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Animation art relating to the croquet scene from Disney’s ALICE IN WONDERLAND (1951). The acting is so good throughout: the Queen’s expressions, Alice’s hasty, improvised interactions with the flamingo, the slapstick action, the cards shuffling themselves, everyone’s deathly fear of the Queen—it’s all there vying for the viewer’s attention, cut in an almost perfect rhythm.

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Illustrations:

Scott Gustafson (1993); John Tenniel (1865, colorized); Margaret W. Tarrant (1916); David Hall (from storyboard, 1939); Anthony Browne (1988); Angel Dominguez (1996); Katalin Szegedi (2007); Galina Zinko (2018); Anastasia Balatenysheva (2019).

~~~

Alice thought she had never seen such a curious croquet-ground in all her life; it was all ridges and furrows; the balls were five hedgehogs, the mallets live flamingoes, and the soldiers had to double themselves up and to stand upon their hands and feet, to make the arches.

The chief difficulty Alice found at first was in managing her flamingo: she succeeded in getting its body tucked away, comfortably enough, under her arm, with its legs hanging down, but generally, just as she had got its neck nicely straightened out, and was going to give the hedgehog a blow with its head, it WOULD twist itself round and look up in her face, with such a puzzled expression that she could not help bursting out laughing: and when she had got its head down, and was going to begin again, it was very provoking to find that the hedgehog had unrolled itself, and was in the act of crawling away: besides all this, there was generally a ridge or a furrow in the way wherever she wanted to send the hedgehog to, and, as the doubled-up soldiers were always getting up and walking off to other parts of the ground, Alice soon came to the conclusion that it was a very difficult game indeed.

(Ch. 8, "The Queen's Croquet-Ground".)

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Illustrations:

Gertrude Kay (1923); Willy Pogany (1929); Helen Oxenbury (1998); Christian Birmingham (2019).

~~~

“It’s—it’s a very fine day!” said a timid voice at her side. She was walking by the White Rabbit, who was peeping anxiously into her face.

“Very,” said Alice: “where’s the Duchess?”

“Hush! Hush!” said the Rabbit in a low hurried tone. He looked anxiously over his shoulder as he spoke, and then raised him-self upon tiptoe, put his mouth close to her ear, and whispered, “She’s under sentence of execution.”

“What for?” said Alice.

“Did you say, “What a pity! » the Rabbit asked.

“No, I didn’t,” said Alice: “I don’t think it’s at all a pity. I said, “What for?’”

“She boxed the Queen’s ears—” the Rabbit began. Alice gave a little scream of laughter. “Oh, hush!” the Rabbit whispered in a frightened tone. “The Queen will hear you!”

(Ch. 8, "The Queen's Croquet-Ground".)

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Amabie are strange looking, but very, very cute!

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Illustrations:

Kim Minji (2009); Benjamin Lacombe (2015); Daniel Cacouault (2019); David Klein (1960s).

~~~

Alice was rather doubtful whether she ought not to lie down on her face like the three gardeners, but she could not remember ever having heard of such a rule at processions; “and besides, what would be the use of a procession,” thought she, “if people had all to lie down upon their faces, so that they couldn’t see it?” So she stood still where she was, and waited.

When the procession came opposite to Alice, they all stopped and looked at her, and the Queen said severely, “Who is this?” She said it to the Knave of Hearts, who only bowed and smiled in reply.

“Idiot!” said the Queen, tossing her head impatiently; and, turning to Alice, she went on, “What’s your name, child?”

“My name is Alice, so please your Majesty,” said Alice very politely; but she added, to herself, “Why, they’re only a pack of cards, after all. I needn’t be afraid of them!”

(Ch. 8, "The Queen's Croquet-Ground".)

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Illustration: Paolo Barbieri (2023).

“Would you tell me,” said Alice, a little timidly, “why you are painting those roses?”

Five and Seven said nothing, but looked at Two. Two began in a low voice, “Why, the fact is, you see, Miss, this here ought to have been a RED rose-tree, and we put a white one in by mistake; and if the Queen was to find it out, we should all have our heads cut off, you know. So you see, Miss, we’re doing our best, afore she comes, to—” At this moment, Five, who had been anxiously looking across the garden, called out, “The Queen! The Queen!” and the three gardeners instantly threw themselves flat upon their faces.

(Ch. 8, "The Queen's Croquet-Ground".)

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Illustration: Brian Partridge.

Once more she found herself in the long hall, and close to the little glass table. “Now, I’ll manage better this time,” she said to herself, and began by taking the little golden key, and unlocking the door that led into the garden. Then she set to work nibbling at the mushroom (she had kept a piece of it in her pocket) till she was about a foot high: then she walked down the little passage: and THEN—she found herself at last in the beautiful garden, among the bright flower-beds and the cool fountains.

(Ch. 7, "A Mad Tea-Party".)

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So sadly the zine was canceled but heres the piece I did a few month ago for the “All things nice” zine! 

It was so fun to do and it makes me want to draw more moomin in the future.:)

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Illustration: Yulia Gukova.

Alice-in-Wonderland.net:

In Victorian times, asylums opened their doors for ‘therapeutic entertainment’: events would be organized, including tea parties, that were open to visitors. It was thought to help with the re-socialization of the patients, and it was a form of entertainent for the visitors. So the mad tea party scene may actually refer to a tea party with asylum clients!

Carroll must have been aware of this practice, especially because his uncle Robert Wilfred Skeffington Lutwidge was a Commissioner for the Commission in Lunacy, a state-supervised body for the inspection of lunatic asylums in Britain and Ireland. He appears to have visited such an asylum at least once.

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Good night

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Illustrations:

Scott Gustafson; Chris Magnum; Kei Acedera.

