Pinocchio Premier 1940

 February 23, 1940

Little people have been a part of the motion picture business since the earliest days.  Often feeling undervalued and dehumanized, little people actors developed a reputation for rebellion and rowdiness that made Barrymore look like a boy scout.

For the 1937 premier of Snow White, Disney hired little people to dress as characters in the film, which began the company's long history of costumed actors playing their animated characters for live performances.  For the 1940 New York premiere of Pinnochio, Disney executives thought they could use the same gimmick, so they hired eleven little people actors and provided them with costumes and porcelain heads to match the look of the animated Pinocchio to stand on the theatre marquee waving to the assembling crowd of children, awaiting the opening of the film.     

Being entertainment veterans, the actors negotiated to have food, toilets, and drinks available for them during the long day standing on the marquee waving to the crowd, including gin and wine.  By noon, the actors were visibly drunk and began fighting with each other.  One found his wool costume so uncomfortable that he took it off, which amused the others so much that they followed suit.  One actor accidentally dropped his puppet head over the side of the marquee, where it made a loud explosion hitting the ground below.  Soon the others were tossing their heads overboard as well to enjoy the spectacle of them hitting the ground.  

Soon, parents concerned about what their children were witnessing called the police.  Since the only access to the marquee was by ladder, New York police had to awkwardly climb up to try and calm the ruckus, only to find eleven drunk, naked, little people actors playing craps and swearing at the crowd below.  Wanting to cover their nakedness and unable to find the costumes they had thrown over the edge, police used pillowcases as togas to both cover and help restrain the rowdy actors.

Despite this experience, Disney continued to use and develop costumes and actors to portray their animated characters, which now has become standard practice among companies holding animated characters as an active franchise.  

Watchin' The Ships Roll In

 I'm drinking tea and watching the Jackson City water lawsuits sail into port. After the judgment in Flint, they're becoming a popular hole to fish in. Jackson never had the resources of Flint, Michigan, though, and doesn't now.

We should offer t-shirts and barbeque for some of these guys because even if they win, that's all they're going to get. We should get one for Mayor Lumumba that says, "My daddy wanted to be mayor, and all I got was this lousy lawsuit." He could literally save orphans from a burning building now, and he'll still be known as the water crisis guy. It's not really fair. It was that way when he got here.

Most of these suits only list the last two mayors as defendants, which doesn't seem fair. They didn't create this, even if they did lowball how bad it was. Neither has very deep pockets, and I'm curious if their professional liability insurance covers this.

I have mixed feelings about class-action suits. I was part of involving Trustmark's auto loans once from a loan I co-signed with a girl (bad idea, huh?) and was awarded a massive $80. The money lasted longer than the girl. She never picked up her portion of the booty.  The firm in the delta who filed the suit couldn't tell me why I was in the class even though I never asked to be.  After arguing with him on the phone for over an hour, I asked what his billing rate was and informed him I had no intention of paying for the time I had just consumed.  

Like the suit I was in, none of this will provide much tangible benefit for the members of the class, and it certainly won't help the city of Jackson in any meaningful way.  It should help a few lawyers pay their rent though, while they hunt for more lucrative fishing holes.