Lady and the Tramp was released to theaters on June 22, 1955, to box office success. It was the first animated film to be filmed in theCinemaScope widescreen film process,[3] as well as Disney's first animated film to be distributed by their Buena Vista division following their split fromRKO Radio Pictures. It initially received generally mixed reviews by film critics, but critical reception for the film has been generally positive in modern times.
In 1909, in a small town, "Jim Dear" gives his wife "Darling"[a] acocker spaniel puppy as a Christmas present. The puppy, named Lady, grows up pampered by her doting owners, and befriends her neighbors' dogs Jock (aScottie) and Trusty (an elderlyBloodhound). Meanwhile, across town, a strayterrier-mix named Tramp spends his days wandering the streets, feeding on scraps and handouts, and causing trouble for the localdogcatcher.
Fleeing the angry dogcatcher after freeing his friends Peg thePekingese and Bull theBulldog, Tramp finds himself in Lady's neighborhood. He overhears a distraught Lady conversing with Jock and Trusty about her owners' suddenly distant behavior towards her. When Jock and Trusty deduce this is because Darling ispregnant, Tramp inserts himself into the conversation as the "voice of experience", and warns Lady that "when a baby moves in, a dog moves out". Annoyed, Jock drives him from the yard. Tramp's words cause Lady to fret throughout Darling's pregnancy, but when the baby boy arrives, she is allowed to meet and bond with him, dispelling her fears.
Later, Jim Dear and Darling take a short trip, leaving the house, Lady, and the baby in the care of Jim Dear's aunt Sarah, who brings along her twoSiamese cats Si and Am.[b] Sarah dislikes dogs, and prohibits Lady from seeing the baby; later, the cats destroy the house, and pin the deed on Lady by pretending she injured them. Sarah takes Lady to the pet shop, and has amuzzle put on her; Lady panics and flees into the street, where she is pursued by three savage dogs, until Tramp intervenes to protect her.
Tramp takes Lady to the zoo to have the muzzle removed by abeaver; he then shows Lady his owner-free lifestyle, and they explore the town. The kindly proprietor of Tony's Restaurant gives them a spaghetti dinner to share, before they end the evening with a walk in the park.The next day, Tramp tries to convince Lady to live "footloose and collar free" with him; despite liking Tramp, she decides her duty is to watch over the baby. As Tramp escorts Lady home, he stops to chase some chickens; the dogcatcher pursues them both, but only Lady is caught. At thepound, she meets Peg, Bull, and some other strays, who all know Tramp. They reveal he has had many girlfriends in the past, and claim that females are his weakness.
Sarah comes to claim Lady, and chains her in the backyard as punishment for running away. Jock and Trusty propose that Lady should marry and come live with one of them, to escape the abuse, but she gently refuses them. When Tramp arrives to apologize to Lady, she berates him for his many girlfriends and sends him away, too. Afterwards, Lady notices a large rat sneaking into the house through the baby's bedroom window. Her attempts to alert Sarah fail, but Tramp hears her barking, returns, and enters the house himself to save the baby. Lady breaks her chain and follows soon after. Tramp is wounded in the battle with the rat, but manages to kill it behind a curtain. During the struggle, the baby's crib overturns, and he begins to cry; Sarah comes to investigate, and assumes the dogs attacked the baby.
Jim Dear and Darling return home to find that Sarah has locked Lady in the cellar and handed Tramp over to the dogcatcher to be euthanized. Disbelieving Sarah's story, Jim Dear frees Lady, who immediately shows them the dead rat. Overhearing the truth, Jock and Trusty pursue the dogcatcher's cart and try to stop it; the horses spook, causing the cart to crash. Jim Dear and Darling arrive with Lady to rescue Tramp, but Trusty is badly injured in the wreck.
Later, at Christmastime, Tramp has become an official part of the family, and he and Lady have four little puppies of their own. Jock and a mostly healed Trusty visit the family; the puppies now provide Trusty a new audience for his old stories, but he has forgotten them, much to his and everyone else's amusement.
Voice cast
Peggy Lee as Darling, Lady's owner and Jim Dear's wife.[6]
Lee also voiced Peg,[6] a stray femalePekingese with aBrooklyn Accent whom Lady meets at the pound, as well as Si and Am, Aunt Sarah's twinSiamese cats with a knack for mischief and never-ending trouble.
Larry Roberts as Tramp,[6] amongrel (with a mixture of aschnauzer and aterrier), with a talent for escaping dog-catchers. He nicknames Lady "Pidge", short for Pigeon, which he calls her owing to hernaivety. He never refers to himself by name, although most of the film's canine cast refer to him as the Tramp. Tony and Joe like to call him "Butch".
