![]() ![]() Pinocchio's adventures include being beaten and starved, almost drowned, transformed into a dog and a donkey, nearly being burnt alive on a kitchen fire and being swallowed by a great shark. Fortunately for Disney, the Royal Opera House and a host of other adapters, Callodi was persuaded by readers of the Children's Magazine to revive his wooden monster for another 19 episodes. Such a denouement would not have made a very cheery yarn. When he had written 17 action-packed episodes, Callodi tired of his nightmarish creation and killed off Pinocchio by hanging him from the branch of a great oak. In a response that is reminiscent of today's pop stars, Pinocchio says the only trade he desires is "eating, drinking, sleeping, having fun and living the life of a vagabond from morning to night." When the Cricket responds that "the poorhouse or the prison" lies in wait for anyone pursuing that career path, Pinocchio throws a mallet at the moralising insect and kills it. The insect berates him for running away and warns of the dangers of idleness. Afterwards, Pinocchio is pricked by his conscience, which takes the form of a Talking Cricket. ("Like some modern experts on child development," comments Ms Lurie.) They persuade a policeman to jail the toy carver. A crowd gathers and blames Geppetto for the toy's terrible behaviour. He throws himself to the ground and refuses to move. From the psychologist's point of view he represents the amoral, self-centred small child, all uncensored id." In many respects, Callodi's creation sounds the perfect protagonist for a panto in 2005.Īfter being caught by a policeman and returned to his foster father, Pinocchio adopts the tactic that many children utilise when foiled. "He is not only naïve, but impulsive, rude, selfish and violent. Novelist Alison Lurie points out that he is far more self-conscious and complex, also several years older than Disney's cute little boy. As soon as his legs are finished, he runs away. Once he has arms he snatches off Geppatto's wig. As soon as his mouth is finished, Pinocchio laughs at his creator and sticks out his tongue. Understandably alarmed, the carpenter passes the bit of wood on to Geppetto who wants to carve a marionette. ![]() Callodi's creation starts out as a bit of firewood that cries out "Ouch! You hurt me!' when bashed with an axe by a carpenter. Disney's Pinocchio springs to life because a fairy answers Geppetto's desperate plea for offspring. In the Disney version, Geppetto, who carved Pinocchio, was a wealthy artisan, but Callodi described him as a penurious wood-carver who worked in a hole under the steps of a town house. His story reflected the very real poverty that existed at that time in Callodi's native Tuscany. The Italian journalist Carlo Lorenzini (1826-90), who used the pen-name Carlo Callodi for his fiction, offered a "bit of foolishness" about a wooden puppet to a journal with the snappy title Children's Magazine in 1881. ![]() If this tale of mischief and temptation sounds a good deal darker than the "When You Wish Upon A Star" sentiments of Disney, it is still much brighter than the Adventures of Pinocchio as they first appeared in newspaper form. ![]()
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