Trivia / Lady and the Tramp

• Acting for Two:
  • Acting for four, in the case of Peggy Lee, who does the voices of Darling, Si, Am and Peg.
  • Bill Thompson acts for five, doing the voices of Jock, Joe, two of the dogs at the dog pound (Bull the bulldog and Dachsie the dachshund), and the policeman at the zoo.
  • Toughy and Pedro are both voiced by Dallas McKennon.
  • Thurl Ravenscroft performed the singing voice of Boris and the vocal effects of the other dogs in "Home Sweet Home" as well as the singing voice of Bull in "He's a Tramp".
• The Danza: Peggy Lee not only voices Darling and the two Siamese cats, she also voices Peg, one of the dogs at the pound.
• Deleted Scene: A dream sequence was animated where the dogs took their owners for walks, but cut due to negative audience reactions.
• DVD Commentary: The 2012 Blu-Ray release of Lady and the Tramp had re-enactments of the story meetings between Disney and his story men as one of the several bonus features.
• Fake Nationality: Despite the wide range of international characters throughout the film, there are quite a few instances of this:
  • Peggy Lee (American Lutheran of Swedish and Norwegian descent) as the two Siamese cats.
  • Alan Reed (American Jew of Lithuanian and Ukrainian descent) as Boris the Russian Wolfhound.
  • Bill Thompson (native of Terre Haute, Indiana) as Jock the Scottish terrier, Dachshie the German dachshund, Bull the English bulldog, Joe, one of the two Italian chefs, and the Irish Police Officer.
  • George Givot (Russian-born American) as the Italian restaurant chef Tony.
• God Never Said That: No sources can be found stating that the three dogs were attempting to rape Lady or that Lady became pregnant after her night with Tramp; the latter is biologically impossible because she would have gotten pregnant in the spring, yet she had the puppies shortly before Christmas. Dogs have a gestation period of roughly two months.
  • Actually, Lady and Tramp's night together is shown to take place in early fall. The puppies have open eyes and are walking around during Christmas, so they're probably around a month old by that time. This would indeed place the start of the pregnancy in early fall.
• Hey, It's That Sound!: The zoo hyena's laugh done by Dallas McKennon would later become a rather popular stock sound effect, with the "voice" of Ripper Roo from the Crash Bandicoot series being the most well-known usage.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes: The version that Disney animated in the 1.37:1 Academy ratio, for theaters unable to show widescreen movies, has only received one official home video release — all the way back in 1998 when it was released on VHS and LaserDisc.^note The original 1987 VHS and Laserdisc releases of the film instead did Pan and Scan on the CinemaScope print. Reissues of the movie on newer formats only feature the CinemaScope version, leaving the Academy version unavailable to view, aside from some clips included in some of the bonus features.
• Kids' Meal Toy:
  • In the 1985 holiday season, Hardee's released a set of five plushes based on Disney movies. Besides Lady, there were also plushes of Bambi, Dumbo, Pinocchio, and one of the 101 Dalmatians.
  • In 1997 in Europe, McDonald's released a set of four toys; Lady, Tramp, Trusty, and Si and Am together.
  • In 1998 in the US, McDonald's released a train car of Lady and Tramp eating spaghetti together as part of their Disney Video Favorites Happy Meal. This promotion also had toys based on The Spirit of Mickey, Mary Poppins, Flubber, Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World, and The Black Cauldron.
• Non-Singing Voice: For "Home Sweet Home" and "He's a Tramp", all of the dogs' vocalizations were performed by The Mellomen. Bull's singing voice, for example, alternated between Bob Stevens for the former song and Thurl Ravenscroft for the latter song.
• Novelization First: The novel version by Ward Greene^note Not to be confused with the "Happy Dan, the Cynical Dog" short that inspired the movie to begin with, though Greene wrote that too came out almost two years ahead of the actual movie - specifically to familiarize audiences with a story that, for a change, wasn't an already-ubiquitous fairytale.
• One-Book Author: Tramp was Larry Roberts' only feature film role. Shortly after the film's release in 1955, he retired from show business altogether and became a fashion designer.
• Pop-Culture Urban Legends: That Lady was in heat in the film and that's why those stray dogs ganged up on her. Lady also ended up pregnant with her pups on her date with Tramp. That rumor even appeared on this wiki. It, however, is nothing but Fan Wank and fanon.
• Pet Fad Starter: Adorable, dignified Lady has inspired many people to become Cocker Spaniel fans of generations. However, it's been argued that the film inadvertently caused problems for the breed. The popularity boost caused a surge in bad breeding that's been cited as one of the reasons why the breed is known for several behavioral and health issues.
• Real-Life Relative: Verna Felton (Aunt Sarah) was the mother of Lee Miller (Jim Dear).
• Screwed by the Lawyers: Peggy Lee sued Disney when the film was released on VHS and LaserDisc, citing that her contract did not allow them to use her voice on video. She eventually collected a seven-figure sum, and Disney began including in their contracts rights to "media not yet existing." The same thing happened with the Latin American Spanish dub, as Tramp's voice actor (Roberto Espriu) sued Disney for the same reason, forcing Disney to do another dub with a different cast at Prime Dubb/SDI Media de México.
• Spared by the Cut: Trusty was supposed to die after the dogcatcher's wagon hit him, but Walt Disney's wife Lillian convinced him not to include another serious death following the trauma Bambi's mom's demise caused many children.
• Trope Maker:
  • Spaghetti Kiss
• What Could Have Been:
  • Boris the Russian Wolfhound (who appears at the pound) was originally supposed to be the male lead of the film, having Tramp's role. However, the title "Lady and Boris"..."just didn't have the right ring to it".
  • Tramp/Boris was also supposed to have had a song, called "I'm Free as the Breeze", which he sang about his life as a happy stray. It was cut when the film was retooled.
    • In the previous plot there would be a love triangle between Tramp, a stray dog with a noble heart (Betty), and Boris, a rich and spoiled dog (Veronica) competing for the affections of Lady (Archie).
    • It is implied that Boris was going to have a Villainous Crush on Lady and was meant to be The Rival for Tramp.
  • In one early version, the rat spoke and was more of a troublemaker than a genuine menace. He would have had a Jersey gangster sort of personality, and his name would have been Herman.
  • In an early version, Lady, having become braver as a result of her adventures with Tramp, was going to be the one who battled and defeated the rat.
  • Si and Am were supposed to be seen in the aftermath of the rat attack, looking shocked at the outcome.
  • In one draft, Trusty was Killed Off for Real when the dog catcher's wagon fell on him. Walt Disney had this changed to Trusty being knocked out and suffering a leg injury because he didn't want a repeat of children in the audience being traumatized by a beloved character's death, as had occurred with Bambi.

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