On this day in 1924, audiences were introduced to Alice, Walt Disney’s first live- action heroine, who took to the high seas with the release of Alice’s Day at Sea. The first of 56 Alice comedies, Alice’s Day at Sea sets sail with a five-and-a-half-minute live-action introduction, as did the first six films in the series. In the live-action world, Alice goes for a drive with her dog in a small car, but obviously a little girl shouldn’t be driving… so the dog does. Together they meet a ship’s captain, before visiting a seashore, where Alice falls asleep in a rowboat. She dreams of life under the sea, visiting King Nep’s Zoo and being swallowed by a giant fish and trapped by a giant octopus. Soon she is awakened by her dog, discovering she isn’t trapped by a giant octopus and is simply tangled up in an old fishing net.