Thompson also voiced Joe, Tony's assistant chef;[7] Bull, a stray malebulldog from the dog pound who speaks with a Cockney accent;[8] Dachsie,[6] a stray maledachshund at the dog pound who speaks with a German accent;[8] an Irish-accented policeman; and Jim's friend.
Bill Baucom as Trusty,[6] abloodhound who used to track criminals with his Grandpappy, Old Reliable, until he lost his sense of smell.
Stan Freberg as the beaver.[6] The character speaks with a lisp, in which he whistles through his teeth when he makes the "S" sound. This character served as the inspiration forGopher fromWinnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree (1966).[9] On the 2-Disc Platinum Edition DVD, Freberg demonstrated how the whistle effect was done.
Verna Felton as Aunt Sarah,[6] Jim Dear's aunt who babysits for the couple. She is a cat person and dislikes dogs.
Alan Reed as Boris,[6] a stray maleBorzoi from the dog pound with a Russian accent.[8]
According to the film's publicity materials, the origins ofLady and the Tramp was inspired by an incident in 1925.[11] At the time,Walt Disney had been actively working at theDisney Brothers Studio and was seldomly at home with his wifeLillian. One night, Disney became heavily preoccupied with one cartoon that had stayed overnight at the studio while his wife waited patiently to return home. Guilt-ridden, Disney decided to purchase a dog companion for Lillian on Christmas. Lillian had disliked dogs, but regardless, Disney asked her if she had wanted what breed of dog would she want if she had to make a choice. She answered with achow dog, as she read somewhere they were less odorous.[12]
Disney then purchased a chow puppy from a nearby kennel on Christmas Eve and kept the dog near his brotherRoy's house until the next morning. On Christmas Day, Disney presented Lillian with a peace offering kept inside a hat box. She opened the box expecting a hat, but she immediately floored when she saw the puppy with a red ribbon around its neck. The Disneys named their new puppy Sunnee.[12] Years later, Lillian recalled: "I forgave him. You can't stay mad at Walt for very long."[13] This inspired the film's opening sequence, in which Darling unwraps a hat box on Christmas morning and finds Lady inside.[11][14]
"We were free to develop the story as we saw fit, which is not the case when you work on a classic. Then you must adhere rigidly to the sequences conceived by the author, which are familiar to your audience. Here, as the characters came to life and the scenes took shape, we were able to alter, embellish, eliminate and change to improve the material."
—Walt Disney, explaining the story process onLady and the Tramp[15]
In 1937,Joe Grant, a storyboard artist working for Walt Disney Productions, pitched an idea inspired by the antics of hisEnglish Springer Spaniel Lady, and how she got "shoved aside" by Grant's new baby. The twist is that the story would be told from a dog's perspective.[13] Grant then presented Disney with several sketches of Lady, which Disney enjoyed. He then commissioned Grant to commence story development on a new animated feature.[16] According toFrank Tashlin, who had worked on the film's early development, a rough story outline had been written by 1940.[17] The outline included twoSiamese cats that were named Nip and Tuck as secondary characters.[18][19] Tashlin stated: "Joe Grant had models of the dog, Lady, andSam [Cobean] and I did a story. I never saw the film...I think we had rats coming after the baby at the end...did they have that? Then that's what we did."[20]
In 1943, story development resumed when Disney decided to produce the story into an animated featurette. Grant pitched the new story, and while Disney was fascinated by the charm of the character Lady, he felt the story was lacking something "extra".[13] Disney explained, "We discovered during our preliminary conferences that we only had half of the story we wanted. Our prim, well-bred, house-sheltered little Lady, when confronted with a crisis, just up and ran away."[13] That same year, Disney then read the 1937 short story "Happy Dan, the Whistling Dog" byWard Greene, an editor forKing Features, which also distributed Disney comic strips. The story was later published in the February 1945 issue ofCosmopolitan magazine.[19][21] In the story, Happy Dan was a streetwise, happy-go-lucky mutt compared to Lady, in Grant's story, who was refined.[13] Disney contacted Greene and suggested a romance between the dogs, stating, "Your dog and my dog have got to get together!" Greene agreed, and he promptly rewrote his story retitling it "Happy Dan, the Whistling Dog, and Miss Patsy, the Beautiful Spaniel."[22] Disney subsequently acquired the rights to the story.[23] Back at the studio, the stray dog was first named Homer,[19][24] but Grant andDick Huemer renamed him Rags and then Bozo.[11] The revised story told of the "amazing adventures" between the two mismatched canines, though it served minimal influence on the finished film.[11]
In 1944, Disney heard a radio play adapted from anotherCosmopolitan magazine story titled "Lady". He then hired its author Charles "Cap" Palmer to write a story treatment.[11] Palmer wrote an expanded story outline and suggested musical numbers. Palmer's outline resembles the plot structure of the finished film, but with differences. Lady is romantically pursued by Hubert, a stuffy, pompous canine (modeled afterRalph Bellamy) who lives next-door. The Siamese Cats were named Nip and Tuck; the intrusive rat was named Herman and was characterized with a sly personality with comic overtones.[25][26]
