Jiminy Cricket


Jiminy Cricket is the Disney version of the Talking Cricket, a fictional character created by Italian writer Carlo Collodi for his 1883 children's book The Adventures of Pinocchio, which Walt Disney adapted into the animated film Pinocchio in 1940. Originally an unnamed, minor character in Collodi's novel who is killed by Pinocchio before returning as a ghost, he was transformed for the Disney adaptation into a comical and wisecracking partner who accompanies Pinocchio on his adventures, having been appointed by the Blue Fairy to serve as Pinocchio's official conscience. In the film, he sings "When You Wish Upon a Star", the Walt Disney Company's signature song, and "Give a Little Whistle".
Jiminy Cricket's appearance bears little resemblance to that of actual crickets, which range from black to light brown and have long antennae and six legs; Jiminy Cricket has short antennae, a brownish-olive hue, and four limbs. Like most Disney characterizations, he is bipedal. He dresses in the manner of a 19th or early 20th-century gentleman, characteristically wearing a blue top hat and a white dress shirt with an orange vest over a black jacket along with a yellow tie and khaki slacks with blue and yellow spats and carrying a burgundy umbrella and wears gloves similar to what Mickey Mouse wears. Since his debut in Pinocchio, he has become an iconic Disney character, making numerous other appearances, including in Fun and Fancy Free as the host and in Mickey's Christmas Carol as the Ghost of Christmas Past.

Background

Origin of name

"Jiminy", along with variants "Jiminy Christmas" and "Jiminy cricket", have been used as minced oaths for "Jesus Christ" since at least 1803. "Jiminy Cricket!" was uttered in Pinocchios immediate Disney predecessor, 1937's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs by the seven dwarfs. It also occurs in the 1938 Mickey Mouse cartoon "Brave Little Tailor".

Creation

Jiminy Cricket was designed by Ward Kimball, who was disappointed and about to leave the Disney studio when much of the work he did for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was cut from the final version of that film. Walt Disney persuaded Kimball to stay by assigning him to supervise the animation of Jiminy Cricket.

Voice actors

Jiminy Cricket has been voiced in English by six actors. He was originally performed by singer Cliff Edwards, who voiced the character for Disney through the 1960s and sang Jiminy's most famous song, "When You Wish Upon a Star". After Edwards' death, Clarence Nash voiced him until 1973, when Eddie Carroll took over the role. Carroll played the role for 37 years, until his death in 2010. Actor Hal Smith voiced Jiminy in the Pinocchio Read-Along Storybook in 1992. Actor Phil Snyder next voiced Jiminy for the Kingdom Hearts video game series until his retirement from voice acting in 2014 to concentrate on his career teaching. Actor Joe Ochman took over the role at that time, beginning with Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 Remixs installment of Kingdom Hearts Re:coded, and has been the voice of Jiminy since 2014.
Raphael Sbarge voices Jiminy in Once Upon a Time and portrays his human form, Archie Hopper. In the live action adaption of Pinocchio, he is voiced by Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

Role in ''Pinocchio''

Jiminy Cricket begins by narrating the story, commenting that seeking refuge he came to Geppetto's house. There, he witnessed how the Blue Fairy gave life to Pinocchio, a wooden puppet. The Blue Fairy gives Jiminy the task of becoming Pinocchio's conscience, and teaching him to distinguish between good and evil so that one day he will become a real boy.
But the next day, Pinocchio is convinced by two con men Honest John and Gideon not to go to school and become an artist, without listening to Jiminy's warnings. They sell Pinocchio to Stromboli, a puppeteer who, after putting on a great show with the wooden boy, ends up locking him in a cage. Jiminy tries to unlock the cage without success, but at that moment the Blue Fairy arrives and frees Pinocchio.
Pinocchio and Jiminy return home, but on the way, Pinocchio is tricked again by Honest John and Gideon, who convince him to go to Pleasure Island, a place where kids do whatever they want no matter how bad it is. Jiminy tries to get Pinocchio to leave that place with him, but Pinocchio ignores it, wanting to stay with Lampwick, a boy who convinces Pinocchio to do things he shouldn't and who constantly makes fun of Jiminy, who angrily leaves the place alone. However, Jiminy discovers that all the children on the island have been turned into donkeys by an evil Coachman, and when he runs to tell Pinocchio, he sees that the same thing is happening to the puppet, already having two ears and a tail. They both run out of the place before the transformation is complete.
They both finally return to Geppetto's house, but find it empty and deserted. They discover that Geppetto left to look for Pinocchio on Pleasure Island, and in the sea he ended up being devoured by a whale named Monstro. Pinocchio decides to dive into the sea to look for his father, and Jiminy accompanies him since he does not intend to abandon him. After a search on the seabed, they end up finding Monstro, who devours Pinocchio, while Jiminy stays outside, trying to get the whale to open its mouth to follow his friend. A while later, Monstro ends up spitting out Pinocchio and Geppetto, and after chasing them across the sea, Pinocchio ends up saving his father, which later causes the Blue Fairy to turn him into a real boy for his actions, and with which, she awards Jiminy a badge for his service as a conscience.

