shop to have her fitted with a muzzle, but Lady runs away while the shopkeeper is trying to fit.

[edit] Tramp

Lady comes face to face with a group of vicious dogs on the other side of town, but Tramp arrives on the scene and rescues Lady. (Tramp is actually not the name used in the film except in third person, "the Tramp",(exception at the dog pound, Borris says "even Tramp..."), his most used name is Butch at Tony's and each of "the Tramp's" other families has another name for him. "Pige" is used by Tramp as his pet name for Lady, and Lady only says "the Tramp" when talking about him later.) Tramp then takes Lady around the town, introducing her to a few of his friends, including a beaver (named Mr. Busy in the original trailer for the film) who is duped into removing Lady's muzzle, then is allowed to keep it as an aid for pulling exceptionaly large logs. Tramp then takes Lady to Tony's Italian Restaurant, where Joe the cook prepares them a special spaghetti meal, courtesy of human chef Tony. After that, they decide to stay for the night on a hill on a date. The next morning, Lady feels homesick and, while heading back to her home, she and the Tramp head for the farm, where he scares away the chickens. During all the ruckus, Lady is captured by the dog catcher and taken to the dog pound, where she does not stay for long. Because she has a dog's license, Lady is soon identified and taken home, but Aunt Sarah chains her to a kennel in the garden to keep her from running away.

[edit] Back home

Jock and Trusty both come to see Lady, but she is not in the mood for visitors. When Tramp comes, she is furious with him due to the dogs at the pound telling her about Tramp's previous girlfriends, and does not want to see him again. However, Tramp does return and Lady tells him that a rat has gone into the baby's room-- presumably to eat the baby or steal its milk. By now a thunderstorm has moved in. Tramp enters the house and soon comes face to face with the rat. Tramp chases the rat around the bedroom and eventually manages to kill it, but in the process he tips over the baby's cot. Aunt Sarah is awakened by the baby's crying.

[edit] Race against time

Aunt Sarah calls the dog pound and demands that the dog catcher come to collect Tramp; meanwhile, Lady is locked in the cellar. Just as the dog catcher is collecting Tramp, Jim Dear and Darling return. They then unlock the cellar door and release Lady. Lady begins barking frantically and runs upstairs. Aunt Sarah, Jim Dear and Darling all follow her. They see the dead rat and everyone realizes that Lady and Tramp had entered the house to catch the rat. Jock and Trusty are both waiting outside the house and hear about the rat. They decide to go after the dog catcher's wagon while the Darling's and Lady race in their car to intercept it. While Trusty tries to sniff out the wagons trail, Jock tells him that he knows that he has lost his sense of smell, but Trusty manages to pick its scent. After tracking it down they run towards the wagon while it is just yards away from the dog pound. They confront the horses which are pulling the wagon and it topples over into a tree. Several passers-by are helping the driver and trying to release the horses when a taxi pulls up and Jim Dear and Lady get out. Tramp is released from the wagon, while Trusty is trapped under the wheel. Jock is convinced Trusty is dead and he begins to howl in anguish.

[edit] Christmas

At Christmas time with Tramp long adopted by the Darlings (Aunt Sarah not seen again in the film), Lady gives birth to her and Tramp's four puppies (curiously enough, 3 are identical to Lady and one is just like Tramp), and they are all photographed together with the baby. Just then, Jock and Trusty arrive; it turns out Trusty had actually survived the accident, left only with an injured leg. "Uncle Trusty" then starts telling the puppies about his "Grampappy", "Old Reliable" only to realize he forgot what the quote was. The one puppy who looks like Tramp becomes Scamp, the star of a series of Scamp comic books and in later Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure.

Spoilers end here.


[edit] History

[edit] Production

The film was based loosely on two previous works: the Happy Dan, The Whisting Dog published in 1948 in Cosmopolitan (magazine) (which was a literary magazine at that time) by Ward Greene about a mutt from the wrong side of the tracks and a story line worked on for several years by Disney story man Joe Grant about a Cocker Spaniel named Lady, loosely based on his own pet, a Springer Spaniel named Lady (his dog was brown and white while Lady was honey coloured all over). 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.[2]

The finished film is slightly different from what was originally planned. In early script versions, Tramp was first called Homer, then Rags and Bozo. Although both the original script and the final product both 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. There were numerous scenes thought up but then deleted, as well. One 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. Another cut scene was one in song, while Lady and Tramp are at the park, they engage in a bizarre Dog's World fantasy in which the roles of both dogs and humans are switched; the dogs are the masters and vice-versa.