That same year, Grant wrote a short story titled "Lady", which was published in a children's bookWalt Disney's Surprise Package published bySimon & Schuster. This version of the story had a loyal female cocker spaniel protecting the baby from two Siamese cats that were brought by a mother-in-law character. The cocker spaniel is blamed for having caused a mess, but her innocence is proven and the mother-in-law leaves with her two cats in tow.[18] A story conference was held on September 25, 1945 with Grant,Dick Huemer, Disney, Charles Palmer, and other story artists in attendance to expand on Grant's story. The story was noticeably expanded to have more of the action occur outside of the house.Ted Sears suggested a scenario where Lady is taken inside a dog pound. The mother-in-law character was recharacterized as Aunt Sarah to avoid having the antagonists be too closely related.[18]
During the story meeting, Disney suggested the name "Tramp".[27] From there, Huemer suggested that Tramp should be "amongrel". Disney agreed, "A neat-looking mongrel. I don't think we should make him a funny-looking guy. After all, he's our leading man. He's got to be aCary Grant. He's got to have a certain something that you like."[28] When Greene reiterated a romance between the two dogs, Grant and Huemer objected to the idea, suggesting it was "distasteful" and "utterly contrary to nature."[27] When the two character names were settled, Disney insisted on the film's final title beingLady and the Tramp despite Greene's objections and the concerns of film distributors. Disney declared, "That's what it's about—a lady and a tramp."[22] However, further story development was placed on hold when Disney decided to scale back further animation projects to more affordable package films.[29]
In 1952, Walt's older brotherRoy O. Disney encouraged him to placeLady and the Tramp back into production, provided they keep the production costs low and release it in smaller theaters forfirst-run engagements.[27] Disney then held two polls, independently of each other, within the animation department to gauge whether there was considerable interest in the subject matter of the project. "With the reaction we got", Disney said, "I have confidence that if we get going on this, we're liable to get a picture out of here that will be a change of pace in many ways."[30] Disney then convened a story conference, with a recorded attendance of 26 studio employees, which was held on May 15, 1952.[31]
A month later, in June 1952, Disney announcedLady and the Tramp was in production with a production budget at $2.5 million, with its release set for 1954.[32][33] Since Huemer and Grant had left the Disney studio in 1948 and 1949, respectively, the final story development were done mostly byErdman Penner and Joe Rinaldi.[29] A solid story began to consolidate in 1953, based on Grant's storyboards and Greene's short story.[16] The character Hubert was later replaced with Jock, aScottish terrier, and Trusty, abloodhound. Originally, Lady's owners were called Jim Brown and Elizabeth. These were changed to highlight Lady's point of view. They were briefly referred to as "Mister" and "Missis" before settling on the names "Jim Dear" and "Darling".[citation needed] Nip and Tuck, the Siamese cats, were renamed Si and Am.[24] The rat was recharacterized more realistically in order to raise dramatic tension.[34]
WhenPeggy Lee was hired to compose songs forLady and the Tramp, she was shown the film's narrative through storyboards. It was initially written to have Trusty killed by the dog catcher's wagon. Lee remembered:
"I was like a small child. The rat scared me. And when Trusty was killed, I was so upset. I'm very sentimental about animals. It made me cry. I said, 'Oh Walt you can't do this,' and he said, 'You have to have some tension in the story. It would change everything if he's not killed.' I said, 'But if you kill him the children will cry too much, like withBambi'—although I'd never seenBambi. So he said, finally, 'Well, all right. Old Trusty can live... but the rat stays."[35]
At Disney's insistence, Greene wrote anovelization of the film, published in 1953, so that film-going audiences would be familiar with the story.[36] TitledLady and the Tramp: The Story of Two Dogs, the novelization featured a foreword by Walt Disney and the illustrations were storyboard sketches drawn by Joe Rinaldi.[37] Due to Greene's novelization, Grant was not given any screen credit for his work on the film. In 1995, Grant stated, "Lady and the Tramp is a real tragedy as far as I'm concerned as far as the credit for it. This I never forgave Walt for. He knew damn well where all this stuff came from!"[37] In 2006, animation directorEric Goldberg rectified Grant's involvement in a making-of DVD documentary of the film's Platinum Edition release.[38]
Casting
Barbara Luddy was a radio actress best known for her role on theFirst Nighter radio program. From a dozen auditions from several actresses, Luddy was selected as the voice of Lady.[39] She later provided the voice for several Disney characters, includingMerryweather inSleeping Beauty (1959),Kanga in theWinnie the Pooh featurettes, and Mother Rabbit and the church mouse Mother Sexton inRobin Hood (1973).[8]Larry Roberts had been performing on stage for a number of years. Roberts won the part as Tramp after a Disney story artist had seen him performing in a local theater production.[39]
Several of the studio's voice regulars were cast in the film, includingVerna Felton as Aunt Sarah andBill Thompson as Jock.[40] Thompson also provided the voice for Bull, a roughEnglish bulldog and Dachsie, a heavy-accenteddachshund. Felton's husband Lee Millar provided the voice of Jim Dear and the dog catcher.[8] Bill Baucom, who was a television actor who later appeared mostly in genreWesterns, was the voice of Trusty, in which he gave the character a distinct Southern drawl.[41]
