The free film series "The Screening Room: Classics, Crowd-Pleasers, Cult Favorites and Neglected Gems" invites all ages to attend a special 70th-anniversary showing of Walt Disney’s animated favorite "Pinocchio" (1940) at 2 p.m. Sunday, June 27, at the Florence-Lauderdale Public Library, 350 N. Wood Ave., downtown Florence.
Based on the classic children’s story by Carlo Collodi, "Pinocchio" tells the magical tale of a kindly old toy maker named Gepetto who creates a wooden marionette figure of a beautiful boy that he calls “Pinocchio.” The benevolent Blue Fairy brings the puppet to life after the childless, pure-hearted Gepetto sees a star and wishes for a son. The vagabond Jiminy Cricket serves as Pinocchio’s conscience as the wooden puppet yearns to become a flesh-and-blood boy.
"Pinocchio" received Academy Awards for Best Original Score and Best Original Song (for the unforgettable theme “When You Wish Upon a Star,” by Leigh Harline and Ned Washington). The movie was selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 1994. In 2004, “When You Wish Upon a Star” ranked No. 7th on the American Film Institute’s list of the Top Movie Songs of All Time.
The movie’s memorable soundtrack also includes the enduring songs “Hi-Diddle-Dee-Dee,” “Give a Little Whistle” and “I’ve Got No Strings.”
Child star Dickie Jones (who would later star in the television Western series "The Range Rider" and "Buffalo Bill Jr." and appeared in several B-movies with singing cowboy Gene Autry) provided the voice of Pinocchio. The cast also features the familiar voices of period players Mel Blanc (in his only Disney film), Cliff Edwards, Walter Catlett and Frankie Darro.
"The Screening Room" is sponsored by the Florence-Lauderdale Public Library and Pillar of Fire. The series is organized and hosted by film historian and Pillar of Fire founder Terry Pace, who teaches English at UNA.
All "Screening Room" programs are free and open to the public. For details, call the library at (256) 764-6564 or Pillar of Fire at (256) 366-4512, or e-mail pillaroffire@bellsouth.net.
“I’ll bet a lot of you folks don’t believe that about a wish comin’ true, do ya? Well, I didn’t, either. Of course, I’m just a cricket singing my way from hearth to hearth, but let me tell you what made me change my mind …” – Jiminy Cricket (voiced by Cliff Edwards) in Walt Disney’s "Pinocchio" (1940)
Original Post