In other media

Records

Cliff Edwards performed the narration for several 78 RPM children's records. Two of them were Bongo and The Littlest Outlaw. He also produced some children's records simply as Cliff Edwards, including "Old MacDonald Had a Farm".
On the album Walt Disney's Christmas Favorites, Jiminy Cricket sang the yuletide song "Kris, Kris Kringle " in a vaudevillian Tin Pan Alley style, first singing the song straight, and the second time speaking half of the song in rhythm. He ended the song by wishing everyone a "Merry Christmas".

Radio

The character was a regular guest on The Orson Welles Show in 1941–42, frequently bantering with its host. Jiminy himself hosted a one-hour segment ABC Radio special in 1947, improbably concerning the year 1960.

Comics

Jiminy appears in several comics, such as various issues of Walt Disney's Comics and Stories, and he is featured on the covers of Four Color # 701, 795, 897 and 989. As of 2023, Jiminy has also been found in the popular web comic "Goofy HECU", a project developed by a group of long time and loyal Walt Disney fans.

Films and TV

''Fun and Fancy Free''

After Pinocchio, Jiminy appeared in the film Fun and Fancy Free as the host of the animated segments.

''The Mickey Mouse Club''

In the 1950s–1970s, Jiminy Cricket appeared in four series of educational films aimed at grade-school audiences. In the I'm No Fool series, he advised children how to steer clear of dangerous traffic, sharp objects, strangers, exposed electrical lines, and so forth. Several of those series were first shown on The Mickey Mouse Club from 1955 through 1959.
The second series called You, teaches about the human body with the refrain "You are a human animal". This, too, was originally shown on the "Mickey Mouse Club". The third series, "The Nature Of Things", combined live-action and animation, and the fourth series was called "Encyclopedia". In the 1950s, on The Mickey Mouse Club, he also sang two related songs related to safety: "Stop, Look, And Listen", and "Safety First".

''Mickey's Christmas Carol''

Jiminy appeared in the featurette Mickey's Christmas Carol as the Ghost of Christmas Past. The badge given to him by the Blue Fairy at the end of Pinocchio marking him as an official conscience now declares him to be the Ghost of Christmas Past. Ebenezer Scrooge is perplexed at his size, but Jiminy shoots back at him that if Scrooge were measured by his amount of kindness, "you'd be no bigger than a speck of dust!". Nevertheless, Jiminy shows him Scrooge's bygone Christmases: while working at Fezzywig's, and putting his money before his love, whom he never saw again. When Scrooge begs the minuscule ghost to take him away from these bad memories, Jiminy reminds him that he "fashioned these memories" himself.

''Disney Sing-Along Songs''

Jiminy Cricket hosted these five sing-along videos:
  • The Bare Necessities
  • Very Merry Christmas Songs
  • Be Our Guest
  • Friend Like Me
  • ''Circle of Life''

    ''House of Mouse''

Jiminy Cricket is among the numerous Disney characters who appear in the television series House of Mouse. He is most often sat on a table with other Pinocchio characters, or with Cri-Kee from Mulan. A running gag in the series involves Timon from The Lion King trying to eat him, and his rescue by Pumbaa. He is the titular main character of the episode "Jiminy Cricket", where he abandon his job as Pinocchio's conscience, and becomes Mickey's. He also appears in the direct-to-video 2001 film Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse, where after seeing that Mickey is depressed because Donald does not feel the Christmas spirit, he advises him that he can solve it by wishing on a star.

''Once Upon a Time''

An alternate version of Jiminy is a core character on the Disney-owned ABC television series Once Upon a Time, portrayed by Raphael Sbarge. In the series, which finds cursed fairy tale characters living in present-day Maine without memory of their true origins, Jiminy/Archie serves as the town counselor and "conscience". He also has a dalmatian named Pongo. The series adds additional backstory for the character, portraying his life as the human son of con artists, who inadvertently causes the death of a couple after striking a deal with Rumplestiltskin; Rumplestiltskin gave Jiminy a potion to give to his parents to get them out of his life, but his parents realized what he had planned and switched the potion with an identical bottle that was given to the couple that his parents had targeted for their latest con. He is eventually turned into the ethical cricket from previous portrayals by the Blue Fairy. In his cricket form, he is charged to look after and guide the dead couple's son, Geppetto, as long as he lives.