Read how Walt Disney painstakingly created Jiminy Cricket, who's featured in "Pinocchio" and promises to become another sensation like Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck!
JIMINY CRICKET, one of the principal characters in Walt Disney's second full-length feature, "Pinocchio," comes of a long line of thespians. His uncle, Gerald Grasshopper, received wild acclaim in the Disney short production of "'The Grasshopper and the Ants.» His cousin Wilbur, who is Gerald Grasshopper's grandson, made his screen debut last spring in another Disney production, "Goofy and Wilbur."
Jiminy fell heir to one of the prize acting plums of the year by the tip of his antennae. He almost lost out to an ant!
The story men wanted an insect or tiny creature who would irritate and worry the puppet Pinocchio whenever he was on the brink of getting into trouble. Since Pinocchio is made of wood, they suggested an ant. That social little termite was a "natural" for the part.
Although the ant seemed a perfect bit of casting, his diminutive size presented problems. The artists found that he would be extremely difficult to animate and keep his size in proportion to the rest of the characters.
Walt reminded the boys that in the C. Collodi original story of "Pinocchio' the tale of the marionette who comes to life there was a cricket who warned Pinocchio against trouble. For this favor Pinocchio, who, while endowed with life, has still to acquire the true feelings of a little boy, killed the cricket. But the cricket's voice continued with him, through one thrilling scrape after another, acting as a ways by conscience, endeavoring always by good counsel to counteract Pinocchio's natural bent for getting into trouble.
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