Tag Archives: 1920s

July 1, 1924 – The Alice Comedy Alice and the Dog Catcher is Released to Theaters

“So we must set those poor dogs free.”

On July 1, 1924, the Alice Comedy Alice and the Dog Catcher was released to theaters. It was directed by Walt Disney, and starred Virginia Davis as Alice.

The short begins with a meeting of a secret society, where Alice is the leader. The meeting is interrupted by a latecomer, who warns them of the city dogcatcher rounding up all the strays in the neighborhood. Alice then thinks about her own dog being turned into sausages and starts to cry. Resolved to protect the dogs, she orders the society to sit down as she tells them of her dream. The scene then moves to the cartoon land, where all the dogs are following the dogcatcher as he tricks them with music. The dogcatcher catches all but one, but the dogcatcher finally triumphs and heads off with the dogs. Alice is distraught as she tells her tale, and the boys in the society also cry at the news. She continues with her story, where she comes across parents of the pups, who are beside themselves with worry. Alice heads straight for the pound, where she is sent away immediately. Alice hears the dogs cry for help, and grabs a nearby bomb to blow up the pound, setting all the dogs free. The society then decides to go and rescue all the dogs, much to the annoyance of the dogcatchers. They then drive off with the dogcatcher’s wagon, nearly crashing several times. In the end, the dogcatchers chase after their own car after Alice and her friends jump out, and the society is proud of what they have done to save the dogs of the neighborhood.

February 15, 1926 – The Alice Comedy Alice’s Mysterious Mystery is Released to Theaters

“A couple of Sherlocks on the trail of the missing link…”

On February 15, 1926, the Alice Comedy Alice’s Mysterious Mystery was released to theaters. It was the 31^st Alice Comedy released by Disney, and stars Margie Gay as Alice. The short can be seen as controversial, as the villains are dressed as Klansmen (fortunately, the villains are defeated in the end).

In the cartoon world, a bear smoking a cigar is making his way is his chauffeured car when he comes across the school for puppies. He plots with his chauffer to pretend to be a dog catcher and trucks them all inside before taking the school and placing them inside his dog catcher truck. No sooner has the event occurred that Alice and Julius are on the case, tracking the footprints, which only leads to a dead end of a duck wearing shoes. They hear a cry for help from a dog that is soon captured, and Alice and Julius begin the pursuit. The bear manages to carefully get across a tightrope to the other side of the cliff, but as Alice and Julius make their way across, the bear uses his cigar to burn up the tightrope, leaving the detectives stranded. Having made a clean getaway, the bear uses a new tactic to capture dogs: luring them to an inconspicuous trap door with a pretty female dog standing at her balcony as bait. It is soon revealed that the dogs are being placed in the sausage factory in separate crates, with workers turning the dogs into sausages. Alice and Julius finally make it to the factory, with Julius tricking the bear into falling through the trap door. Julius manages to let the dogs go free, and they all chase the bear and other workers out of town.