Aunt Sarah, probably Jim Dear's aunt, is not a villain. She is a very grandmotherly woman who adores her cats, but she is very nervous about dogs of any kind, and particularly does not believe that dogs should be around babies. She possibly doesn't feel that cats belong around babies, either, but the subject never comes up since her cats appear to steer clear of the baby, despite the fact that they consider checking out the baby's room for the treat of an unattended baby bottle. The fact that she isn't evil is demonstrated when she picks up Lady from the dog pound instead of leaving her there. Also, in the last scene there is a mention of the dog biscuits Aunt Sarah sent for Christmas. Likewise, the two cats (Si and Am) are sleek and pampered and typically very curious, but are not evil. However, earlier versions of the storyline, drafted in 1943, during the War, show them as a sinister pair suggesting the yellow peril, Nip and Tuck. Aunt Sarah, likewise, was portrayed as an unpleasant mother-in-law with no redeeming features. Even the rat in the film, who was originally intended to be a comic character, became a more realistic threat. In fact, it seems that Lady was practically the only character whose name never changed.

In pre-production, Jim Dear was known as Jim Brown, and Darling was named Elizabeth. These were dropped, presumably because the humans in Lady's life were meant to be known by the names Lady always heard them call each other.

Also, the plot originally intended to have Trusty die at the end of the film while saving Tramp from the dogcatcher, which is why Jock howls at his accident. Walt Disney, however, did not want a repeat of the controversy concerning the death of the mother in Bambi, and therefore Trusty was written into the epilogue sequence to say that he was merely injured. Since he had clearly not been around for several months, one must assume he had to have extensive surgery, and when he appears again he only has a bandaged leg.

The famous spaghetti scene and the following night in the park is one of the most romantic moments in all of Disney animation. It has also been parodied on many occasions, including in the film's own sequel, Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure.

File:Tramprereleaseposter.jpg
1986 Lady and the Tramp re-release poster.

[edit] Re-release schedule and home video

The film was reissued to theaters in 1962, 1971, 1980, and 1986, and on videotape in 1987 (this was in Disney's The Classics video series, and was the last to use the original animated Classics logo at the beginning before the movie). In 1991 before the disney Classics logo with the sorcerer mickey. In 1998 (in the Disney Masterpiece Collection). 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 Disney's Platinum Edition series. [3] One million copies of the Platinum Edition were sold on February 28, 2006 [4] The Platinum Edition DVD will go on moratorium on January 31, 2007, along with the 2006 DVD reissue of Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure [5]

[edit] Lady and the Tramp theatrical release history

[edit] Worldwide release dates

[edit] Titles in different languages

Unless otherwise mentioned, all foreign titles translate to "Lady and the Tramp".

[edit] Trivia

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    • The 1962 reissue of the film was shown on a double bill with the initial release of Almost Angels.
  • In the movie, while Lady and Tramp are strolling through the town at night, they come across a heart with two people's initials that were drawn into wet cement. The initials are someone else's, but the two dogs then make pawprints inside the heart. The initials are believed to be a homage to famous children's authors J.M. Barrie and Elwyn Brooks White.
  • The Beaver in this film seemed to be the inspiration for Gopher in Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree (1966), down to the speech pattern (a whistling sound when he makes the "S" sound). This voice was created by Stan Freberg, who has an extensive background in commercial and comedy recording voice overs and soundtracks. On the DVD he demonstrates how it was done and that a whistle was eventually used because it was hard to continue repeating the effect.[6]
  • Before animating the fight between Tramp and the rat, animator Wolfgang Reitherman kept rats in a cage next to his desk to study their actions.
    • A statue of Lady and the Tramp appears in the Third District of Traverse Town, a world in the video game Kingdom Hearts.
  • According to legend, 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. After he'd forgotten a dinner date with his wife, he made it up to her by offering her the puppy-in-the-hat-box surprise and was immediately forgiven.
  • Peggy Lee, who, along with Sonny Burke, created the songs for the film, later sued Disney for breach of contract claiming that she still retained rights to the transcripts. She was awarded $2.3m, but not without a lengthy legal battle with the studio which was finally settled in 1991.
  • Jock's real name, as is revealed during the movie, is "Hether Lad o' Glen-Cairn." Jock was not the only character who was the subject of a name-game either. In fact, Lady was just about the only character who did not at one point or another have a different suggested name. For instance, prior to being "Tramp," Tramp went through a number of suggested names including Homer, Rags and Bozo. It was thought in the 1950's that the name "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.[7]
  • Tramp had other names in the movie, and when asked by Lady about having a family, Tramp states, "I have a different family for every day of the week, point is none of them have me." Each family mentioned had a different name, nationality, and meal. Since he doesn't belong to a single family, Tramp implies it is easier than the baby problems Lady is going through. "When you're footloose and collar free, you have no worries."[8]
    • The hyena's laughter in the zoo scene was later reused in the Disneyland ride "It's a small world", for the laughter of the hyenas in the Africa scene.
  • The movie is cited by many legendary Disney animators, including Walt Disney himself, to be the first Disney movie (and so far only) to have a suggested "sex scene." This is when the title characters wake up in the morning, cuddled together in the park, and leaving a knowledgable viewer fully aware of what they were doing the previous night. Furthermore, since they were not "married," this means the film managed to show sex out of marriage positively (albeit with consequences) which was prohibited in the Hollywood production code. This is further complicated by the fact that Lady apparently comes home pregnant, and the dogs next door are aware of it as well, whispering about the courtesy of proposing marriage to her. This gives further meaning to the junkyard dogs who chase Lady through the alley as well, which suggests she is in heat. These gentle suggestions were possible in the 1950's only because the characters in question are dogs. The next scene has Jock and Trusty proposing marriage to Lady to explain the scene to children. [9]
  • Even though Trusty survives in the film, death is still shown in the dog pound. A dog known as "Nutsy" is put down. He is taken away and the lights sort of blink, and Lady asks, "You mean he's..." and the reply was yes. In the case of Lady and the Tramp it was to show what Tramp's fate would be with the dog catcher. This is done in future Disney animation, as in The Fox and the Hound. Todd's mother is shot at the beginning of the film and we see the skins of animals including foxes later in the film. This is unlike Bambi, where audiences were familiar with Bambi's mother.
  • Due to the fact that the story is told from a dog's perspective, Darling and Jim's faces were rarely shown. Darling's face was shown more often than Jim's, but they were usually shown only for a brief second. However, their faces don't remain mysteries to viewers.
    • The hyena that laughed in this film has the same laugh of the following:
**Ripper Roo from the Crash Bandicoot series.
**The jack-in-a-boxes from Elf.
    • The real life Tramp lived in the Frontier Land section of Disneyland for the rest of "her" life as it was a homeless female dog that served as the model for the Tramp.
    • As major studios continue to phase out VHS, this was the first Disney animated film only released on DVD. (Disney films continue to phase in DVD) The last Disney animated film released on VHS was Bambi II.
  • This is probably the only Disney film where the heroes of the film's climax, Jock and Trusty, are not the main protagonists.