Alan Reed (who later became the original voice ofFred Flintstone) was the voice of Boris, aBorzoi who speaks in Russian accent.Dallas McKennon voiced several characters, including Toughy, the stray nondescript mutt; Pedro;[8] and a professor.[6]Stan Freberg was hired by a Disney casting director as the voice of the beaver. While recording the voice, Freberg came up with the beaver's lisp of whistling through his teeth by speaking the lines with a whistle near his mouth to create the effect.[9]
When Peggy Lee became involved, she was given a character to voice, named Mame. However, because U.S.First LadyMamie Eisenhower had a similar-sounding name, Disney thought it would be best to not risk "any comment that wouldn't be befitting a president's wife." Disney then considered renaming the character Peg, which Lee replied to, stating it would be "an honor".[35] Aside from Peg, Lee also voiced Darling and Si and Am, the two Siamese cats.[35]
Animation
Character animation
During the September 25, 1945 story conference, Joe Grant suggested that real dogs be brought into the studio for the animators to analyze theirphysiognomy. This had been done previously onBambi (1942) when the animators studied actualdeer for their physical movement and anatomy.[28] AnimatorFrank Thomas reflected on the challenge: "Lady and the Tramp was tough to animate because the dogs were like the deer inBambi: you had to do a realistic, believable animal. You had to have the joints in the right place in the leg, and they had to keep their weight, and you had to keep the right distance from the front leg to the back leg."[23] By 1952,Hamilton Luske,Wilfred Jackson, andClyde Geronimi were assigned to directLady and the Tramp, all of whom had previously directedCinderella (1950),Alice in Wonderland (1951), andPeter Pan (1953).[29] Luske brought his family dog, Blondie, to serve as a live-action model for Lady.[42] At one point, a stray dog selected as a reference for Tramp was brought into the studio, but ran away and was not found until several days later.[28] When the film was completed, the dog was relocated toDisneyland, where he lived at the pony farm.[43]
The key supervising animators on the film included seven members ofDisney's Nine Old Men—Les Clark,Milt Kahl,Ollie Johnston,Eric Larson,John Lounsbery, Frank Thomas, andWolfgang Reitherman.[29] Kimball, another member of the "Nine Old Men" who specialized in animating comic characters, did test animation for the Siamese Cat sequence, but it were rejected for being too stylized. Kimball was taken off the project, and Disney assigned him to direct two animated musical shorts:Melody andToot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom (both released in 1953). The latter short was the first Disney-produced cartoon to be filmed and released inwidescreenCinemaScope.[44]
Animator Frank Thomas was assigned the sequence, in which Lady and Tramp enjoy a romantic evening. By accident, Thomas had came across a discarded story reel of the spaghetti-eating scene. Thomas explained, "Walt thought it was distasteful or something or other, but the business that replaced it I thought just didn't give you anything."[45] Thomas called Erdman Penner and decided he would animate the entire scene himself without any lay-outs. Disney was impressed by Thomas's animation and how he romanticized the scene that he kept it in.[16] On viewing the first take of the scene, the animators felt that the action should be slowed down, so an apprentice trainee was assigned to create "half numbers" in between many of the original frames.[46] Backed by the ballad "Bella Notte" sung byGeorge Givot, the animation has since become one of the most indelible romantic scenes in cinema history.[45]
Eric Larson animated the character Peg, among other characters. He became acquainted with the character's voice actress Peggy Lee, and watched her recording sessions. Larson reflected, "She did some of her gestures as she went through the dialogue. I thought, 'God, if I could get a lot of that in the dog, I could at least have some fun with it.'"[47] When he designed the character, Larson took inspiration from Lee andMae West; Peg's hairstyle was supposedly inspired byVeronica Lake.[48][49] Disney was impressed with Larson's animation that he selected him to directSleeping Beauty (1959), which was simultaneously in production, after Wilfred Jackson had suffered a heart attack.[48][49]
Wolfgang Reitherman, known for action-driven animation, animated the sequence where Tramp fights several alley dogs and Tramp's fight with the rat in the nursery room.[50] Notably, for the rat fight sequence, Reitherman kept multiple rats in a large cage next to his desk while animating the sequence so he could perfect the rodent's physical movement and behavior.[51] Milt Kahl animated nearly all the dog characters, but primarily focused on Tramp.[52] John Lounsbery worked closely with Kahl on animating Tramp. He also animated Tony and Joe, the respective proprietor and chef of an Italian restaurant, and Bull, an English bulldog.[10] Les Clark animated the scenes of Lady as a puppy.[53]
While reviewing the animation dailies, Disney decided to remove several animators, whom he felt had focused too much attention on detail and had lost sight of the characters. He reassigned them to work onSleeping Beauty for six months and placed them back onLady and the Tramp in hopes they would be rejuvenated with "new enthusiasm."[54] To compensate for the production delays, animators had to work six days a week to have the film finished on time.[27]
Art direction
An early proposed version ofLady and the Tramp was set inSan Francisco during the1906 earthquake.[55]Mary Blair was initially assigned as the film's art director, in which she did some inspirational sketches for the film. However, she left the studio to become a children's book illustrator in 1953.
