Research post: More info on missing Theatre Alices

 Whilst searching through archives the other day I stumbled upon New York's Public Library Archive which contains a great many things, including performance videos, and naturally several archive videos of Lewis Carroll adapting plays.

What I have found is quite long but I'm going to try and put this in a list here (and eventually add to the adaptations list on this blog)

Going in order of date:

 Alice (1971, Pittsburgh ballet Theatre) 

This has choreography by Ruth Page and is not the only filmed version of this ballet on this list. Strangely enough I found video excerpts for this in another archive in Chicago, but the clips were not complete (act 2 is mainly missing). This listing on NPL confirms there is a complete version stored in New York.

Clips here and here.

Alice in Wonderland (1971, Manhattan Project) 

This is an experimental performance which honestly I don't know much about. Appears to have been quite famous in the 1970s and used improv imput from the actors.

Alice at the Palace (1982) missing scenes

Elizabeth Swados's Alice at the Palace certainly does exist in a viewable form (released on DVD and streaming multiple times) but NPL has a reel of bloopers as well as more interesting deleted scenes which were presumably cut for runtime reasons (the TV version lost large chunks of the looking glass adapting act) 

Alice's Adventures (1985, Cincinnati/New Orleans City Ballet)

Televised version of Ruth Page's ballet, televised on the 23rd of February 1986 on PBS channel 3 in the US. 

Alice (2002, State Street Ballet)

Film of Robert Sund's ballet adaptation, shown at a film festival. Features Lewis Carroll as a character.

Alicia y su pais de las maravillas (2006, Joven Ballet de Cámara)

Modern dance adaptation filmed for archive. Lewis Carroll features as a character. 

Sources:

Archives:

Alice [Videorecording] 1971.” Accessed June 15, 2021. https://www.nypl.org/research/research-catalog/bib/b12168211#tab3 

“Alice in Wonderland [Videorecording] 1971 Manhattan Project.” Accessed June 15, 2021. https://www.nypl.org/research/research-catalog/bib/b14391790#tab3 

“Alice at the Palace 1982 : Outtakes and Scenes [Videorecording].” Accessed June 15, 2021. https://www.nypl.org/research/research-catalog/bib/b16340091#tab3

“Alice's Adventures 1985 [Videorecording].” Accessed June 15, 2021. https://www.nypl.org/research/research-catalog/bib/b12171819#tab3 

“Alice 2002 [Videorecording] .” Accessed June 15, 2021. https://www.nypl.org/research/research-catalog/bib/b15997207#tab3 

“Alicia y Su Pais De Las Maravillas 2006 [Videorecording].” Accessed June 15, 2021. https://www.nypl.org/research/research-catalog/bib/b17981779#tab3

Videos:

Alice in Wonderland (Act 1, Pittsburgh) . USA, 1971. http://www.chicagofilmarchives.org/collections/index.php/Detail/Object/Show/object_id/867

Alice in Wonderland (Act 2, Pittsburgh) . USA, 1971. http://www.chicagofilmarchives.org/collections/index.php/Detail/Object/Show/object_id/8785

Photos:

“Such a Curious Dream! Alice's Adventures in Wonderland at 150.” The Lobster Quadrille - Such a Curious Dream! Alice's Adventures in Wonderland at 150 - Houghton Library. Houghton Libary. Accessed June 15, 2021. https://library.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/static/onlineexhibits/alice/quadrille/

Historic Images. “1986 Press Photo Katherine Healy, Warren Connover in Ballet ‘Alice's Adventures.’” Historic Images. Accessed June 15, 2021. https://outlet.historicimages.com/products/rsl98951

Fernández, Celia. “Ballet Alicia y Su País De Las Maravillas Photos.” Ballet Alicia y su país de las Maravillas. Universidad Rey Juan Carlos. Biblioteca., May 1, 2006. Accessed June 15, 2021. https://burjcdigital.urjc.es/handle/10115/8006

The curious tale of Eduardo Pla's Alicia en el país de las maravillas (1976)

(Behind the scenes and exposed still courtesy of the Espacio Pla Museum in Palermo.)

Eduardo Pla's 1976 Alicia en el país de las maravillas is mostly unknown outside of the Spanish speaking world, and largely remains so, despite the full film being readily available. online. There has been a distinct lack of scholarship surrounding this adaptation, which may seem not much because the film itself is unremarkable. A 1970s set Alice which is a product of its time, filmed on a tiny budget, of limited quality. 

Except that this version is not just that.

