Iconic Alices Through the Ages

November 21, 2024

Literature

Nesha Ruther

Writer at Bond & Grace

Few characters in literary history have been as widely reproduced as the precocious seven-year-old who falls down a rabbit hole and discovers a world of whimsy and nonsense. Since Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’s original publication in 1865, the topsy-turvy land of one man’s daydreams has ricocheted through the public imagination, finding new applications with each passing era.

Whether in Alice’s ceaseless curiosity, the comical antics of Wonderland’s talking creatures, or the sheer delight in exploring imaginary worlds, generations of readers have cherished the book’s joyful embrace of childhood. But perhaps what makes the Alice stories and the little girl at their center so impactful is that they perfectly balance staggering originality with iconography that allows and encourages repetition. Over the years, Alice has become both inimitable and imitable, a figure wholly unique and endlessly replicated.

The adventurous child, in her baby blue dress and pinafore overlay, has not only become the inspiration for society’s most outlandish daydreams but the subject of countless film adaptations, Halloween costumes, home goods, and children’s toys. To better understand Alice’s journey through media and culture, we’ll explore a few of the many, many iconic Alices that have appeared in the nearly 160 years since her birth.

The Original Alice: 1865

While it is widely known that Lewis Carroll wrote Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, he was also the stories’ first illustrator. Intended solely as a silly tale for the ten-year-old Alice Liddell, Carroll wrote the original edition of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland in a green leather-bound book he gifted to his young friend.

Carroll filled the margins with doodles and drawings depicting the story’s iconic scenes, and it is here that we see Alice for the first time. Unlike the blonde-haired, blue-eyed Alice of later versions, this original Alice was drawn to resemble her real-life counterpart, with olive skin, brown eyes, and a short chestnut bob.

Becoming Blonde: John Tenniel’s Alice

When Carroll began seriously considering publishing Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, he understood how important the illustrations would be for immersing young readers in this magical world. Ever particular about his vision, Carroll selected John Tenniel, a chief cartoonist of the political satire magazine Punch and illustrator of the 1851 edition of Aesop’s Fables, to bring his story’s characters to life.

Tenniel’s satirical style was a natural fit for the playful, mocking tone of the Alice stories. Combining realism with fantastical exaggerations, his illustrations emphasize Alice’s normalcy and grounded appearance against the nonsensical creatures she encounters in Wonderland. To make the titular heroine more visually relatable, Tenniel replaced the chestnut bob with long blonde hair and gave Alice her iconic blue dress and pinafore overlay. Still, Carroll could be a difficult client and made Tenniel redo some drawings multiple times, particularly when it came to capturing the details of Alice’s face.

Alice on the Stage: 1886

Lewis Carroll was an avid theatergoer and enthusiastically lobbied for a stage production of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. After two decades of attempting to commission multiple writers and composers (including Arthur Sullivan), Carroll finally permitted Henry Savile Clarke to mount a staged version of Wonderland, provided that Carroll be heavily involved in its production and that no “coarseness” be allowed.

Clarke’s take on Wonderland was a two-act operetta. The first performance was on December 23, 1886, at the Prince of Wales Theatre, London. It starred the 12-year-old Phoebe Carlo as Alice, handpicked by Carroll himself. He had first seen Carlo act when she was nine, in the play Dick Whittington and his Cat. Carroll returned twice more to see that performance and became close friends with Carlo, taking her to the Royal Theatre and spending time with her at his holiday home in Eastbourne before casting her as Alice.

Carroll wrote of Carlo’s performance: “...it would be difficult to speak too highly. As a mere effort of memory, it was surely a marvellous feat for so young a child, to learn no less than two hundred and fifteen speeches - nearly three times as many as Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing. But what I admired most, as realising most nearly my ideal heroine, was her perfect assumption of the high spirits, and readiness to enjoy everything of a child out for a holiday. I doubt if any grown actress, however experienced, could have worn this air so perfectly.”

Alice on Film: 1903

The first film adaptation of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is a 1903 silent film produced and directed by Cecil Hepworth and Percy Stow. The only surviving print of the film is severely damaged and was stored away in the British Film Institute’s National Archives until 2010 when it was restored and returned to its original color.

