Alice, Where Art Thou?
| "Alice, Where Art Thou?" | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Song | |
| Released | 1861 |
| Songwriter | Wellington Guernsey |
| Composer | Joseph Ascher |
Alice, Where Art Thou? is a popular British parlour song of the Victorian era. It was composed by Joseph Ascher.[1] The text was by Wellington Guernsey, although it is sometimes attributed to Alfred Bunn, who is best known for "I Dreamt I Dwelt in Marble Halls".[2] It became a popular song, selling many copies of sheet music and featuring regularly as a standard in the music halls.
Usage
The phrase passed into popular usage for many decades.[3]
In the 1954 British film Svengali, it is heard several times as the song Trilby O'Ferrall sings badly before she is mesmerised by the title character into performing as a brilliant opera singer. The 1980s British television series Open All Hours features a brass band version of the tune as its title music.
A slightly different version of the song was sung by the main characters in the episode "Alice, Whose Art Thou?", of the television series Leave it to Charlie.[4]
References
Bibliography
- Roy Newsome: Brass Roots: A Hundred Years of Brass Bands and Their Music, 1836-1936 (London: Routledge, 2019).
- Eric Partridge: A Dictionary of Catch Phrases (London: Routledge, 2003).