After reading estudioscarrolianos translated essay, I now realize that this film has far more background than I or others previously thought.

The director Eduardo Pla, was a celebrated artist, working on photographic and painting projects. There is a museum in Palermo which although currently shut, houses his collections. In 2015 as part of Alice150 there was a renewed focus on this Alice. 

The film's background? Similar to the political situation underpinning Svankmajer's Alice (1988) but far far worse. 

Pla tried to make several versions of Alice before this final one, including one where Alice wore a gas mask and burnt rubbish. This version was going to be a parody, reflecting the climate Argentina was in. The police arrested Pla several times. Eventually Pla settled for a 1970s set version with the original carroll text. 

Unlike Svankmajer, no one would fund Pla's Alice. There would be no international backing. So Pla improvised. 

The end film is a mess because Pla had nowhere else to go idea wise. It seems stilted and badly put together. Sadly, considering the behind the scenes wrangling, it isn't at all surprising. 

Sources:

Alicia de Eduardo Plá (1976). (n.d.). Retrieved February 20, 2020, from https://estudioscarrolianos.blogspot.com/2019/03/alicia-de-eduardo-pla-1976.html

(n.d.). Retrieved February 20, 2020, from https://www.espaciopla.com/eduardo-pla/

Hunting the various adaptations of Hunting of the Snark (Research post)

(Original illustration by Henry Holiday)

Due to the recent broadcast of the 2015 BBC radio adaptation of the Hunting of the Snark, I have been trying to fill out Snark adaptations on the adaptation list. 

I have found waay too many radio readings, another radio adaptation (from 2000), and limited info on a BBC 1937 TV adaptation.

There's also a curious radio documentary from 1992 which explores the various meanings people have tried to attach to the poem. 

For some reason 1937 is NOT in the archive genome at the BBC, although everything else is!

This research has also prompted me to revisit the odd and very '80s Mike Batt musical, which was filmed and can be watched on youtube (and listened to on spotify). On more research I found photos from the 1990 musical flop. Some of which include Lewis Carroll as a narrator character.

Also I have had this song stuck in my head for a while now. 

Sources:

Afternoon Play: The Hunting of the Snark - BBC Radio 4 FM - 27 December 2000 - BBC Genome. (2020). Retrieved 13 January 2020, from https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/b20b460c2d894e7c81763176fed27a89

The Children's Hour - 5WA Cardiff - 12 December 1927 - BBC Genome. (2020). Retrieved 13 January 2020, from https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/47a1b7204979497db76f19ce8821f23d

The Hunting of the Snark - BBC Radio 3 - 4 May 1992 - BBC Genome. (2020). Retrieved 13 January 2020, from https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/511f4aeded1b47ec9618ada79e153387

The Hunting of the Snark - BBC Radio 3 - 4 May 1992 - BBC Genome. (2020). Retrieved 13 January 2020, from https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/511f4aeded1b47ec9618ada79e153387

The Hunting of the Snark 1937 photo BBC. (2020). Retrieved 13 January 2020, from https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03cp0l9/p03cp0b4

The Hunting of The Snark Mike Batt concert 1987. Retrieved 13 January 2020, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKitp2gmRas

The Pig must die, The Hunting of the Snark, Mike Batt, 1987 recording. Retrieved 13 January 2020, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjJwRsfn8S8&feature=youtu.be

A confusing, potential lead on Thames Television's 1973 ATTLG...

So she went on, wondering more and more at every step 

(Art by Blanche McManus, via illustratedlookingglass) 

You might remember that a long while ago my good friend Phantomwise dug up some information on the 1973 Thames TV adaptation of Through the Looking Glass (not to be confused with the BBC adaptation from the same year)

Information on this version is still extremely difficult to come by (still haven't found any photos or clips) but I have found a possible potential lead on where it might be stored archive wise.

The story of this Alice is complicated by the fact that the company which produced and financed it no longer exists in a technical form. 

Thames TV was dissolved due to financial problems in 1992, with their programme archives going to Pearson Television. Several takeovers and distribution deals later, its safe to say that Thames TV's Alice might be either in Fremantlemedia's archive or Boat Rocker Media's

archive. 