~~~

“They were learning to draw,” the Dormouse went on, yawning and rubbing its eyes, for it was getting very sleepy; “and they drew all manner of things-everything that begins with an M—”

“Why with an M?” said Alice.

“Why not?” said the March Hare.

Alice was silent.

The Dormouse had closed its eyes by this time, and was going off into a doze; but, on being pinched by the Hatter, it woke up again with a little shriek, and went on: “—that begins with an M, such as mouse-traps, and the moon, and memory, and muchness—you know you say things are “much of a muchness’—did you ever see such a thing as a drawing of a muchness?”

(Ch. 7, "A Mad Tea-Party".)

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Illustrations:

Peter Newell (1901); Harry Rountree (1901); Tove Jansson (1966); Katalin Szegedi (2007).

~~~

“Once upon a time there were three little sisters,” the Dormouse began in a great hurry; “and their names were Elsie, Lacie, and Tillie; and they lived at the bottom of a well—”

“What did they live on?” said Alice, who always took a great interest in questions of eating and drinking.

“They lived on treacle,” said the Dormouse, after thinking a minute or two.

“They couldn’t have done that, you know,” Alice gently remarked; “they’d have been ill.”

“So they were,” said the Dormouse; “VERY ill.”

(Ch. 7, "A Mad Tea-Party".)

~~~

Lenny de Rooy (Alice-in-Wonderland.net):

At the tea party, the Dormouse mentions a treacle well. The idea of the treacle well originated from of the legend of St. Frideswide, a local princess. In an informative paper I received during my visit to Oxford, it said:

“This story of the well sounds like a piece of complete nonsense on the part of Dodgson, however it is, of course, complete logical, for one must always remember that when the story of Alice was first told, Dodgson was telling the story to a 10 year old girl. In order to keep her attention he had to talk about things that she knew and understood, as in the case of the treacle well. The Frideswide Window tells the story of St. Frideswide and her flight from Prince Algar. […] Alice Liddell witnessed both the making and the installation of the window and was also familiar with the story of St. Frideswide. […] The right hand of the window depicts the scene of Frideswide together with old women drawing water from a well, this water was then used by Frideswide to cure illness. This well still exists today (at St. Margaret’s Church, Binsey) and has always been known as a treacle well. The word treacle is an Anglo-Saxon word which means ‘cure all’ and this explains why the sisters at the bottom of the well were very unwell – had they been well then they would have had no need to go there in the first place. It is known that Dodgson and Alice had visited the well several times and there is little doubt that it was the inspiration for the story told by the Dormouse.”

The names of the three little sisters in the Treacle Well (Elsie, Lacie and Tillie) also refer to the names of the three Liddell sisters: Elsie originated from the initials of Lorina Charlotte, Lacie is a transformation of Alice, and Tillie was short for Matilda, a name given to Edith by her sisters (Martin Gardner, “Annotated Alice”).

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A Mad Tea Party 🫖🎩

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We’re all mad here!

Cheshire Cats as reimagined on the screen (clockwise):

"Alice in Wonderland" (2010, Walt Disney Pictures);

"Alice in Wonderland or What’s a Nice Kid Like You Doing in a Place Like This?" (1966, Hanna-Barbera Productions);

"Alice in Wonderland" (1951, Walt Disney Animation Studios);

"Funky Fables: Alice in Wonderland" (1991, Saban Entertainment);

"Alice in Wonderland" / "Алиса в Стране Чудес" (1981, Kievnauchfilm).

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9/8/2025 Happy birthday Tove Jansson!🌻

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Illustrations:

Harry Rountree (1901); Angel Dominguez (2006); Scott Gustafson (2019); Anastasia Lobova (2019).

~~~

Alice sighed wearily. “I think you might do something better with the time,” she said, “than waste it asking riddles with no answers.”

“If you knew Time as well as I do,” said the Hatter, “you wouldn’t talk about wasting it. It’s HIM.”

“I don’t know what you mean,” said Alice.

“Of course you don’t!” the Hatter said, tossing his bead contemptuously. “I daresay you never even spoke to Time!”

“Perhaps not,” Alice cautiously replied: “but I know I have to beat time when I learn music.”

“Ah! that accounts for it,” said the Hatter. “He won’t stand beating. Now, if you only keep on good terms with him, he’d do almost anything you liked with the clock.”

(Ch. 7, "A Mad Tea-Party".)

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Illustrations:

Scott Gustafson; David Delamare; Bobby Chiu; Sophie Wilkins.

~~~

The Hatter was the first to break the silence, “What day of the month is it?” he said, turning to Alice: he had taken his watch out of his pocket, and was looking at it uneasily, shaking it every now and then, and holding it to his ear.

Alice considered a little, and then said, “The fourth.”

“Two days wrong!” sighed the Hatter. “I told you butter wouldn’t suit the works!” he added, looking angrily at the March Hare.

“It was the BEST butter,” the March Hare meekly replied.

“Yes, but some crumbs must have got in as well,” the Hatter grumbled: “you shouldn’t have put it in with the bread-knife.”

The March Hare took the watch and looked at it gloomily: then he dipped it into his cup of tea, and looked at it again: but he could think of nothing better to say than his first remark, “It was the best butter, you know.”

(Ch. 7, "A Mad Tea-Party".)