When Walt Disney was still a nameless, struggling producer in Kansas City, he made a short version of the Alice in Wonderland story that mixed live action with animation. It failed to get any notice, so Disney dropped the idea of animation and moved to Hollywood to pursue live-action production. But he never forgot the idea of Alice and once his production company was off the ground, Disney again returned to theme with several Alice Comedies that earned him acclaim and led the way to his other famous cartoon characters and eventually a feature-length Alice.

On this day, July 26, in 1951, Walt Disney’s dream was finally realized with thirteenth feature-length animated film from his studio, Alice In Wonderland.

Disney had thought about the film since the 1930s, but in 1933 a live-action version was released by Paramount studios. WW II caused further delays, as Disney directed his focus into Pinocchio and other works. By the 1940s work began on storyboarding Alice, but Disney was not happy with the early drafts. Finally, by late 1940s production began on the film.