Finally! Virginia Davis in Disney’s Alice Comedies – screening in Seattle 3/10

I was so excited to attend the Sunday Special Matinee (part of “The Women of Silent Film” series presented by Trader Joe’s) at the Paramount Theater in Seattle last weekend, March 10. I’d seen some of the Alice comedies before (on the Disney Rarities DVDs), but to have a real silent movie experience in such a gorgeous theater was such a beautiful experience!

Here’s the info from the program:

Virginia Davis stars in Disney’s ALICE COMEDIES (1920s), a series of short animated/live action films starring four year old child star Virginia Davis. The series was first produced by Disney’s Laugh-O-Gram studio in Kansas City, Missouri. Later M.J. Winkler became the first woman to produce and distribute animation at Walt Disney Studio in Hollywood. “It all started with a mouse,” is what most know as the beginning of the Walt Disney Company. In reality, Disney started in 1923 with his neighbor girl Alice in his innovative cartoon, Alice in Wonderland, that combined a live action girl interacting with cartoon drawings. Virginia starred in the first 14 of the 57 Alice short films and helped to set Disney on the map as an animator, director and producer. Today most of the Alice Comedies are rarely screened and 35mm prints are stored in the Disney vaults. We present these five shorts in DVD so audiences can have an opportunity to experience these early Disney creations. Shorts include: Alice in Wonderland, Alice’s Wild West Show, Alice Gets in Dutch, Alice’s Day at Sea and Alice in the Jungle.

 

The tickets were $10 each, and the show went a little over an hour. There was a decent turnout of both adults and kids. We weren’t sure what to expect, so we were thrilled when we entered the theater and saw Jim Riggs playing the Wurlitzer, front and center. He spoke a little about what he does, his process, etc. He also explained the live sound effects setup they had, provided by Gunnar Folsom. Basically both of them just watch the films over and over to get a feel for them. They rehearse, but really every performance is different!

 



The only short that was new to me was Alice’s Day at Sea, and it was just as charming as the others. It was just a fun afternoon enjoying some Disney history. Afterwards we went up front to thank Jim and Gunnar, and ran in to Don Morin from the PNWMM, so that was lovely, too.

Gunnar showing us some of the sound effects.

Such a fun time! I took some cool audio from the show, but I’m hopeless and busy, so it’s not up on here, sorry. Sigh, someday, someday I will learn.

Well, I’m off to a Sounders game! Hope your weekend is as fun as mine will be! xoxo