However, the film's setting was changed to occur during the turn of thetwentieth century inNew England, which resonated with Walt Disney. During a 1952 story meeting, Disney affectionately remembered: "In this period—I can remember those days, you know—I lived in a little town inMissouri, and there were only two automobiles. It was 1908. They began to come in then."[56]Claude Coats was then appointed as the key background artist. He explained, "The period was turn-of-the-centuryAmericana, so we made much use of porch furniture of that era, plus the gingerbread ornamentation of the houses, the curly-cue fences, etc."[57]
To create greater authenticity, Coats and the artists studied photographs of olderLos Angeles mansions that reflected the ornamentedgingerbread architecture within the once-fashionableWest Adams neighborhood.[58] To maintain a dog's perspective, Coats built miniature models of the interiors of Jim Dear and Darling's house, and took photos and shot film at a low perspective as reference.[36]Tony Baxter, who was mentored by Coats, further explained: "[He] was trained in architecture so was particularly good at giving credibility to the setting. Coats liked to build models so he could see how things would translate dimensionally."[55]Eyvind Earle (who later became the art director of Disney'sSleeping Beauty) did almost 50 miniature concept sketches for the "Bella Notte" sequence and was a key contributor to the film.[36]
SinceLady and the Tramp centered on the titular canines, it was decided the story would be told from a dog's point-of-view. Since the humans affected the storyline, it was decided that only showing the hands and feet of the humans was too obvious when framing the action. It was decided the camera would occasionally show the faces and figures of the humans, but often shown them in full view through shadows and silhouettes. This way, the humans would not impose themselves in a dog-centric story.[59]
The widescreenCinemaScope process was developed by20th Century Fox and was first used inThe Robe (1953). The process used specialized lenses to compress the filmed images and spread them into a wider screen projection.[60] This presented a challenge to the layout artists and the character animators. The animators had to remember that they had to move their characters across a background instead of the background passing behind them.[60] Due to the expansion of visual space, it made it difficult for a single character to dominate the screen. Thus, certain groups of characters were spread out to keep the screen from appearing sparse. This resulted in greater realism but offered fewer close-up shots, so longer takes were necessary as the constant jump-cutting would appear too busy or annoying.[60][3]
Disney's first animated project with CinemaScope was the musical short filmToot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom (1953), directed by Ward Kimball. It won the 1954Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.[44] Originally,Lady and the Tramp was to be filmed in a regular 1.37:1Academy ratio. However, midway through production, Disney decided to have the film projected in CinemaScope, markingLady and the Tramp as the first full-length animated feature filmed in the process.[19]
Due to the CinemaScope process, it took more time for the layout artists than on previous animated films to frame each shot. As a result, the costs of the background artwork rose, and the film missed its original release date.[27] Near its theatrical release, it was learned that only certain theaters had the capability to project films in CinemaScope at the time. After learning this, Disney issued two versions of the film: one in its native CinemaScope aspect ratio (2.55:1), and another in the Academy ratio. This involved gathering the layout artists to restructure key scenes when characters were on the edges of the screen.[61]
The score for the film was composed and conducted byOliver Wallace. It was the last Disney animated film for which Oliver Wallace did the score, as the scores for the next six Disney animated films were composed byGeorge Bruns, starting withSleeping Beauty (1959) untilRobin Hood (1973).
