Stromboli is the second antagonist to appear in Disney's 1940 animated feature film Pinocchio. He is a puppeteer and showman with an ambition to make good money even if it's at the expense of others. Carrying himself with a jovial veneer, Stromboli has a dangerously short temper, and is famously prone to cursing when agitated.
Background[]
Development[]
Animation[]
Hamilton Luske directed live-action footage of most of the characters in the film as a 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 he felt that it was necessary to keep Stromboli's animator, Vladimir Tytla, from doing "too many things."
It is thought by some that casting Tytla as the animator of Stromboli was typecasting of a sort - like a 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".
Personality[]
When he is first seen, Stromboli only appeared to be a man trying to make money through puppets, though is also extremely short-tempered and adverse to humiliation, as seen by an outburst when Pinocchio falls down stairs whilst on stage. He overcomes this quickly, however, appearing to show a soft, patient side and allows the show to proceed. However, this is later revealed to be a mask to hide his true nature. After Pinocchio and his puppet show proves extremely successful and nets him good earnings, Stromboli praises the puppet and promises to make him famous, showing that Stromboli is not beyond expressing gratitude to others who are of great financial use to him. Despite this, he still takes advantage of Pinocchio's lack of common sense by rewarding him with a fake coin for his performance while keeping all the real money for himself.
However, after Pinocchio attempts to return home to his father, Stromboli is revealed to be an extremely greedy, cruel, sadistic, and violent man willing to do anything to earn vast sums of money, and openly reveals that he will harshly enslave Pinocchio for the rest of his days to earn money and will personally dispose of him once he is old and useless by turning him into firewood, exemplifying his cruelty and sadism, which is much worse if taken into account that unlike his other puppets, Pinocchio is a living sentient being. He is possibly even more greedy than the Coachman himself, as it is revealed he barely paid Honest John and Gideon anything for bringing him a live puppet. When angered, Stromboli is shown to be brutal and vicious, even threatening to smack Pinocchio unless he became quiet.
Physical appearance[]
Stromboli is an obese Italian Romani man and has black, balding hair. His beard is black as well. He has tan skin and his lower lip is pink, while his upper lip is red.
Appearances[]
Pinocchio[]
Stromboli is first referred to in the film by Honest John, who notices a poster advertising that "that old rascal's back in town". Honest John fondly recalls trying to sell Gideon, with strings tied to his arms and feet, to the puppet master (though it's clear that this ploy didn't work). When the two crooks see Pinocchio on his way to school, the fox realizes that Stromboli would pay handsomely for a moving puppet without strings. They befriend the little wooden boy and, convincing him that the theater is "the easy road to success", take him to Stromboli's caravan, singing as they go, with Jiminy Cricket in pursuit.
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 and even threatens him in the middle of the show, but lets him continue after realizing that the audience is delighted. As the show continues, stringed puppets are used as well. After the completion of the show, Stromboli walks onto the stage and accepts both the audience's applause and their money.
Stromboli having imprisoned Pinocchio as a result of his overpowering greed.
Later that night, Stromboli is counting the day's substantial earnings, which made up three hundred gold coins, while enjoying a meal of link sausage and praising Pinocchio on his performance. He realizes that if one town would pay that much gold, then Pinocchio will make him an unimaginable pay once he is exposed to the entire world, and as such decides Pinocchio will stay with him. As he counts, he discovers a metal washer among the money and becomes angry at the idea that it was passed off as a coin and begins to curse in Italian, but he suddenly stops when he remembers that Pinocchio is listening. He finally gives it to Pinocchio instead for his efforts. The puppet thanks him before trying to return home to Geppetto's workshop, promising him that he would "be back in the morning", but the idea of Pinocchio leaving makes Stromboli burst into laughter. He immediately grabs Pinocchio by the back of his overalls as the puppet tries to leave and takes him to the back corner of his caravan while laughing hysterically.
Unaware of Stromboli's ulterior motives, Pinocchio laughs along with him until he suddenly throws him in a birdcage and locks him in, declaring that the cage will be his new home and that the puppet now belongs to him. The puppet master enthuses that they will tour the great cities 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. Horrified, Pinocchio demands for his freedom, but he is instantly silenced when Stromboli suddenly stomps the whole caravan, shaking everything inside, as he loudly barks at him to shut up, threatening to knock him silly before sadistically bidding him good night. Laughing evilly, he leaves Pinocchio alone with the lifeless puppets in the dark carriage and he hears the caravan starting to move.