Although the film is in parts still visibly damaged (only eight out of its twelve minutes were able to be saved,) it is a delightful relic of Alice’s history. While it’s quite short by today’s standards, at the time it was one of the longest films to come out of Britain’s silent film industry.

The film stars the 18-year-old May Clarke as Alice, with long, wavy brown hair and a large puffy dress and pinafore. It features iconic scenes such as Alice’s descent down the rabbit hole, the Duchess’ baby transforming into a pig, the Mad Tea Party, and more.

Disney’s Delight: 1951

While Alice has been iterated upon in many forms over time, there is little competition for which version has dominated popular culture. Walt Disney’s 1951 animated film brought Alice and her Wonderland companions to life in distinct ways; one such example of the visuals we now take for granted is Alice’s black Mary Jane shoes and a black headband that Disney added to her otherwise traditional ensemble.

Walt Disney adored Lewis Carroll’s stories and had been desperate to make a Wonderland movie for years. He had previously produced The Alice Comedies, a series of shorts that were a hybrid of animation and live-action, and he intended to make Wonderland in much the same fashion.

Disney hired Brave New World author Aldous Huxley to write the film’s script but found his interpretation too intellectual for children. He realized that in order to produce a film that had the same impact on young viewers as Carroll’s original novel, it would have to be entirely animated.

Disney even went so far as to buy the rights to Tenniel’s original illustrations, intending to make animated characters identical to Tenniel’s drawings. However, Tenniel’s crosshatching style was incredibly difficult and tedious to replicate in animated form, so Disney settled for surface-level similarities with key differences. For example, in Tenniel’s original illustrations, Alice has striped socks, but to simplify her design, Disney rendered them in white.

Hallmark Entertainment: 1999

In 1999, a new adaptation of Wonderland captured the public’s attention. Hallmark Entertainment’s live-action Alice in Wonderland boasted a star-studded cast, including Whoopi Goldberg as the Cheshire Cat, Ben Kingsley as the Caterpillar, Martin Short as the Mad Hatter, and Gene Wilder—in one of his last acting roles—as the Mock Turtle.

In typical Hallmark fashion, this adaptation is incredibly cozy and vibrant, featuring elements from the original novel that Disney chose to omit, such as the Mock Turtle and Alice’s striped socks. Perhaps what makes Hallmark’s version so memorable is that for the first time in Alice’s history, the quality of live-action special effects could capture the visions of Lewis Carroll’s spectacular imagination. Alice grows, shrinks, transports through space, and Martin Short’s Mad Hatter has a hilariously inflated head.

Tim Burton Alice: 2010

The most recent adaptation of Carroll’s classic story is Tim Burton’s epic and surreal Alice in Wonderland. While other film adaptations changed select details and attempted to maintain the novel’s overarching feelings of whimsy and magic, Burton’s career has been defined by leaning into a style that is as playful as it is dark and unsettling.

Taking place years after Alice’s original trip to Wonderland, Burton’s film finds her as a young woman frustrated with the pressures of marriage and adult life. When she falls down the rabbit hole once again, she discovers a Wonderland trapped under the oppressive and tyrannical rule of the Queen of Hearts (perfectly played by Helena Bonham Carter). And while the environment is bleak, there is still plenty of silliness to be found, particularly in Johnny Depp’s charming Mad Hatter.

What Burton’s film reveals is what Wonderland fans have long known. The story is incredibly porous, able to absorb an enormous variety of tones and themes without losing what makes it distinct. From dark, emo Alice, to the psychedelic Alice of the ’60s, she remains a character who anyone can become and all can participate in, as long as they possess a childlike curiosity and healthy dose of wonder.

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To Learn More, Read…

“Alice in Wonderland Through the Years,” Children’s Theatre Company, March 1, 2024.

Cesarato, Alessandra, “8 Fun Facts About John Tenniel, Illustrator of Alice in Wonderland,” Domestika.

Mills, Ted. “The First-Ever Film Version of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland (1903),” Open Culture, May 10, 2023.

“The Lobster Quadrille,” Such A Curious Dream: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland at 150, Harvard University Online Exhibits.

Whittingham, Emily, “10 Behind the Scenes Facts About Disney’s Alice in Wonderland,” Screen Rant, July 19, 2021.