Recording artist Peggy Lee wrote the songs withSonny Burke and assisted with the score as well.[19] In the film, she sings "La La Lu", "The Siamese Cat Song", and "He's a Tramp".[63] 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.[19] These appearances are available as part of theLady and the Tramp Platinum Edition DVD set.
The remastered soundtrack ofLady and the Tramp was released on CD byWalt Disney Records on September 9, 1997, and was released as a digital download on September 26, 2006.[64]
On August 27, 2015, Disney released an expanded two-disc album as an installment of theThe Legacy Collection series to coincide with the film's 60th anniversary. The first disc includes the film's complete original soundtrack. The second disc included one demo recording, twoLost Chords recordings, and six tracks from the 1962Disneyland Records vinyl albumLady and the Tramp: All the Songs from the Motion Picture.[65]
An episode of theDisneyland television series titled "A Story of Dogs" aired onABC on December 1, 1954.[66] The first half of the episode, hosted by Walt Disney, was specifically devoted toLady and the Tramp. The episode featured appearances from animators Wolfgang Reitherman, Frank Thomas, and Milt Kahl; co-director Clyde Geronimi, and story artist Erdman Penner. The episode re-aired on May 25, 1955 and later on July 20, 1955.[43]
AnotherDisneyland episode titled "Cavalcade of Songs" was originally broadcast on February 16, 1955 to promote the film.[8] The episode featured a staged "behind-the-scenes" look, featuring Peggy Lee and Sonny Burke being shown through the storyboards by Joe Rinaldi and Erdman Penner to discuss placement of the songs to advance the narrative. A vignette of Lee and Burke is next shown composing and recording "The Siamese Cat Song" and lastly, a mock recording session is shown of Lee recording "He's a Tramp" with the Mellomen.[67]
Lady and the Tramp playing at the State-Lake Theater in Chicago
Original theatrical run
Lady and the Tramp held its world premiere at the State-Lake Theatre[68] inChicago on June 16, 1955. It was released in general theaters on June 22.[69] The film was paired as adouble feature with the short subject documentarySwitzerland of thePeople & Places film series.[70][71][72]
During its initial release,Lady and the Tramp took in a higher figure than any other Disney animated feature sinceSnow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937),[73] earning an estimated $6.5 million in distributor rentals.[74]
Re-releases
Lady and the Tramp was first re-released in 1962 on a double bill withAlmost Angels.[75] According toThe New York Times, the film earned roughly between $6 to $7 million.[76] The film was re-released in December 1971,[77] and in most markets, the film was paired withThe Million Dollar Duck. This release earned $10 million.[76] It was re-released for a third time in 1980 for the film's 25th anniversary, whereby it grossed $27 million.[76] During its fourth re-release, in 1986,Lady and the Tramp grossed $31.1 million.[78]
Lady and the Tramp also played a limited engagement in selectCinemark Theatres from February 16–18, 2013.[79]Lady and the Tramp has had a domestic lifetime gross of $93.6 million,[1][80] and a lifetime international gross of $187 million.[2]
Home media
Lady and the Tramp was first released on North AmericanVHS cassette andLaserdisc on October 7, 1987,[81] as part of theWalt Disney Classics video series and in the United Kingdom in 1990. During the home video transfer, technicians for Walt Disney Home Video used apan-and-scan of the CinemaScope version rather than use the theatrical Academy version.[82]
To promote the 1987 release, Disney launched a $20 million promotional campaign of television and print advertisements. They also partnered withMcDonald's and theAmerican Dairy Association. McDonald's offered a three-dollar discount for a videocassette copy, and consumers saved $4.25 ($12 in 2025 dollars) on the videocassette when purchasing milk.[83] When the release went intomoratorium on March 31, 1988,[84] the film was estimated to have sold more than three million copies. By early 1988, it was the best-selling VHS title at the time, in which the estimated video sales generated $60 million.[85] Its record was then surpassed byCinderella (1950), which sold 7.5 million copies and earned $100 million in sales in 1988.[83]
It was re-released onTHX-certified VHS and Laserdisc on September 15, 1998, as part of the Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection video series. The VHS master used the original Academy ratio, while the LaserDisc presented the film in its widescreen format.[82] The film was issued on DVD as part of the Disney Limited Issue series on November 23, 1999 for a sixty-day time period.[86]
