Trailer
Plot summary
At Christmas in 1909, Jim Dear surprises his wife Darling with a Cocker Spaniel puppy, and she calls her Lady. The dog grows up doted on, gets a collar and a license, and visits the neighbor dogs Jock and Trusty, while a stray terrier mix called Tramp keeps clear of the dogcatcher across town. When Tramp learns that a baby is on the way, he warns Lady that a new arrival tends to take the family pet's place, and she starts to worry. Her owners go away and leave the house, the baby and Lady with Jim Dear's aunt Sarah, who brings along her Siamese cats, Si and Am; their mess is blamed on Lady. Sarah takes her out for a muzzle; Lady bolts, and stray dogs close in until Tramp fights them off.
Cast
- Larry Robertsas Tramp (voice)
- Lee Millaras Jim Dear / Dog Catcher (voice)
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Lady and the Tramp (1955)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The film was to be shot in the regular 1.37:1 Academy ratio, but midway through production Disney decided to have it projected in CinemaScope, making Lady and the Tramp the first full-length animated feature filmed in the process.
- Peggy Lee, paid $3,500 for her work and a $500 honorarium to promote the 1987 VHS release, sued the Walt Disney Company in November 1988. She argued that her 1952 contract denied Disney the right to make "transcriptions for sale to the public" without her approval, and that videotape editions were transcriptions.
- In 1937 Joe Grant, a storyboard artist at Walt Disney Productions, pitched an idea inspired by the antics of his English Springer Spaniel, Lady, and by the way she got "shoved aside" when his new baby arrived.
- Because of Greene's novelization, published in 1953 at Disney's insistence, Grant was given no screen credit for his work on the film. In 1995 he called it a real tragedy and said he never forgave Walt: "He knew damn well where all this stuff came from!"
- Peggy Lee, initially hired only as a songwriter, was given her own character to voice, named Mame. Because U.S. First Lady Mamie Eisenhower had a similar-sounding name, Disney thought it best not to risk "any comment that wouldn't be befitting a president's wife".
- The depiction of the pair of Siamese cats has been recognized for its racist Asian stereotypes. "The Siamese Cat Song" was cut from the 2019 live-action remake, and in 2020 Disney+ added a content warning about "negative depictions and/or mistreatment of people or cultures".
SPOILER
When Peggy Lee was hired to compose the songs she was shown the film's story on storyboards, in which Trusty was initially written to be killed by the dog catcher's wagon.- Disney became so preoccupied with one cartoon that he stayed overnight at the Disney Brothers Studio while his wife waited patiently at home for him, and, guilt-ridden, he decided to buy her a dog companion for Christmas.