[edit] Soundtrack Listing

  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 Collar/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 La
  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/Belle 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)

[edit] Voice cast

[edit] Directing Animators

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ↑ Lady and the Tramp Platinum Edition DVD disc 1 'Closed caption track, states the term dog and pony follies - 'which best links to subject dog and pony show'
  2. ↑ Lady and the Tramp Platinum Edition DVD disc 2 'Disney backstage, Ward Greene involvement with the creation of the story'
  3. ↑ [1]' Platinum Edition'
  4. ↑ [2]'sales info of the DVD'
  5. ↑ [3]'Lady and the Tramp II information'
  6. ↑ Lady and the Tramp Platinum Edition DVD disc 2 'Disney backstage, Stan Freberg demonstration of beaver voice and use of a whistle'
  7. ↑ Lady and the Tramp Platinum Edition DVD disc 2 'Disney backstage, story boards shown from the making of the movie show the name a tramp dog'
  8. ↑ Lady and the Tramp Platinum Edition DVD disc 1 'text of the movie Tramp explaining his life'
  9. ↑ Lady and the Tramp Platinum Edition DVD disc 2 'Disney backstage, detail of how the romantic scene was handled for this movie for children;

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Disney theatrical animated features
Official canon (Walt Disney Animated Classics)

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) • Pinocchio (1940) • Fantasia (1940) • Dumbo (1941) • Bambi (1942) • Saludos Amigos (1942) • The Three Caballeros (1944) • Make Mine Music (1946) • Fun and Fancy Free (1947) • Melody Time (1948) • The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949) • Cinderella (1950) • Alice in Wonderland (1951) • Peter Pan (1953) • Lady and the Tramp (1955) • Sleeping Beauty (1959) • One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961) • The Sword in the Stone (1963) • The Jungle Book (1967) • The Aristocats (1970) • Robin Hood (1973) • The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977) • The Rescuers (1977) • The Fox and the Hound (1981) • The Black Cauldron (1985) • The Great Mouse Detective (1986) • Oliver & Company (1988) • The Little Mermaid (1989) • The Rescuers Down Under (1990) • Beauty and the Beast (1991) • Aladdin (1992) • The Lion King (1994) • Pocahontas (1995) • The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) • Hercules (1997) • Mulan (1998) • Tarzan (1999) • Fantasia 2000 (1999) • The Emperor's New Groove (2000) • Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001) • Lilo & Stitch (2002) • Treasure Planet (2002) • Brother Bear (2003) • Home on the Range (2004) • Chicken Little (2005) • Meet the Robinsons (2007) • Bolt (2008) • Rapunzel (2009) • The Princess and the Frog (2009)

Live-action films with animation

The Reluctant Dragon (1941) • Victory Through Air Power (1943) • Song of the South (1946) • So Dear to My Heart (1949) • Mary Poppins (1964) • Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971) • Pete's Dragon (1977) • Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) • The Lizzie McGuire Movie (2003) • Enchanted (2007)

DisneyToon features

DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp (1990) • A Goofy Movie (1995) • Doug's 1st Movie (1999) • The Tigger Movie (2000) • Recess: School's Out (2001) • Return to Never Land (2002) • The Jungle Book 2 (2003) • Piglet's Big Movie (2003) • Teacher's Pet (2004) • Pooh's Heffalump Movie (2005)

Other

The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) • James and the Giant Peach (1996) • Dinosaur (2000) 

See also

Pixar • Walt Disney Animation Studios

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