Lady and the Tramp: The Story of Two Dogs.

DISNEY, Walt; Ward Greene.

Item Number: 95160

New York: Simon and Schuster, 1953.

First edition of Lady and the Tramp. Octavo, original cloth, with charming illustrations by Joe G. Rinaldi. Association copy, inscribed by Walt Disney on the front free endpaper, “To Ward Greene all thanks and appreciation. Sincerely, Walt Disney.” The recipient, Ward Greene, was an American editor, playwright and manager of the newspaper syndicate King Features where oversaw the work of many famous cartoonists including Alex Raymond. Greene published seven novels and two plays throughout his career in addition to his short story “Happy Dan, the Cynical Dog” which first appeared as a serial in Cosmopolitan in 1920. The short story was soon adapted by Walt Disney Studios into the feature-length 1955 animated film Lady and the Tramp and, in turn, the present volume published by Simon and Schuster with a foreword by Walt Disney. Fine in a near fine dust jacket with light rubbing and a few small closed tears. An exceptional association linking both creators of the beloved children’s classic.

Lady and the Tramp tells the story of a female American Cocker Spaniel named Lady who lives with a refined, upper-middle-class family, and a male stray mongrel called the Tramp. Greene, the editor and manager of the newspaper syndicate King Features, was the author of the short story, “Happy Dan, The Cynical Dog,” which came to Walt Disney’s attention. At Disney’s request, Greene developed the story into a full-length novel on which the film, one of the most popular of Disney’s animated features, was based. The sequence of Lady and Tramp sharing a plate of spaghetti — climaxed by an accidental kiss as they swallow opposite ends of the same strand of spaghetti — is considered an iconic scene in American film history. Lady and the Tramp was named number 95 out of the "100 Greatest Love Stories of All Time" by the American Film Institute in their 100 Years...100 Passions special, as one of only two animated films to appear on the list, along with Disney's Beauty and the Beast which ranked 34th. In 2010, Rhapsody called its accompanying soundtrack one of the all-time great Disney and Pixar soundtracks. In June 2011, TIME named it one of "The 25 All-TIME Best Animated Films."