WD-FM Shownotes: Pinocchio Deep Dive (April 2021)

Guest-curated by John Canemaker—an Academy Award®, Emmy Award, and Peabody Award-winning independent animator, animation historian, teacher, and author—this immersive exhibition invites the visitor to experience the production processes of the pre-digital era, providing a glimpse into how legendary animators worked and thought. Pinocchio inspired advances in character development and three-dimensional design, and the exhibition allows guests to enjoy the art created by the animators and designers of The Walt Disney Studios to create the stunning work featured in the film.

By Disney historian and author J.B. Kaufman, Pinocchio: The Making of the Disney Epic provides a comprehensive history of Walt Disney’s second feature-length animated film, including an intricate look into its inception, execution, and theatrical release. This full-color book, which contains photographs, illustrations, and sketches, not only details the art and its character development, but also provides commentary on the special effects and music used in creating this 1940 classic.

Exclusive to The Walt Disney Family Museum, this two-part pin features Jiminy Cricket staring up at a glittering wishing star, prior to being appointed as Pinocchio's conscience. Includes two Mickey head pin backs.

The multiplane camera was unlike anything ever used before at Walt’s studio, and in particular it was a favorite tool on his second feature film, Pinocchio (1940).

This Pinocchio character model sculpture, commonly referred to as a maquette, was created by The Walt Disney Studios Character Model Department during the production of Pinocchio (1940).

What makes Pinocchio such an important film in the Disney canon? Beyond the laudable artistic merits of the film itself, Pinocchio represents Walt Disney at what film historian Leonard Maltin called “the apex of what many of his (later) critics considered to be the realm of the animated cartoon.”

In accordance with Shark Week and our latest special exhibition, Wish Upon A Star: The Art of Pinocchio, this blog is all about another feared creature of liquid space. No, not the squid in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (sorry—I just swam right into that one). This is all about Monstro, the terrifying giant sperm whale that consumes Pinocchio, Geppetto, Figaro, and Cleo before sneezing them back out because Pinocchio, a character made entirely of wood, thought it prudent to start a bonfire.

Walt Disney had a keen eye for detail and story; he paid just as close attention to the minor characters as he did the lead. As we can see through Jiminy’s evolution, each piece of the story was equally important to ensuring the success of the characters and the film as a whole. Without Walt’s attention to detail, the characters that we love today would not exist.

Walt Disney was as confident as ever coming off the success of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937). He was anxious to put even more effort and dedication into the second feature. The result was a dazzlingly classic film. And Sequence 8.3 of the feature, the scene in the fabled pool hall, is a stand out for its combined mastery of the animated art form, thanks in particular to three of Walt’s best animators.