Not knowing what else to do, Pinocchio summons Jiminy, who comes to Pinocchio's aid, but is unable to free him. Ultimately, it is the Blue Fairy, who gives him another chance and unlocks the cage, allowing the puppet and his conscience to escape the caravan, leaving Stromboli unaware. After this, Stromboli is not seen again for the remainder of the film, but he is mentioned twice by Honest John when he and Gideon are in the Red Lobster Inn with the Coachman, who will be plotting to take the "stupid little boys" to Pleasure Island and turn them into donkeys for his goal to make money, and by Pinocchio when he encounters Honest John and Gideon again.
House of Mouse[]
Stromboli made an appearance in House of Crime where he is seen arguing with Percival C. McLeach. Later that same episode, Stromboli was imprisoned with other Disney Villains as suspects of mysterious disappearances.
Stromboli made a cameo appearance in Mickey's Magical Christmas and Mickey vs. Shelby during Mad Hatter's hat performance.
In Mickey's House of Villains, Stromboli joined the villains as they took over the House of Mouse. He is seen on the conga line behind Lucifer during It's Our House Now!.
Once Upon a Studio[]
Stromboli is seen furiously banging on the studio's vending machine while cursing in Italian as Anna and Elsa walk past him. He also joins in the group photo between Pinocchio, Geppetto, the Blue Fairy, Honest John and Gideon.
Live-action appearances[]
Geppetto[]
Stromboli in Geppetto.
Stromboli is the main antagonist of the TV film, Geppetto, in which he is portrayed by Brent Spiner.
After Geppetto regrets his wish for Pinocchio to be alive, Stromboli makes a deal with the boy and decides to hire him on as his main attraction. He convinces Pinocchio to sign a lifetime contract to grant him guardianship/ownership of the Stringless Puppet for his traveling marionette show. When he realizes that Pinocchio has escaped to go to Pleasure Island, Stromboli sets his plans to capture him back before Pinocchio gets cursed as a donkey. When Stromboli and Geppetto arrived at Pleasure Island, Stromboli is kicked out and decided to wait at Geppetto’s workshop while Geppetto arrives in time to warn Pinocchio about the rollercoaster that will turn kids into donkeys, but to no avail. After Geppetto and Pinocchio makes their escape from the whale, they head back home, where Stromboli is waiting to take Pinocchio away with him. When Geppetto, after learning what it means to be a father and loving your children despite the fact they aren't perfect, The Blue Fairy arrives to take Pinocchio away, telling Geppetto she can not break a contract and gives Pinocchio to Stromboli, despite her reluctance. Geppetto asks her in return to turn him to wood, stone, or clay, as living without Pinocchio is like living without his heart. Touched by his actions, she turns Pinocchio into a real boy, making him useless to Stromboli, who is then chased away by the Blue Fairy's magic.
Pinocchio (2022)[]
Stromboli in the live-action remake.
Stromboli appears in the live-action remake of the original movie. He is portrayed by Italian actor Giuseppe Battiston. This Stromboli is arguably less sinister than his animated counterpart as after locking Pinocchio in the bird cage, he makes no threat to turn him into firewood once Pinocchio outgrows his use. He even tries to (albeit condescendingly) cheer up Pinocchio when he tells him to get ready for a show in the Italian city of Siena.
Despite this, he is still pretty malicious as he tears open an emotional wound on Pinocchio after locking him up when he calls for his father, sadistically stating that parents want a "real" child, not a puppet one. He also proves to be a rather cruel boss to the people on his payroll, namely Fabiana and her puppet Sabina as he yells at them, and Pinocchio, for making a show in his caravan for free.
Unlike his animated counterpart, he is arrested later on in the movie by the Carabinieri because he cruelly mistreated and exploited his employees.
Video games[]
Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two[]
In the game, Stromboli appears in animatronic form as a character in The Float Yard, a graveyard of parade floats.
Other games[]
In the Game Boy game Pinocchio, Stromboli played a minor role and merely appeared in two cutscenes.
Stromboli was featured as an enemy in the 1989 game Mickey Mouse.
In Kinect: Disneyland Adventures, Stromboli is briefly mentioned by Pinocchio during in-game dialogue.[1].
Disney Parks[]
Stromboli posing for a photo at one of the Disney parks.
