Eddie Carrroll shed a few tears, and some words of wisdom, as the voice of Jiminy Cricket
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
The first film he ever saw, Eddie Carroll often said, was “Pinocchio,” the 1940 animated Disney movie that elevated Jiminy Cricket to the puppet’s sidekick and conscience.
When he assumed the cricket-voicing duties for Disney in 1973, one of Carroll’s first tasks was to re-record “When You Wish Upon a Star.” But he had to interrupt the recording session -- complete with full orchestra -- because he couldn’t stop crying.
Where were the tears coming from? Carroll said he asked himself.
Then it hit him. It was that little “kid inside me crying. I was him again, falling in love with Jiminy all over again. You never lose the child inside you,” he said. “I just sat out there and cried until I couldn’t cry anymore.”
When he shared that story at Disney conventions, his wife said, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house of mouse.
On Monday, his widow, Carolyn, e-mailed me the above YouTube link, sort of a Disney-character mash-up with words of wisdom from Carroll in a favorite role.
-- Valerie J. Nelson