Lady and the Tramp was remastered and restored for DVD on February 28, 2006, as the seventh installment of Disney's Platinum Editions series.[87] On its first day, one million copies of the Platinum Edition were sold.[88] The Platinum Edition DVD went on moratorium on January 31, 2007, along with the 2006 DVD re-issue of the film's sequelLady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure (2001).[89]
Lady and the Tramp was released onBlu-ray on February 7, 2012, as a part of Disney's Diamond Editions series.[90] A standalone 1-disc DVD edition was released on March 20, 2012.[91][92]
Lady and the Tramp was re-released on Digital HD on February 20, 2018, and on Blu-ray February 27, 2018, as part of the Walt Disney Signature Collection line.[93]
Lawsuit
Peggy Lee was asked to help promote the 1987 VHS release, for which she was paid anhonorarium for $500. Lee contended Disney had breached the 1952 contract she had signed with the studio, which denied Disney the right to make "transcriptions for sale to the public" without her approval.[94] Disney CEOMichael Eisner refused to pay Lee her share of the royalties.[95] On November 16, 1988, Lee sued the Walt Disney Company for breach of contract, claiming that she retained the rights to transcriptions of the music, arguing that videotape editions were transcriptions.[96] Her lawyers demanded $50 million in damages for compensation. In March 1991, Lee was awarded $2.3 million for breach of contract, plus $500,000 for unjust enrichment, $600,000 for illegal use of Lee's voice and $400,000 for the use of her name.[97][98] From the $72 million Disney had earned in videocassette sales, by 1995, Lee's award was estimated to be four percent of the sales.[95]
In October 1992, theCalifornia Court of Appeals upheld the judgement that Disney had to pay Lee over $3 million in compensation. Though videocassettes did not exist when Lee signed her contract with Disney, she nevertheless had retained the rights tophonograph recordings and transcriptions of the film.Stephen Lachs, aLos Angeles County Superior Court judge, later ruled that videocassettes were considered under the category of transcriptions.[99][100] In December 1992, theCalifornia Supreme Court denied a hearing on Disney's appeal of lower-court rulings, which upheld the studio had committed breach of contract.[101]
Reception
Critical reaction
During its initial release, the film initially received mixed reviews from critics.[15][102][103][104]Bosley Crowther ofThe New York Times claimed the film was "not the best [Disney] has done in this line. The sentimentality is mighty, and the CinemaScope size does not make for any less aware of the thickness of the goo. It also magnifies the animation, so that the flaws and poor foreshortening are more plain. Unfortunately, and surprisingly, the artists' work is below par in this film."[105]Time wrote "Walt Disney has for so long parlayed gooey sentiment and stark horror into profitable cartoons that most moviegoers are apt to be more surprised than disappointed to discover that the combination somehow does not work this time."[106]John McCarten ofThe New Yorker felt the story was handled "with a sentimentality thatAlbert Payson Terhune might have found excessive" and wrote the two lead characters were unappealing. McCarten also criticized the film's CinemaScope process, writing it gave the characters "the dimensions ofhippos."[107]
Gene Arneel ofVariety deemed the film "a delight for the juveniles [and] lots of fun for adults".[108] Edwin Schallert of theLos Angeles Times described the film as a "delightful, haunting, charmed fantasy that is remarkably enriched with music and, incidentally, with rare conversations among the canine characters."[109]Harrison's Reports felt the "scintillating musical score and several songs, the dialogue and the voices, the behaviors and expressions of the different characters, the mellow turn-of-the-century backgrounds, the beautiful color and sweep of the CinemaScope process — all these add up to one of the most enjoyable cartoon features Disney has ever made."[110] Mildred Martin ofThe Philadelphia Inquirer called the film "delightfully written, quaintly drawn" and stated it "could easily become a screen classic."[111] Dorothy Masters of theNew York Daily News wroteLady and the Tramp was "another great work of art, a masterpiece not only by virtue of unerring brush and magnificent color, but because the cartoon genius [Walt Disney] has now perfected his art to the point of making two-dimensional animals more human than people."[112]
The sequence of Lady and Tramp sharing a plate of spaghetti — climaxed by an accidental kiss as they swallow opposite ends of the same strand of spaghetti — is considered an iconic scene in American film history.
