The character of Theodore “Laurie” Laurence in Little Women is an amalgam of two real men. One was Alfred “Alf” Whitman, a friend of Louisa May Alcott's and an actor who was a member of a local theatrical company. The other was Ladislas Wisniewki, a young Polish man that Alcott met on a trip to Europe. We know this because Alcott candidly confessed all in a letter she wrote to one of the men concerned, Alf Whitman. In the letter, she tells Whitman that Laurie is a combination of himself and her “Polish boy” Ladislas. Apparently, Alcott took the “tender, sweet” side of Alf and combined it with the “fun, impish” personality of Ladislas.

Despite Alcott explicitly saying whom Laurie was based upon, a number of other likely candidates have been put forward as possible inspirations for the character. This is by no means a recent development; even in Alcott's own lifetime, many people would offer up their own opinions as to whom Laurie was based on. Alcott herself used to joke that “Every lad I ever knew claims the character.” This is undoubtedly a testimony to the extraordinary skill of Louisa May Alcott in drawing characters with whom so many different people could identify.