Probably the most infamous scene in Lewis Carroll’s Alice In Wonderland is the Mad Tea Party, and we all know how it happens. Alice comes upon the Mad Hatter, the March Hare, and the Doormouse, sits down to have tea with them, and is rather put out at their rudeness.
Here’s an audio version of the chapter, if anyone would like a refresher, plus it’s fun:
I’ve always wondered what inspired Carroll to write the Tea Party chapter, and the simple answer is that he was making fun of Brits and their ardent love of order, class, and taking tea. The March Hare, the Mad Hatter, and the Doormouse are all of different classes, and while all of them seem to be friendly in a combative way, their greatest pleasure seems to be in annoying themselves and everyone else. Alice eventually leaves, vowing not to have tea with these guys again.
It’s not the last we see of them, though. At Alice’s trial towards the end of the book, the Mad Hatter, the March Hare, and the Doormouse all turn up to testify and say basically nothing.
The other thing that people always zero in on is the riddle, “Why is a raven like a writing desk?” We’re never given an answer and the book never intends us to, but the question is intellectual and unique. Some however, have speculated that the riddle is actually a reference to Ravensworth Estate, where Carroll did some of his writing, but we’ll never know for sure.
So, what we’re supposed to take from this is that the Brits are nitpicky, pretentious fussbudgets who will turn on someone at the drop of a hat? Gee, Mr. Carroll, tell us how you really feel.
While the underlying message of the Mad Tea Party may have been serious and less than complimentary, that hasn’t stopped the Western world from embracing the simple craziness of it all. One example is, of course, the 1951 Disney movie, which proceeds its Mad Tea Party with the classic “Unbirthday Song.”
We all know Wonderland is Disney fodder, and in addition to the teacup ride at Disneyland and Walt Disney World, Disney Meetings and Events can create a Mad Tea Party experience for willing patrons.
Another version of Carroll’s novel that I used to love was the 1985 Alice In Wonderland miniseries, which was an all-star extravaganza starring Hollywood and Broadway performers, both older and newer. Funnily enough, Alice has an American accent.
The highly stylized 1983 version of Alice, though, is undeniably weird, seeing as Alice is thirty if she’s a day and the scene is rife with overacting. At least it’s true to the source material and encourages the viewer to use their imagination.
Another version is the 1999 TV movie starring Tina Majorino of Napoleon Dynamite fame, and Martin Short plays the Mad Hatter. I found this movie annoying, even if it had a good cast, because it felt like it was trying too hard. Marjorino, however, is a wonderful Alice.
As far as strangeness goes, the 1999 movie definitely gives Tim Burton’s version some stiff competition, and we all know Johnny Depp’s Mad Hatter is almost too psychotic and slightly deranged.
By far, though, one of my favorite interpretations is from the Royal Ballet, whose Alice In Wonderland production is always a great success. It’s easily accessible on Blu-ray, and among its many delights and curiousities, it features the Mad Hatter as a tap dancer.
Besides the meaning of the Mad Tea Party scene, the other obvious question is, “What did they eat at the Mad Tea Party?”
Well, the chapter mentions bread and butter, but beyond that, we don’t really know (There are, however, lots of suggestions out there). Still, I thought it would be fun to do a very small-scale Mad Tea Party, and a pretty informal one at that, because money, time and space, plus I would be having it with my husband and son, so frou frou would understandably be kept to a minimum. Our three Mads would be proud of how seat-of-the-pants it really was, although they’d probably look askance at our lack of table settings.
Anyway, I found these croquettes at Walmart Neighborhood Market at the eleventh hour and thought they’d be a nice addition to the proceedings.
Our tea of choice was Stash’s Earl Grey, which set off our sweets nicely. I love tea, even just smelling it when it comes out of the package, and a nice black tea is my favorite.
As to the rest of our humble repast, we had seafood salad tea sandwiches and brownie bites that were almost like petit fours.
The potato croquettes weren’t bad, although they could have done with a dipping sauce of some kind, but the flavor was good. The seafood sandwiches were a big hit, so we may have to bring those back in non-tea form. The brownie bites, of course, were almost too good.
By way of a capper we also had that fruit tart I made for my Julia Child post, or we tried to. It was so rich and so sweet we could barely eat it. The strawberries were absolutely perfect, though.
The funny thing is, when my husband tried having some the next day, he could barely cut it because the glaze had hardened like a Jolly Rancher. Oh well.
On the other hand, it’s rather fitting that the tart didn’t turn out so well. Can’t have a Mad Tea Party without something to confound and annoy, and in our favor, my little family and I were annoyed at the tart instead of each other.
A new During World War Two post is coming out on Tuesday. Thanks for reading, all, and I hope to see you then…
Lewis Carroll’s original novel, as well as the 1951 version (DVD and Blu-ray), the 1985 version (DVD), the 1999 version (DVD), the 2010 version (DVD and Blu-ray), and the Royal Ballet version (DVD and Blu-ray) are available to own from Amazon.
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