10 Fun Facts about Pinocchio
“Give a little whistle! And always let your conscience be your guide!” — Give a Little Whistle (Pinocchio)
Jiminy Cricket wasn’t always going to act as the narrator. When they made this change, the plot had to adjust a little bit and many scenes were cut.
Reportedly, one of the things cut due to Jiminy Cricket taking a narrator role was a song sung by the Blue Fairy called “Straight Ahead”. She did not end up with a song in the film. There are also reports that it was a song sung by Pinocchio based on words the Blue Fairy states.
Jiminy Cricket would go on to be in “Mickey Mouse Club” and “Fun and Fancy Free”.
The original Italian story of Pinocchio was written for a children’s magazine and as most original European source material, had a dark ending which resulted in Pinocchio’s death. These stories were eventually published as a book in 1883.
The film had over 700 artists working at once to make this film.
Walt loved Figaro the cat. He loved him so much, he tried to insert him in as many scenes as possible, and made him Minnie Mouse’s companion.
I found many non-Disney articles that state Pinocchio means “Little Wooden Head”, but when I dug deeper and used translation, it means little wooden (pine) eyes.
It took Disney artists over a year to come up with a design of Pinocchio that they liked. They ended up creating a design for a real boy and then ended up adding the wooden joints after.
Legendary voice actor, Thurl Ravenscroft, who many Disney people will recognize for his work in Haunted Mansion, and non-Disney fans may know him as the voice as Tony the tiger, voiced Monstro the whale’s roars.
The nephew of Collodi (the original story writer), Paolo Lorenzini, wanted to sue Walt Disney for “Americanizing” the Italian tale which he believed to be an “Italian work of art”, not to be modified. Lorenzini later wrote a sequel to the novel where Pinocchio is sent off to war and loses limbs which they build back in wood. But don’t worry, Gepetto asks the Blue Fairy to fix him and she does.
Sources: https://www.bustle.com/p/13-pinocchio-facts-that-will-blow-your-mind-as-adult-34230, https://d23.com/, https://www.cbr.com/disney-pinocchio-hidden-details-trivia/, https://www.moviefone.com/news/disney-pinocchio-facts/, https://community.timeghost.tv/t/italy-asked-to-sue-disney-on-pinocchio-1-17-41/3005, https://theninedisneyanimatedmasterpieces.com/final-words-on-pinocchio/
