101 Dalmatians is loosely based on the 1956 children's book The Hundred and One Dalmatians by Dodie Smith. In Smith's book there are actually four main dalmatians. Their "pets" are already married. Roger is a "financial wizard" who has been granted an exemption from income tax for life because he freed England of its national debt, they have a nanny and a butler, and Cruella De Vil is married to a furrier and covets expensive fur and ridiculously high temperatures. I mention these details because Walt Disney removed or reworked several of these facts when he adapted the story for a film back in 1961.

Despite the changes, 101 Dalmatians remains one of my favorite animated Disney films of all time. In the movie, Pongo (Rod Taylor) lives with his "pet" Roger (Ben Wright), a struggling composer in London. Pongo makes it his mission to find a wife for Roger and a mate for himself. When he sees a beautiful dalmatian named Perdita (Cate Bauer) and her "pet" Anita (Lisa Davis) heading to Regent's Park, he sets out on a mission for him and Roger to meet them there. Predictably, Pongo's efforts pay off; Roger and Anita get married and Pongo gets a mate.

Soon, Perdita is due to give birth to dalmatian puppies, providing a family for themselves, their childless "pets" and Nanny. Enter Cruella De Vil (Betty Lou Gerson), an old school acquaintance of Anita's; Cruella enters the scene like a whirling dervish. With her two-toned hair, blue skin, and shockingly bad posture, she storms into Roger and Anita's flat demanding to buy the puppies for a large sum of money. Loosely based on Tallulah Bankhead (Lifeboat, "Black Widow" on television's Batman), Cruella steals the film as soon as she arrives. As soon as Anita inquires how she is doing, Cruella responds, "Miserable, dah-ling, as usual. Perfectly wretched." As created by animator Marc Davis, de Vil looks like death warmed over, covered in a monstrously oversized pelt. The fact that she hatches a plan to skin the puppies for a coat to match her thatch of black and white hair comes as no surprise. After all, what else could we expect from someone who looks like her and tears around the streets in her limo like a bat out of hell?