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Jiminy Cricket
Jiminy Cricket in Disney Sing Along Songs: Friend Like Me
First appearance	Pinocchio, 1940
Created by	Ward Kimball (from the unnamed cricket character originally created by Carlo Collodi)
Voiced by	Cliff Edwards (English, 1940-1970) Eddie Carroll (English, 1977-present) Roger Carel (French) Georg Thomalla (German, film) Carlo Romano (Italian, film) Masashi Ebara (Japanese, Pony Canyon edition of the film) Kaneta Kimotsuki (Japanese, all other appearances)

Jiminy Cricket is the Walt Disney version of "The Talking Cricket" (Italian: Il Grillo Parlante), a fictional character created by Carlo Collodi for his classic novel Pinocchio, which was adapted into an animated film by Walt Disney in 1940. Originally an unnamed, minor character in Collodi's novel, he was translated in the Disney version into a comical and wise partner who accompanies Pinocchio on his adventures, having been appointed by the Blue Fairy to serve as the official conscience for Pinocchio. This article primarily concerns the Disney interpretation and idealization of the character.

Origin of name

"Jimney Cricket(s)!" was originally a polite expletive euphemism for Jesus Christ. The name of the character is a play on the exclamation (which itself was uttered in Pinocchio's immediate predecessor, 1937's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs). Another example occurs in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz. When the group first enters the Wizard's chamber, they are startled by the Wizard's sudden thunder-and-lightning display, and Dorothy (Judy Garland) cries, "Oh! Oh! Jiminy Crickets!" (Garland also says the expression in her 1938 film Listen, Darling). It had also been used as an exclamation by the Swedish father several times in the 1930 movie Anna Cristie. Another time it is used is in the short 1930 cartoon starring Mickey Mouse The Brave Little Tailor.

Creating Jiminy

For the 1940 Disney film, the character was designed by Ward Kimball, who had been very disappointed and was about to leave the Disney studio when much of the work he did for Snow White was cut from the final version of that film. However, Walt Disney persuaded him to stay by giving him the assignment to design Jiminy.

Voice actors

Jiminy Cricket's voice was originally performed by singer Cliff Edwards,¹ who voiced the character for Disney through the 1960s. Jiminy's most famous song, as sung by Edwards, is When You Wish Upon a Star. After Edwards's death, Eddie Carroll replaced him as the voice actor for Jiminy.

After Pinocchio

After Pinocchio, Jiminy appeared in Fun and Fancy Free as the host of the cartoon segments. He also hosted many Disney television specials. In a recurring segment of the children's television series Mickey Mouse Club, he taught a generation how to spell e-n-c-y-c-l-o-p-e-d-i-a. He also appears at the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts as a meetable character.

1960s, 1970s, and 1980s

In the 1960s and 1970s, Jiminy Cricket appeared in two series of educational films aimed at grade-school-aged 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. In each short, he sang the refrain:

I'm no fool, no sirree!
I'm gonna live to be 33 (then 43, 53, etc., up to 103)
I play safe for you and me
'Cause I'm no fool!

The other series was called "You", which teaches about the human body with the refrain "You are a human animal...".

In 1988, he made a brief cameo in Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

Other media

Mickey's Christmas Carol

Jiminy appeared in 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). Scrooge is perplexed at his size, but Jiminy shoots back at him that if he were measured by his amount of kindness, "you'd be smaller than a speck of dust!" Nevertheless, he shows Scrooge past Christmases of him: (Scrooge) while working at Fezziwig's and the horrid memory where Scrooge put his money before his love, whom he never saw again. As Scrooge begs the minuscule ghost to take him away from these bad memories, Jiminy reminds Scrooge that "you fashioned these memories yourself."

Disney's Sing-Along Songs

Jiminy Cricket hosted these four sing-along videos:

• The Bare Necessities (October 13, 1987)
• Be Our Guest (November 12, 1991)
• Friend Like Me (March 3, 1993)
• Circle of Life (VHS Version only; DVD version features a voiceover only) (December 14, 1994)

House of Mouse

He was also among the numerous Disney characters to appear in the television series House of Mouse. He also appeared in the movie.

Disney's Halloween Treat

The Blue Fairy sees Pinocchio and Jiminy Cricket.

Kingdom Hearts

He also appears in the Kingdom Hearts video game series as the chronicler of Sora's travels, writing a journal and keeping a cast list of the figures they meet, friend or foe. In the original Kingdom Hearts, he has some direct involvement with characters and elements based on the film Pinocchio. He has a substantially bigger part in the sequel, Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, frequently talking to Sora and offering advice. His role in Kingdom Hearts II is smaller than in the first game, only making an appearance in one cutscene. In Kingdom Hearts coded, He finds a message in his journal he didn't write back at Disney Castle; to solve this, he and King Mickey digitize the contents of the note, awakening a virtual Sora. Carroll is his English voice, and Kaneta Kimotsuki voiced him in Japanese.

Wishes

More recently, Cricket and the Blue Fairy are the hosts of the Wishes: A Magical Gathering of Disney Dreams fireworks display at the Magic Kingdom theme park.

Comparisons to book

Main article: The Talking Cricket

Although largely modified by Disney for the film, the cricket character originally appeared in the book. The book cricket got far less page time, only appearing in chapters 4, 13, 16 and 36. Furthermore, the book cricket was crushed to death by a mallet, though this happens in the first chapter and he thereafter appears once as a ghost and thenceforth as a living cricket, none the worse for being killed with a hammer.

References