Stromboli is a villain featured in Pinocchio. A pupetteer and showman, his primary concern is making money. As such he is delighted to buy Pinocchio from J. Worthington Foulfellow. He locks Pinocchio in a cage to ensure that his star attraction doesn't return home. He was voiced by Charles Judels and animated by Vladimir Tytla. His name literally means 'fire-eater' (an equivalent character with this name appears in Collodi's original story). Though eccentric and entertaining, Stromboli is also a threatening and imposing villain - for this reason, he is often cited as one of Disney's greatest villains.
Pinocchio
The poster advertising Stromboli's show
Stromboli at the Magic Kingdom
An Actor's Life for Me
Stromboli is first referred to in the film by J. Worthington Foulfellow, who notices a poster advertising that "that old rascal's back in town". Foulfellow fondly recalls trying to sell Gideon, with strings tied to his arms and feet, to the puppet master. When the two crooks see Pinoccho on his way to school, the fox realises that Stromboli would pay handsomely for a moving puppet without strings. They befriend the little wooden boy and, convincing him that the theatre is "the easy road to success", take him to Stromboli's Caravan, singing Hi-Diddle-Dee-Dee (An Actor's Life For Me) as they go, with Jiminy Cricket in pursuit.
Stromboli threatens Pinocchio during the show
I've Got No Strings
That evening, Stromboli is first seen, announcing his show to a large crowd that has gathered around the caravan. The puppet master advertises Pinocchio as "the only puppet who can sing and dance without the aid of strings". He conducts the band (unseen, below the stage) while Pinocchio and the puppets perform I've Got No Strings. Pinocchio trips and falls, nose first, onto the stage; Stromboli is initially furious at the puppet's clumsiness but lets him continue after realising that the audience is delighted. After the completion of the show, Stromboli walks onto the stage and accepts both the audience's applause and their money.
Stromboli tells Pinocchio of the capitals they will visit as they tour the world
Stromboli's True Nature
Later that night, Stromboli is counting the day's substantial earnings while enjoying a meal of link sausage. He gives Pinocchio a worthless metal ring for his efforts, but, when the puppet tries to return to Gepetto's Workshop, Stromboli locks him in a cage. The puppet master entuses that they will tour the great capitals of the world, and that Pinocchio will make him lots of money. When the puppet is too old to perform, Stromboli will use him for firewood. Laughing, he leaves Pinocchio alone with the lifeless puppets in the carriage, and the wooden boy hears the caravan start to move. Jiminy comes to Pinocchio's aid but is unable to free him; it is the Blue Fairy, giving him a second chance, who opens the cage, allowing the puppet and his conscience to escape. Stromboli is not seen again in the film (though it can perhaps be assumed that he reacted to Pinocchio's absence in a typical emotiotional outburst).
An inspirational sketch by Gustaf Tenggren
Behind the Scenes
Animation
Hamilton Luske directed live-action footage of most of the characters in the film as reference for the animators. The performance model for Stromboli was story man T. Hee, who was rather corpulent at the time and who was dressed in full gypsy attire provided by the Character Model Department. Luske later admitted that this reference footage was underacted, but felt that it was necessary to keep Stromboli's animator, Vladimir Tytla, from doing "too many things."[2]
It is thought by some that casting Tytla as animator of Stromboli was typecasting of a sort - like the puppet master, Tytla was tall, imposing, vibrant in personality and of ethnic origin. While working on Stromboli's animation of the character, Tytla would act out each sequence in his room - this performance could be heard throughout the studio; Eric Larson "thought the walls would fall in".[2]
| (He is) really funny, but (then) he talks about chopping Pinocchio into firewood. Yee-eek! You believe him both being silly and scary, and I guess we all know people with a kind of temper that can erupt like that... There's nobody like Tytla for getting this kind of guts on the screen. —Charles Solomon[3] |
Critical Response
Despite his limited screen time, Stromboli is one of Disney's most infamous and acclaimed villains. He was one of six Disney villains to be nominated for a position in AFI's 'AFI’s 50 Greatest Villains list' (though did not appear on the final list) and was ranked twenty-second in fan site Ultimate Disney's countdown of the most popular Disney Villains. The character has been praised by critics for possessing the ability to instill both laughter (when he shakes his rear-end at the words "Con-stan-tino-polee") and fear (threatening to turn Pinocchio into firewood) in audiences.[3] Art critic Pierre Lambert has stated that "Tytla's innate sense of force is revealed in all its magnitude in the creation of the character of Stromboli,"[4] and animation historian Charles Solomon refers to the puppet master as "the grandest of all Disney heavies", while John Canemaker describes Stromboli as "an overweight monster of mercurial moods, capable of wine-soaked, garlic-breathed Old World charm one second, and knife-wielding, chop-you-up-for-firewood threats the next."[5]
| It is not too difficult to regard Stromboli as burlesque of a Hollywood studio boss, complete with foreign accent. Disney's own relationship to the Hollywood power structure was always a difficult one, and his distrust of the moguls was well justified by his earliest experiences in the industry. —William Paul[6] |
During the premiere of Pinocchio, Frank Thomas sat in front of W. C. Fields, who, upon Stromboli's entrance, muttered to whoever was with him that the puppet master "moves too much". Thomas felt the reason for this was that Stromboli was too big and powerful. Michael Barrier agrees with Fields' criticism, considering Stromboli a "poorly conceived character" whose "passion has no roots... there is nothing in Stromboli of what could have made him truly terrifying."[2] Leonard Maltin disagrees, considering Pinocchio's encounter with the showman to be the wooden boy's "first taste of the seamy side of life... (Stromboli) tosses his hatchet into the remnants of another ragged marionette, now a pile of splinters and sawdust, a meekly smiling face the only reminder of its former 'life'."[7] Though the character's traits are mostly Italian, characteristics such as Stromboli's facial expressions, obsession with wealth and long black 'goat's beard' have led to associations with Jewish stereotypes (particularly Hollywood moguls) and accusations of anti-Semitism.[6]
References
- ↑ Ultimate Disney's Villain Countdown
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Michael Barrier, Hollywood Cartoons: American Animation in its Golden Age (Oxford University Press, New York, 1999) ISBN 13-978-0-19-516729-0
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, "The Disney Villain" (Hyperion, United States, 1993) ISBN 1-56282-792-8
- ↑ Pierre Lambert, Pinocchio (Hyperion, Spain, 1995) ISBN 0-7868-6247-5
- ↑ Charles Solomon, "The History of Animation Enchanted Drawings" (Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1989) ISBN 0-394-54684-9
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Robin Allan, "Walt Disney and Europe" (Indiana University Press, Indiana, 1999) ISBN 0-253-21353-3
- ↑ Leonard Maltin, The Disney Films (Disney Editions, New York, 2000) ISBN 078688527-0
