It was on summertime boat ride on the Thames that English mathematician Charles Dodgson entertained three children with his fantastic story of a girl named Alice and a place called Wonderland.

At the urging of Alice Liddell, one of the youngsters on board that day, Dodgson wrote down the story. In 1865, he published it as "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland," under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll.

Nearly a century and a half later, Carroll's topsy-turvy tale endures in – and continues to influence – popular culture.

Who hasn't heard that someone was "mad as a hatter" or smiled "like a Cheshire cat?" The term "jabberwocky" has long been a code word for absolute nonsense. All have their roots in Carroll's imagination.

And now Tim Burton's imagination weighs in on the classic story, which he tweaks for Walt Disney Pictures' digital 3-D "Alice in Wonderland," in theaters today. Johnny Depp plays the Mad Hatter, Helena Bonham Carter is the Red Queen, and Mia Wasikowska is Alice, who, at 19, revisits her childhood friends down the rabbit hole.

The first big-screen "Alice in Wonderland" was a 1903 silent, starring the director, Cecil M. Hepworth, as Frog and "Mrs. Hepworth" in the dual role of White Rabbit and Queen, according to imdb.com. Disney released its beloved animation in 1951. There was even an X-rated version in the mid-1970s.

Again and again, "Alice" references emerge in contemporary culture.

Take the quiz "Which 'Alice in Wonderland' Character Are You?" on Facebook. Watch the 1999 movie "The Matrix," in which Trinity transmits the message, "Follow the white rabbit. Knock knock." Or pay close attention to the TV series "Lost," now in its final season on ABC.

Entertainment Weekly's Jeff Jensen documents the show's ongoing Alice references. Two years ago, he predicted this:

"Perhaps by 'Lost's' last episode, if not sooner, we will realize that Carroll's topsy-turvy underworld was a clue to the show's essential metaphysical enigma; perhaps, for example, the castaways have literally tumbled into a hidden, beyond-microscopic dimension tucked into the seams of reality."

Alice's adventures have inspired musicians for generations. Jefferson Airplane in 1967, for instance, released "White Rabbit," lead singer Grace Slick's ode to psychedelic drugs: ("One pill makes you larger/ and one pill makes you small/ And the ones that mother gives you/ Don't do anything at all/ Go ask Alice/ When she's 10 feet tall.")

It wasn't the fictional Alice but a photograph of little Alice Liddell that prompted novelist Melanie Benjamin to write the just-published, "Alice I Have Been" (Delacorte Press, $25, 368 pages.)

Benjamin saw the photo of 7-year-old Liddell, taken by Charles Dodgson/Lewis Carroll, and imagined their relationship.

"It was of a young girl clad only in rags, but with an expression on her face that stopped me in my tracks," Benjamin wrote on amazon.com. "She was so adult, so frank, so worldly, as she gazed at the man behind the camera."

Nothing is more "pop culture" than product tie-ins, and Burton's "Alice in Wonderland" breaks ground with an assortment of grown-up and upscale items. No plastic Happy Meal toys here.

Among the Disney collaborations are Stella McCartney's jewelry pieces ($400 and up), Swarovski's "Underland" jewelry collection ($80-$150) and dresses by designer Sue Wong (upwards of $300).

In addition, OPI introduced the limited-edition nail polishes Absolutely Alice, Mad as a Hatter, Off With Her Red and Thanks So Muchness, at $8.50 apiece.

Urban Decay came out with Alice in Wonderland Book of Shadows, $52 pop-up box of eye shadows and eye pencils with such names as White Rabbit and Jabberwocky. The pop-up image, complete with a mirror, has Alice wandering through the Mushroom Forest, where she meets a hookah- smoking caterpillar.

And Buena Vista Records, a Disney company, has released "Almost Alice," a collection of original songs that includes Wolfmother's "Fell Down a Hole" and Kerli's "Tea Party." Grace Potter and the Nocturnals cover Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit."

"Alice in Wonderland" and Carroll's 1871 sequel, "Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There," were products of the Victorian era. Here it is 145 years later, and his characters – among them the Cheshire Cat, March Hare, Knave of Hearts, White Queen and most especially the girl Alice – still have a presence.

"Lewis Carroll gives credit to the child's vision without condescending and takes us to a fantastic world," says Kim Zarins, an assistant professor of English at California State University, Sacramento, who will teach from "Alice in Wonderland" this semester.

"Obviously, much of the pop-cultural influence is due to Disney's movie and their merchandizing efforts, but fundamentally, it's a powerful concept because of its imaginative landscape and the iconic child who traverses that enigmatic space."

If you're a Facebook user, take the quiz "Which 'Alice in Wonderland' Character Are You?" Search for the application or the quiz fan page.

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by Dixie Reid. 03/05/2010
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