Pinocchio (1976 TV program)

Pinocchio is a 1976 made-for-TV musical starring Sandy Duncan in the title role and Danny Kaye as Geppetto. It was first broadcast March 27, 1976 on CBS and rerun on April 18, 1977.^[1]

Pinocchio
(L-R) Flip Wilson as Fox, Sandy Duncan as Pinocchio, Liz Torres as Cat
Based on	The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi
Directed by	Ron Field Sid Smith
Starring	Sandy Duncan Danny Kaye
Music by	Billy Barnes
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
Production
Producers	Bernard Rothman Jack Wohl
Editor	Jerry Greene
Running time	73 minutes
Production company	Vidtronics
Original release
Network	CBS
Release	March 27, 1976 (1976-03-27)

Plot summary

Framed by the story of a young theater girl's desire to study and work apart from her father, the classic 1883 children's story of Pinocchio is presented as a subplay with the young girl (Sandy Duncan) as Pinocchio and her father (Danny Kaye) as Geppetto.

Cast

• Sandy Duncan ... Pinocchio
• Danny Kaye ... Geppetto
• Clive Revill ... Coachman
• Don Correia ... Candlewick's Mate
• Ben Lokey ... Dancer
• Gary Morgan ... Candlewick
• Roy Smith ... Candlewick's Mate
• Liz Torres ... Cat
• Flip Wilson ... Fox

Musical numbers

1. "Talking to Myself" - Geppetto
2. "What's That?" - Pinocchio, Geppetto and ensemble
3. "I Like It" - Pinocchio and ensemble^[2]
4. "The Money Tree" - Fox and Cat
5. "M-O-R-E" - Fox, Cat and Pinocchio
6. "Look at Me Now" - Geppetto and ensemble
7. "If I Could Start All Over, Would I?" - Pinocchio^[3]
8. "Fun, Fun, Fun" - Pinocchio and ensemble^[4]
9. "I Want to Go Home" - Pinocchio and Geppetto

Reception

Pinocchio won two Emmy Awards for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Children's Programming, one for Costume Design (Bill Hargate) and another for Videotape Editing. It was also nominated for Emmys for Outstanding Children's Special and Outstanding Makeup (designed by Stan Winston).

Production notes

In 1976, this was the first of two TV musical adaptations of a children's classic starring Danny Kaye and costarring a female as a young boy. On December 12, 1976, NBC telecast Peter Pan with Kaye as Captain Hook and Mia Farrow in the title role.

Ron Field was choreographer.

Home media

Pinocchio was released on DVD on October 24, 2000.^[5]