Alice the Jail Bird
About Alice the Jail Bird
Alice and Julius ride a turtle, see a pie cooling on a third-storey sill, and reach it by cranking the turtle's neck. A policeman chases them across a pond and up a river, then catches them in a paddy wagon disguised as a free-lunch stand. In jail they are put on a chain gang and get out with help from an ostrich.
Cast & crew
More about Alice the Jail Bird
Also called The Jail Break, it premiered on 1 September 1925 at the Paramount Theatre in Los Angeles and was released on 15 September 1925. Margaret J. Winkler produced it, Margie Gay plays Alice, and the animators are Ub Iwerks, Rollin Hamilton, Thurston Harper, Hugh Harman, and Rudolf Ising. The Internet Animation Database times it at 7 minutes 31 seconds.
Themes
Making
The turtle is the vehicle for the theft. The free-lunch wagon is how the officer finishes a chase he does not win on speed.
Music
Silent in September 1925. A sound version is dated 1 November 1930.
Preservation
An incomplete 16mm positive (FAB 2264, 235 feet) is at the Library of Congress, and Kit Parker holds the Raytone sound version. Public domain in the United States.
Notes
- Alice is the one who cranks the tail so the neck reaches the sill. Julius stands on the turtle's head.
- The Library of Congress holds an incomplete 16mm reference positive, 235 feet, FAB 2264, from the Gatewood W. Dunston collection.
- Kit Parker Films holds the Raytone sound reissue.
- The 35mm Collector's Set includes it.
Scenes
- Alice cranks the turtle's tail until the neck reaches a third-storey pie.
- The officer's wagon is dressed as a free-lunch stand.
- An ostrich helps them off the chain gang.
Also available
- Alice in Cartoonland – 35mm Collector's Set
