Did you know that Disney's Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure has a long pedigree? Disney's original Lady and the Tramp film was released in 1955, but it was in the planning stages for many years prior to that. It started out in 1937 as "Lady," with no Tramp character, but by 1940 the Disney story men introduced a mongrel, Homer. (There was also a mother-in-law with twin Siamese cats named Nip and Tuck.) Later script versions changed the name Homer to Rags and then to Bozo. Then Ward Greene came on the scene. Greene was an author who in 1943 had written four short stories for "Cosmopolitan" magazine. He thought that one of them, "Susie, the Shy Firefly," would make a good Disney cartoon. Although Walt did not share Greene's enthusiasm for the firefly, another of the stories caught his eye -- "Happy Dan, the Cynical Dog." Since Walt's story men were having problems with "Lady," he asked Greene to write a version of the script. The result was "Happy Dan, the Whistling Dog and Miss Patsy, the Beautiful Spaniel." For years Walt had enjoyed pitting writers against each other, figuring that such competition would generate the best story. It worked again in this case. The story men who had been working on "Lady" were inspired to refine their version, which was finally combined with Greene's into Lady and the Tramp.

Economic reality intervened, however, and the project had to be shelved as the company pinched its pennies during the tough post-war years. But the cheerful news of high box-office grosses on Cinderella in 1950 put Lady and the Tramp back on the schedule. Prior to Lady, nearly all of the Disney stories had had an international quality. But now Walt had one with an original story, one with an American flavor, one the Studio's creative staff could develop as they saw fit. According to Walt, "As the characters came to life and the scenes took shape, we were able to alter, embellish, eliminate, and change to improve the material."

The artists chose to model for Lady an appealing cocker spaniel named Blondie belonging to Ham Luske, one of the three directors. Blondie looked like Walt's concept of Lady, which harkened back to a dog he had given his wife many years earlier to placate her for a forgotten dinner engagement. The mutt who modeled for Tramp eventually lived in retirement at Disneyland's pony farm.

Lady and the Tramp was the first animated feature in CinemaScope, another in a long line of Disney firsts. CinemaScope gave the artists, according to Walt, "the opportunity -- indeed, the necessity -- to experiment with action, groupings, and setting." The artists were able to do more with their backgrounds and settings because they had a larger canvas on which to work.

Since its 1955 release, Lady and the Tramp has gone on to become one of the most beloved of the Disney animated features.