After Thames was acquired by FremantleMedia it was merged with another Fremantle company, Talkback Productions, to form a new independent production company Talkback Thames; consequently Thames ceased to exist as a separate entity. However, on 1 January 2012, the Thames brand was revived and Talkback Thames has now been split into four different labels; Boundless, Retort, Talkback and Thames within the newly created FremantleMedia UK production arm. [1]

 In November 2011, it was announced that, from 1 January 2012, the Talkback Thames brand would be split into four different labels within the newly created FremantleMedia UK production arm. [2]

I've listed both companies here because in 2018 Canadian company Boat Rocker Media

brought a large stake of children's programming and archives from Fremantlemedia, 

and I don't know if Thames's Alice was among them or not.

 In January 2018, Fremantle sold its children's production studio and library to Canadian studio Boat Rocker. [3]

If anyone else can shine a light on which archive its in (I'm not really sure if its in either!) it would be extremely helpful.

References:

Thames Television, (2019, august 9th)  Retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thames_Television

Talkback Thames, (2019, May 20th) Retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talkback_Thames

Fremantle (Company), (2019, September 9th) Retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fremantle_(company) 

Fremantle Archive, (N.D) Retrieved from: https://www.focalint.org/footage-and-content-gallery/directory/member/1199/fremantlemedia-archive 

Boat Rocker Media (N.D) Retrieved from http://www.boatrocker.com/contact/ 

UPDATED "A Film for children... Perhaps." UK's channel 4 and the curious history of Svankmajer's Alice.

Recently re-reading Clare Kitson's essay on the 1988 surrealist adaptation of AAIW, Alice, I was struck by a rather unusual section.

Kitson was a commissioning editor for animation at UK TV's channel 4 in the late 80s, where she oversaw part of the funding for Jan Svankmajer's Alice.

Due to pressure from the then Czech government, as his short films had grown increasingly political, svankmajer had sought out international money to fund Alice. 

Amazingly Kitson notes that "channel 4 boldly signed the deal, comitting £70,000... in the full knowledge that.... the film may not even get made"

Here's where the story becomes curiouser and curiouser. The other commissioner of the film, German TV channel Hessischer Rundfunk, had offered up the money from the children's department. Yet Svankmajer's film is absolutely not for children.



To solve this, a strange compromise was struck. Channel 4 would show the film in full at midnight, in keeping with their late night offerings which had a reputation for being unusual or in some way controversial.

The film would also be cut into 6 episodes and shown to a family audience over the Christmas holidays. 

"the film was sold as a six-episode serial as well as a feature film. Both versions have been aired on Channel 4." (Animesuperhero) 

Channel 4 worked with the ITC (UK TV content regulators, now called ofcom) to cut any content which was deemed unsuitable for a young audience. This would have likely been a mammoth task.



What was cut for this version? Clare Kitson remembers that "the nails in the pot of jam (during the rabbit hole scene) were removed"

Finding any record of this cut version is nigh on impossible.  Sadly there appears to be no real record of this except for Clare Kitson's essay for the BFI.

I would honestly love to find this cut version. It sounds fascinating! 

UPDATE 6/9/10:

I have managed to find a TV Schedule for December 1989 which confirms that yes, the 6 part vesrion does indeed exist.

A further look into the BFI archives reveals 3 tapes, one stated as with voiceover at the beginning and end. It also has a runtime of 13 minutes, which is plausible for this cut version.

Alicja w Krainie Czarów: 1995 polish adaptation: all the information I've managed to find

(Photos from TVP, some from now defunct site) 

Part I: It starts with the meeting of the Rabbit, when the girl falls into the rabbit hole. Alice attempts to get to the Magic Garden. She comes across a talking Mouse and many other characters. Alice participates in caucus races, and visits the Duchess who is excited to play croquet with the Queen of Hearts. 

Part II: Alice meets the Cheshire Cat and learns the meaning of “grin without a cat.” She also participates in a strange afternoon tea, discussing the time with the Hare, Hatter and Dormouse, goes to the seemingly dangerous Queen of Hearts, plays croquet and also learns that everything follows a moral, just you need to be able to see it. 


Part III: Alice continues her journey through the dreamlike, underground world. She meets more extraordinary and mysterious phenomena. She learns, among others, What is meant by “obrzydzielić”; participates in the trial of the Knave of Hearts, who is accused of eating cakes baked by the Queen of Hearts. Alice’s Adventures end when the girl wakes from sleep. 

(Awkwardly translated into English by google translate. I tried to improve it) 

Unfortunately I still can't find any videos regarding this version and two of the photos have since disappeared due to TVP broadcaster's site renovations. 

I have since found dates of broadcast, from April 16th to 17th. This contradicts some earlier information I found which stated 3 parts were broadcast in 1994.