Stromboli is a hard-to-find character in the Disney Parks as a walkaround. Stromboli also appears in a limited amount of Disney Villains related merchandise.
Disneyland Resort[]
Stromboli's Wagon is a shopping kiosk in Fantasyland, located nearby the attraction in the various parks. He also makes a few appearances during Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party.
Tokyo Disney Resort[]
In the former Tokyo Disneyland attraction, Cinderella Castle Mystery Tour, Stromboli appears in the opening room when Pinocchio's portrait transforms into one of Stromboli, alongside the other hero paintings becoming the villainous counterparts.
Disney Cruise Line[]
Stromboli also appears in the live show Wishes, on a poster during the Pinocchio segment.
Pinocchio's Daring Journey[]
He does appear in the attractions at Disneyland, Tokyo Disneyland, and Disneyland Paris, with the attraction beginning around his puppet theater with Pinocchio's performance immediately followed by Stromboli trapping Pinocchio in a birdcage.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Stromboli was one of six Disney villains to be nominated for a position in AFI's 50 Greatest Villains list (though he did not appear on the final list).
- Despite his limited screen time, Stromboli went on to become one of Disney's most (in)famous and acclaimed villains.
- Stromboli's name in the original Italian story by Carlo Collodi was "Mangiafoco" which is translatable from Tuscan dialect as "Fire-eater", while his animated counterpart is named after Stromboli, an Italian volcanic island (a dish named "Stromboli" may have been named for the same island).
- For this reason, in the Italian dub of the movie the character is called "Mangiafuoco" (a more modern spelling of the same word). The name "Stromboli" is said only one time by Honest John, when he introduced the puppeteer as "Stromboli, detto Mangiafuoco", literally translatable as "Stromboli, known as Mangiafuoco", due to the name being visible on the poster.
- He is very different from the character in the original story - Mangiafoco, in the original book, is portrayed as being initially gruff, but capable of showing kindness, and who gives Pinocchio money which he is supposed to bring to Geppetto.
- The cruel personality could derive from the abusive and violent circus director that ends up buying Pinocchio, after he is transformed in a donkey, in the book.
- In the Russian version of Collodi's story, The Golden Key, or the Adventures of Buratino, Mangiafoco's counterpart, Karabas Barabas, is depicted just as evil as Stromboli and is a full fledged antagonist.
- Stromboli can be interpreted as the evil counterpart of Geppetto. Both are puppeteers, but while Geppetto truly cares about Pinocchio, seeing him as his son, Stromboli is flat-out abusive toward Pinocchio and only wants to exploit him to make quick money, and kill him when he will be out of use or if he refuses to listen.
- Charles Judels, the voice of Stromboli, also did the voice of the Coachman.
- Cesar Romero was considered to voice Stromboli.
- In the Golden Book adaptation of Pinocchio, Stromboli is seen paying Foulfellow and Gideon a big sack of money for Pinocchio instead of a very cheap and miserable one like in the film (it happens the same with the Coachman a few pages later with specification), thus invalidating the purpose of showing the duo as easy to swindle and manipulate. The same happens in a comic adaptation.
- According to the concept art, Stromboli was going to be a villain in the video game Disney's Villains' Revenge in a Pinocchio-based world, but he was replaced by the Ringmaster. The reason of this is unknown and strange, considering that Jiminy Cricket and the Blue Fairy are already present as main characters in the game and Stromboli is certainly much, far more evil than the Ringmaster.
- Stromboli being arrested offscreen in the 2022 remake wasn't because he kidnapped Pinocchio or had business dealings with Honest John and Gideon, but rather that he was treating his employees cruelly. His arrest can possibly reference to Honest John and Gideon's presumed offscreen fate and in a deleted scene of the original 1940 classic film where the two crooks try to scam Pinocchio for a third time before the authorities arrest them for unspecified reasons.
- According to Yōichi Kotabe, a long-time designer for the Mario video games, the physical design for one of Mario's rivals, Wario, was partly derived from Stromboli.[2]
Variants[]
- Stromboli (Geppetto)
- Stromboli (Pinocchio 2022)
References[]
- ↑ Pinocchio: Mister Honest John took me to see Mister Stromboli. But he was real mean.
- ↑ Andureau, William (December 6, 2018). Les confidences du dessinateur historique des personnages Nintendo. Le Monde. (English translation available here)
External links[]
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