It's a well known story I've heard many times but I was wondering if there is any actual evidence for it, the newspapers at the time didn't mention anything.
Anyway, the story is that for the premiere of Pinocchio in New York at the Center Theatre on February 7th 1940 a group of dwarfs/little people were hired to stand on the marquee dressed as Pinocchio.
At lunchtime they were given alcohol and things got a bit wild, they started misbehaving and even undressing.
Eventually the police was called to carry them down.
The basic premise is true, there is a photo of them on the marquee, but is there any evidence of what happened next?
The source of that story as we know it today is, very likely, British actor David Niven in his memoirs Bring on the empty horses (1975), where he talks about publicity in Hollywood and mentions three publicity stunts gone wrong. One is the story of 150 parrots trained to say "It ain't no sin" for a Mae West picture (1933). The parrots would have been displayed in theatre lobbies, but they had to be trained again in a hurry to say "I'm no angel" when the Hayes Office had told the studio to drop the "Sin" from the title. The second story is that of "though guy" Edward G. Robinson being filmed in a bubble bath in Key Largo (1948). According to Niven, the stunt backfired and forced the studios to "mount a second campaign to nullify the first because whispers became widespread that Eddie Robinson was a ‘poof’."
The third story is that of the Pinocchio premiere:
Walt Disney's publicity department had their problems too. For the opening of Pinocchio in New York it was decided to hire eleven midgets, dress them in Pinocchio costumes and have them gambol about on top of the theatre marquee on opening day. Food and light refreshments in the shape of a couple of quarts of liquor was passed up to the marquee top at lunch time, and by three o'clock in the afternoon a happy crowd in Times Square was treated to the spectacle of eleven stark naked midgets belching loudly and enjoying a crap game on the marquee. Police with ladders removed the players in pillow cases.
Niven can be seen telling the Mae West and Pinocchio stories in this interview from 1975 in the Michael Parkinson Show. It's almost verbatim from the book, except for the number of small people involved (12 in in the interview). All later versions that turn up in books about Hollywood and Disney are based on Niven's tale, with relatively little variations (for once!). Disney scholar Paul F. Anderson, in an article about the stunt (2009), thinks that Niven is a reliable narrator. The parrot story, at least, was already circulating in 1941 (The Salt Lake Tribune, 9 February 1941). Anderson was able to find a picture of the Pinocchios on the theatre marquee, but no confirmation of what had happened after that.
Well, here is the story as it was published in the Shamokin News-Dispatch (Pennsylvania) on 8 March 1940.
The Pinocchio Mystery
Over the marquee of the Center Theatre, where "Pinocchio" now is being presented, a group of Pinocchios parade back and forth, slowly and mechanically, - so that the observers are unable to learn whether they're dolls or midgets wearing Pinocchio costumes... Two days ago the Walt Disney office received word that the Pinocchios over the marquee had vanished. Hal Horne, of the Disney Enterprises, rushed to the theatre, went upstairs, and looked out the window, at the marquee top below him... There were the crushed Pinocchios, tough kids hired from Hell's Kitchen territory to wear the costumes of Pinocchio - the puppet who almost was converted in a sheep for slaughter, when he was introduced to evil ways - there were the tough Pinocchios, theirs masks off so they could smoke, crouching in a dice game.
Hal Horne was indeed a Disney executive in charge of publicity at that time, though the Disney exec in charge of "exploitation" for the Center Theatre showing was Richard Condon, who later quit Disney to become a writer - he's the author of The Mandchurian Candidate and Prizzi's Honor.
That story is less funny and more credible than that of David Niven: no amusing "midgets", just a bunch of regular-sized men who got bored to death after playing Pinocchio for days on the theatre marquee. They stopped "acting" and removed their costumes to smoke and play dice, which probably earned them the wrath of Disney's executives. The whole thing about naked dwarfs being carried out in pillow cases by the police seems a little bit creative.
The most interesting part of the story, in fact, is not so much the midget anecdote, but the absolutely insane amount of publicity used by Disney to promote Pinocchio.
Motion Picture Herald, 10 February 1940:
The opening for "Pinocchio" rivaled the first theatre openings in Radio City. Official New York and industry executives were present to see for themselves if "Pinocchio" was a worthy successor to "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," and, as advance notices had it, even better than the first feature cartoon which broke all records two years ago. "Gulliver's Travels," Fleischer-Paramount cartoon feature, closed a four-weeks run at the New York Paramount on January 16th. Practically every medium of publicity had been covered in the advance campaign for "Pinocchio" in the metropolitan area in addition to the overlapping national drive, which included articles and pictures in scores of magazines and "Pinocchio" displays and counters in several million stores.
The New York Times and Herald Tribune will carry a full page of roto pictures on "Pinocchio." On the opening day 20 newspapers of the Macy chain in Westchester gave a full page to "Pinocchio" and a four-page section will be used by several Long Island papers. Art shows have been arranged in three New York galleries, including a special exhibit of three Walt Disney originals at the Brooklyn Museum. A comprehensive display showing a Disney film in the various steps of production is on view at the New York Museum of Science and Industry in Radio City. Two hundred original paintings from "Pinocchio" are displayed inside the Center theatre.
The Sixth Avenue Association has made arrangements for members to fly flags welcoming "Pinocchio" and many merchants are to carry directional window stickers pointing to the Center theatre. A five story head of Pinocchio is mounted at 49th and Broadway, carrying direction arrows pointing to the Center. Mayor LaGuardia received a group of 25 "Pinocchio" characters on the steps of the City Hall Tuesday morning. The group was introduced by V. Clement Jenkins, president of the Sixth Avenue Association. Several days before the opening mail and telephone inquiries reached a total of over 1,500.
Motion Picture Herald, 4 May 1940:
"Pinocchio" campaigns topped all the rest for activities at all the theatres. All houses used 24-sheet heads cut out and mounted on marquees of theatres, animated, with eyes rolling. Pinocchio songs were played at all the children's shows, with coloring contests and other ballyhoos to attract juvenile trade. Some of the theatres had fishbowls in lobby, with one gold fish. Copy read, "This is Fleo, Sister of Cleo, famous Hollywood movie star, appearing in," etc. This gag was inexpensive and brought many laughs. Boys with Pinocchio heads and costumes were used on marquee, in parades and at stores to act as guides [note: whatever happened in New York at the Center Theater did not prevent Disney from using similar stunts in other locations]. George Dunn, at the 81st Street, gave out Pinocchio aprons to all the newsboys in the vicinity.
At the RKO Albee, Larry Greib, manager, a Victoria, drawn by two horses, was used to cover Brooklyn, with boys in costumes seated in carriage. The Greenpoint, Frank Howard, manager, used the members of its house staff, dressed in Pinocchio outfits to parade. Ushers dressed in costume, from the RKO Columbia, W. Bartlett, manager, visited the local schools and were allowed to enter classrooms. Tie-ups with cheese companies, to give away Pinocchio glasses were made up by the Albany, T. W. Wright, manager, and the Flushing, John Heinz, manager, which also issued Pinocchio heralds in Italian, gave away dolls as prizes, and had co-op pages.
Usher dressed as Pinocchio, standing in front of Palace, Ray Conner, manager, with pencil and slate, writing down answers to questions asked by children, practically tied up traffic here. Lee Koken, manager of the RKO Richmond Hill, had staff artist draw water color paintings of Pinocchio on several local store windows, with appropriate copy. The organist of the theatre played special parodies on picture which children sang.
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