Dear Abby - Favorite Dog Movies: Lady and the Tramp

Dear Friends,

I'm excited to share my Momma's favorite animated dog movie with you today.  Of course, it is also a dog movie!

Lady and the Tramp is a 1955 Disney movie.  It tells the story of a beautiful, refined Cocker Spaniel named Lady and a scruffy but lovable Schnauzer named Tramp.  They become friends and find love in this movie.  (Sigh!)  Of course, the path to love is not smooth.  Lady has a hard time after her people have a human baby and the aunt who is babysitting (and petsitting) takes a dislike to Lady.  At one point both Lady and the Tramp end up in the dog pound.  But, of course, this is a Disney movie, so they find their happy ever after with Lady's family -- with new puppies of their own.

Some trivia about Lady and the Tramp:

Disney writer Joe Grant started working on a story inspired by his English Springer Spaniel Lady in 1937.  Walt Disney thought the story was too sweet.  In the early 1940's, Disney purchased the rights to a short story "Happy Dan, the Whistling Dog," from Cosmopolitan magazine, and that character inspired Tramp.

The beginning of the movie, when Darling finds Lady wrapped in a hat box, was inspired by Walt Disney's own life.  He gave his wife a Chow puppy that way at Christmas time.

Singer Peggy Lee provided several voices for this movie, including Darling Dear, the Siamese cats, and Peg the Pekingese.

Thurl Ravenscroft ("Tony the Tiger" from Kellogg's Frosted Flakes commercials) also provided a voice in this movie - Al the Alligator. 

Darling and Jim Dear's faces are rarely seen;  this is to help set the movie from a dog's perspective.

The setting for the movie was inspired in part by Walt Disney's boyhood hometown of Marceline, Missouri.

Tramp was not always called Tramp.  In earlier versions of the script he was called Homer, Rags, and Bozo!

Lady and the Tramp is the first Disney movie filmed in Cinemascope wide screen.

Here is the original 1955 trailer for this movie.



This is my favorite scene in the movie.  Lady and the Tramp find love - and spaghetti!  I also like the song "Bella Notte."  (The video includes a short scene at the end from a Disney restaurant inspired by this scene.)



Have you seen Lady and the Tramp?  I'd love to hear from you in the comments, below.

Love,

Abby xoxoxo