By Jiminy!

Cidu Bill on Oct 20th 2009

jminy.gif

Just for the record, this is what happens in the book

Filed in Bill Bickel, Doug Bratton, Jiminy Cricket, Pinocchio, Pop Culture Shock Therapy, comic strips, comics, humor | 26 responses so far

26 Responses to “By Jiminy!”

  1. David N Oct 20th 2009 at 12:03 pm 1

    Jumping Jiminy!

  2. Aarif Oct 20th 2009 at 12:27 pm 2

    There’s a book? You mean Disney didn’t create Pinocchio? No way!

  3. Morris Keesan Oct 20th 2009 at 01:07 pm 3

    Spoiler alert!

  4. Sili Oct 20th 2009 at 01:14 pm 4

    You mean Disney didn’t create Pinocchio?

    No. Just Snowwhite.

  5. Lord-z Oct 20th 2009 at 03:10 pm 5

    As far as I have been able to piece together, the very first Disney Animated Feature Classic not based on an already existing story: The Emperors New Groove, 2000.

  6. Jesse Oct 20th 2009 at 04:17 pm 6

    but, but the Lion King was an original!!! Right???

    http://www.kimbawlion.com/rant2.htm

  7. Judge Mental Oct 20th 2009 at 05:28 pm 7

    Though its debatable, I consider “Lady and the Tramp” a Disney original story.

  8. PeterW Oct 20th 2009 at 06:18 pm 8

    There’s no official recognization that Lady and the Tramp is original, but as Disney’s team wrote a story, gave it to a novelist to publish so they could legitimize it, then changed almost everything in development, I consider it original too.

  9. Usual John Oct 20th 2009 at 10:02 pm 9

    Technically, the first original Disney animated feature was Fantasia. There were also a number of later features that were composed of or included original stories. But if you mean a feature that just had one story, and if you don’t count The Lion King, then I suppose that Dinosaur (2000) would be first. A case could also be made for The Rescuers Down Under, an original story using characters previously created by Margery Sharp. Lady and the Tramp was based loosely on an earlier short story, Happy Dan, the Whistling Dog. Of course, the Disney contribution was substantial, just as it was with the earlier Dumbo, based on a story with only eight pictures and a few lines of text.

  10. furrykef Oct 21st 2009 at 12:33 am 10

    Pocahontas was an original story, though, ’cause you sure won’t see that version of events in history books.

  11. Lord-z Oct 21st 2009 at 04:50 am 11

    The Lion King is a loose retelling of Hamlet. That is the official story, and they are sticking to it. And Dinosaurs is not a Classic Animated Feature as Disney defines it. They skip directly from Fantasia 2000, nr. 38, to the Emperors new Groove, nr. 39. And Fantasia, along with several movies from the fourties, are Package Films, several shorts bundled together.

  12. Powers Oct 21st 2009 at 07:19 am 12

    Yikes, I think I’ve been out-Disney-geeked and it’s not even 8AM.

  13. Nicole Oct 21st 2009 at 07:57 am 13

    Since the Disney geeks seem to all be here .. you may be interested in this colaboration between Walt Disney and Salivdor Dali
    http://vodpod.com/watch/2351445-disney-and-dali-destino

  14. John in Tronna Oct 21st 2009 at 08:33 am 14

    I thought the Cricket died because he got hammered.

  15. Usual John Oct 21st 2009 at 10:03 am 15

    Lord-z - Dinosaur is on the official list of animated feature films at http://www.disneyanimation.com/aboutus/history.html. As you note, Fantasia and other films, including Saludos Amigos and The Three Caballeros, although included in the official list of features, are really just collections of shorter works, bound together by a framing device.

    John in Tronna - Yes, that’s true, but I think that CIDU Bill is essentially correct when he says that Pinocchio decides that life would be more fun without a conscience and kills the Talking Cricket. (The Talking Cricket’s ghost continues in the story. )

  16. ljdarten Oct 21st 2009 at 02:59 pm 16

    pinnocchio killed jiminy in the original? I am intrigued and surprised I never heard it before. I might have to find it and give it a read.

    I’m really curious is Doug Bratton knows this or not. I would think not.

  17. Usual John Oct 21st 2009 at 03:30 pm 17

    ljdarten - Yes, Pinocchio really is quite dark, for a children’s story. In fact, it’s pretty dark for a story of any kind, though of course it falls well short of, say, Jude the Obscure.

    And I, too, am curious whether Doug Bratton knows that he essentially was replicating an incident in the original book.

  18. Cidu Bill Oct 21st 2009 at 03:32 pm 18

    I’d imagine not, Usual John. But he does now.

  19. Mitch4 Oct 22nd 2009 at 01:50 am 19

    Calling him “Jiminy Cricket” instead of generic “the talking cricket” puts the name in line with a tradition of “minced oath” where just about anything with the initials J.C. should be understood as a stand-in for swearing by Jesus Christ. Obviously so when uttered as exclamation, “Jiminy Cricket!”, “Jeepers Creepers!” [where’d you get those peepers?] .

    I’ve been puzzled whether The Jaycees fits with that tradition — the official name “Junior Chamber [of Commerce]” seems to make them just a businesspersons’ organization, but there are overtones of a lodge or fraternal organization with the expected religious subtext.

  20. mkilby Oct 22nd 2009 at 06:36 am 20

    Speaking of squashed bugs, is anyone aware of an antecedent for the corresponding phrase that Walt Kelly used many times in “Pogo”? Here is a version in normal English: “Careful, if you squish a bug it will rain!”

  21. Powers Oct 22nd 2009 at 07:10 am 21

    Yep, looks like Dinosaur is now #39 and Emperor’s New Grove is #40.

  22. chuckers Oct 22nd 2009 at 09:13 am 22

    In the original story of Cinderella, she kills her own mother at her father’s request and puts her in a trunk. The father remarries and she is forced to live with her “wicked” step-mother and step-sisters.

    Pot, meet kettle. Kettle, meet pot.

  23. Nicole Oct 22nd 2009 at 09:16 am 23

    Almost all fairytales are much darker than the sanitzed versions we tell our kids today. Pick up an original copy of Grimm’s fairytales and you will be horrified at the violence.

  24. Elyrest Oct 22nd 2009 at 03:09 pm 24

    Sort of reminds me why I always liked Fractured Fairy Tales.

  25. Usual John Oct 23rd 2009 at 04:04 pm 25

    Mitch4 - Yes, “Jiminy Cricket” is certainly a euphemism for “Jesus Christ.” (I’m not so sure about Jeepers Creepers, which strikes me as ordinary reduplication, but I’m open to additional evidence on that point.) However, when Disney gave the Talking Cricket a name, I don’t think they intended a religious reference. The “Jiminy Cricket” exclamation predated the movie and, I think, was seen as pretty innocuous.

    chuckers - Do you have a source for that? I’ve read a lot of versions of Cinderella, and I don’t remember one where she kills her own mother.

  26. chuckers Oct 24th 2009 at 09:47 am 26

    My source is based on this Trivia programme that mentioned it. I think it was supposed to be in the Italian version of Cinderella which is maybe a 6 volume set of stories. She offs her mother in an early volume of the tale.

    I haven’t actually read it myself.

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