1965 saw the 100th anniversary of the original Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and it seemed as if this was the year many people started production on their own Alice adaptations. With televisions in nearly home, many of these productions found there way onto TV. While there's only a handful of theatrical adaptations left, many important versions can be found in the made-for-TV category.
Hanna-Barbera Productions were first to the punch, with their animated celebrity-variety-show extravaganza. This production was more of a promotion of the studio than a faithful version of the books, with many famous voices playing their signature characters/personas against a Wonderland backdrop. Apart from cartoon shorts of that placed their lead characters (like Betty Boop or Mickey Mouse) in Wonderland scenarios, this was the first adaption to be set in the modern era, rather than 1865 like the original (fitting for the 100th anniversary).
The result is an hour-long special filled with new songs, new jokes, and old characters with new voices. Don't go in expecting your typical Alice in Wonderland story.
Original Source Breakdown
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Chapter I: Down the Rabbit Hole - ALTERED
Alice is a girl in the regular world of 1965 who must complete her book report on Alice in Wonderland. She had just got to the part with Humpty Dumpty (which is odd, since that's Looking-Glass) when her dog Fluff knocks her down and travels through the television screen's "looking-glass." Alice follows him down where she meets the White Rabbit (Howard Morris, playing a variant of his impish character) who is obsessed with games, and plays a weird guessing game with Alice that makes no sense as he tallies up the points. After giving her the Cinnamon Cake that changes Alice's size, he sings "Life is a Game," then leaves to find her missing dog.
Chapter V: Advice from a Caterpillar - ALTERED
Occurring after the Mad Tea Party, Alice meets with the Caterpillar who is played by Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble in a two headed Caterpillar costume. They sing "They'll Never Split Us Apart" as if they were a vaudeville comedy duo. (Was this a thing with Fred and Barney? I'm not up on my Flintstone lore.)
Chapter VI: Pig and Pepper - ALTERED
Alice meets up with a Cheshire-like Cat (played by Sammy Davis Jr.) who is explicitly not the Cheshire Cat, but more of a cool, jazzy, hipster. He helps Alice find her way and sings "What's a Nice Kid Like You Doing in a Place Like This?" which makes it sound like he's hitting on her in a bar.
Chapter VII: A Mad Tea Party - ALTERED
Alice makes her way to the confusing Mad Tea Party where the Mad Hatter (Harvey Korman) attempts to sell her hats, with the help of renowned gossip columnist Hedda
Chapter VIII: The Queen's Croquet-Ground - ALTERED
Alice gets invited to the croquet game where she sits with the King and Queen of Hearts (Zsa Zsa Gabor). They watch as the cards play an utterly confusing game that combines elements from all sorts of sports. During halftime, Alice is sent to deliver the Queen's tarts to the thirsty players, but once she picks up the tray, she is accused of stealing them.
Chapter XI: Who Stole the Tarts? - ALTERED
Alice is placed on a strange trial where the Queen and King abuse their power as judges (and their son is the inept prosecuting lawyer while Alice's own lawyer is in over his head).
Chapter XII: Alice's Evidence - ALTERED
Alice is found "not guilty" and still thrown in jail. There she discovers Humphrey Dumpty (a bad egg based on Humphrey Bogart) and the White Rabbit, who was too late to the croquet game. Alice sings "I'm Home" as she wishes she could make her way back home. The trio escape over the prison walls (though Dumpty doesn't quite make it) and Alice travels back up the Rabbit Hole, through the TV screen. She wakes up and gets ready for dinner as all of her Wonderland friends show up to return her dog Fluff, then they promptly disappear.
Through the Looking-Glass
Chapter VI: Humpty Dumpty - REFERENCED
Humphrey Dumpty appears in the final scene and breaks when he tries to climb the wall, leaving all the King's horses and men to fix him.
Chapter VIII: "It's My Own Invention" - ALTERED
The White Knight (Bill Dana as his stereotypical Jose Jimenez character) appears before the croquet game, feeling depressed as he shows Alice all of his devices he made to help him in battle (none of which actually work). He also mistakes Alice and Fluff for a princess and dragon respectively. Alice sings "Today's a Wonderful Day" to cheer him up.
Review:
Well, I certainly wasn't expecting the cartoon that I got. I knew it was going to be a "modernized" Alice and I was intrigued to see what an 1960s Wonderland would look like. And while some elements provided a neat little time capsule of the era, there were too many moments that were so dated that I wasn't quite sure what the jokes were.
The original Alice in Wonderland books work well as a critique of Victorian culture which is why most versions keep the original setting intact. If modernization occurs, usually it is to similarly mock the modern world (at least, that would be the expectations). While I did like elements of the 1960s version of this world, such as traveling through the television screen or Sammy Davis Jr.'s hipster cat character, too much of the show fell into "general variety show" territory.
The songs were all penned by Lee Adams and Charles Strouse, best known for Bye, Bye, Birdie, yet except for the title song, none of the songs in this musical stand out very well. Some are annoying while others are boring. And some, like the Flintstone/Rubble duet just feel out of place. It felt like I was watching a big long advertisement for the Hanna-Barbera studios. Hey, look at our famous characters! Hey, look at the celebrities we can get! Hey, look at our original songs!
The Disney Alice, this is not.
While I tried to appreciate the show for what it was, musical-comedy-variety shows aren't particularly my cup of tea. If I had to recommend any of it, I'd say watch the scenes of the Cheshire Cat singing the signature song, the Playing Cards' Sport of Sports (which greatly amused me), and the Caterpillar scene if you're a Flintstone fan. And the visuals are neat, if you're a fan of the classic Hanna-Barbera style. Everything else in this show is too irritating to enjoy.
2 out of 5 Hipster Cats
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