Gene Siskel andRoger Ebert gave the film a positive review on their showAt the Movies when it was re-released in 1986, with Ebert in particular praising the opening scene of Lady as a puppy calling it one of the greatest animated sequences Disney ever did.[113]Dave Kehr, writing forThe Chicago Tribune gave the film four stars.[114] In aLos Angeles Times review,Charles Solomon, an animation historian, called the animation "wonderfully polished" and felt it will be regarded as "a timeless film that audiences will still enjoy 31 years from now."[115] The sequence of Lady and Tramp sharing a plate of spaghetti — climaxed by an accidental kiss as they swallow opposite ends of the same strand of spaghetti — is considered an iconic scene in American film history.[116] On thereview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, 91% of 46 critics' reviews are positive. The website's consensus reads: "A nostalgic charmer,Lady and the Tramp's token sweetness is mighty but the songs and richly colored animation are technically superb and make for a memorable experience."[117]Metacritic, which uses aweighted average, assigned the film a score of 78 out of 100, based on 15 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[118]
Lady and the Tramp contains several instances ofethnic and cultural stereotyping. The depiction of the pair of Siamese cats in particular has been recognized for its racistAsian stereotypes.[119] "The Siamese Cat Song" was cut from the 2019 live-action remake of the film,[120] and in 2020Disney+ included a content warning at the beginning of the film, advising viewers of "negative depictions and/or mistreatment of people or cultures".[121]
Lady and the Tramp was named number 95 out of the "100 Greatest Love Stories of All Time" by theAmerican Film Institute in their100 Years...100 Passions special, as one of only two animated films to appear on the list, along with Disney'sBeauty and the Beast which ranked 34th.[122] In 2010,Rhapsody called its accompanying soundtrack one of the all-time great Disney and Pixar soundtracks.[123] In June 2011,Time magazine named it one of "The 25 All-TIME Best Animated Films".[124]
From October 31, 1955 to June 25, 1988,Scamp comic strip was published by King Feature Syndicate.[128]
The comic book was also published byDell Comics' first issue beingFour Color #703 (May 1956); this turned into a regular comic book series which had #16 issues ending in December 1960. A second series was launched byGold Key Comics in 1967-1979; which ran for 45 issues.[128]
In theworld builder gameDisney Magic Kingdoms, Lady, Tramp, Tony, Joe, Jock and Trusty appear as playable characters, along with some attractions based on locations of the film. In the game the characters are involved in new storylines that serve as a continuation of the film.[135]
Disney Parks and Resorts
Walt Disney wanted the setting of the film to beMarceline, Missouri which had been his childhood hometown. WhilstLady and the Tramp was in production, Walt was also designingDisneyland inCalifornia and styled theMain Street, U.S.A. area of the park to Marceline. Tony's Town Square Restaurant is an Italian restaurant inspired by Lady and the Tramp and is located onMain Street, U.S.A. atWalt Disney World, whilst the Pizzeria Bella Notte restaurant is inFantasyland atDisneyland Paris.
^Their real names are never revealed. They only address each other by these terms of endearment, so others - the dogs in particular - do the same.
^Si and Am's speech and behavior reflects derogatory stereotypes of Asian people. In 2020, the Disney+ streaming service added a content warning for the film, noting that Lady and the Tramp “includes negative depictions and/or mistreatment of people or cultures” and that “these stereotypes were wrong then and are wrong now.”[5]
^abcLady and the Tramp Platinum Edition DVD - "Behind the Scenes: Story Development" (Bonus feature). Eric Goldberg. Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment. 2006.{{cite AV media}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
^Lyon, Herb (June 3, 1955)."Tower Ticker".Chicago Tribune. Part 2, p. 8.Archived from the original on October 16, 2025. RetrievedOctober 16, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.Lady and the Tramp opens June 16 at the State Lake [and will stay for weeks]
^"Roxy To Have 'Lady, Tramp'".New York Daily News. June 9, 1955. p. 17C.Archived from the original on October 16, 2025. RetrievedOctober 15, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
^Fleischer, Leonore (August 31, 1987)."Sales&Bargains".New York Magazine. Vol. 20, no. 34. p. 67.Walt Disney's Lady and the Tramp available in stores October 7
^Collins, Glenn (November 17, 1988)."Peggy Lee Is Suing Disney".The New York Times. p. C20.Archived from the original on October 8, 2009. RetrievedFebruary 10, 2017.
^Crowther, Bosley (June 24, 1955)."Screen: Dogs and Lovers".The New York Times. p. 17.Archived from the original on June 13, 2018. RetrievedJune 12, 2018.
^McCarten, John (July 2, 1955)."The Current Cinema".The New Yorker. pp. 50–51.Archived from the original on October 16, 2025. RetrievedOctober 15, 2025.
^"'Lady and the Tramp'".Harrison's Reports. April 23, 1955. p. 67. RetrievedMarch 10, 2020 – via Internet Archive.
^Martin, Mildred (June 26, 1955)."'Lady and Tramp' Hailed".The Philadelphia Inquirer. pp. 13–14.Archived from the original on October 16, 2025. RetrievedOctober 15, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
^Masters, Dorothy (June 24, 1955)."'Lady and Tramp' a Disney Treat".New York Daily News. p. 59.Archived from the original on October 16, 2025. RetrievedOctober 15, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
^abHoltz, Allan (2012).American Newspaper Comics: An Encyclopedic Reference Guide. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press. pp. 342–343.ISBN9780472117567.
Ghez, Didier (2018).They Drew As They Pleased Vol 4: The Hidden Art of Disney's Mid-Century Era (The 1950s and 1960s).Chronicle Books LLC.ISBN978-1-4521-6413-7.
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