Candlewick (character)

Candlewick
The Adventures of Pinocchio character
Lucignolo, as illustrated by Enrico Mazzanti
First appearance	The Adventures of Pinocchio
Created by	Carlo Collodi
Information
Aliases	Romeo
Gender	Male
Nationality	Italian

Candlewick (Italian: Lucignolo, which can also translate to "Lampwick") is a fictional character who appears in Carlo Collodi's book The Adventures of Pinocchio (Le avventure di Pinocchio).

Candlewick is introduced in chapter XXX. His real name is Romeo, though he is given his nickname on account of his slender, polished build. He is described as the most unruly of Pinocchio’s class, though he is the puppet’s best friend. He refuses Pinocchio’s invitation to a party celebrating his upcoming transformation into a real boy, and persuades the puppet to instead come with him to the Land of Toys (Paese dei Balocchi), where education and study are nonexistent. The two are transported to the Land of Toys by The Coachman, and spend their days indulging in play and idleness. After five months, both of them awake with donkey ears, which they conceal with tall caps. The two are reluctant to admit their condition to each other, but after some coaxing, they simultaneously remove their caps and laugh at each other. Their laughter soon turns to animal brayings and the two transform into a pair of donkeys. While Pinocchio is sold to a circus ringleader, Candlewick is sold to a farmer who makes him work at a water mill. In a later chapter, Pinocchio is sold to a drummer who attempts to drown the donkey in order to skin his hide and use it to make his drum. The man is then surprised that instead of finding a dead donkey, he sees Pinocchio who says the fish ate away at all his donkey skin.

Pinocchio and Candlewick meet again in chapter XXXVI, where it is revealed that Candlewick is dying from exhaustion. Pinocchio, now returned to normal, temporarily takes on Candlewick's job of doing farm work, and is laughed at when he reveals to Candlewick's owner that he went to school with the animal. Candlewick dies from exhaustion not long after.

The first Lucignolo (Candlewick) of the history of cinema was the French-Italian comedian Natalino Guillaume in Pinocchio (1911) directed by Giulio Antamoro, in a cast of adult actors, in which the character of Pinocchio was played by his brother Ferdinand Guillaume (Polidor).

Candlewick then appeared in Walt Disney's 1940 animated adaptation of Pinocchio. He is given the alternate translation of his name, Lampwick, and is voiced by Frankie Darro as a human and Clarence Nash in his donkey form. Like his literary version, he is tall and slender, and sports red hair and buckteeth. Lampwick also made a cameo in House of Mouse, and also makes a cameo in Who Framed Roger Rabbit appearing on a poster advertising for "exploding cigars" in Toontown, with his donkey ears from the original film. In the original film, Lampwick befriends Pinocchio during the journey to Pleasure Island and leads Pinocchio astray such as fighting others, smoking, drinking beer and other bad deeds good children wouldn't do. Jiminy Cricket finds Pinocchio playing pool with Lampwick and the latter bullies him calling Jiminy a "grasshopper" and "beetle," laughing at him after Jiminy threatens to fight him. Shortly after this altercation, Jiminy notices that the boys on Pleasure Island are literally turning into jackasses and being rounded up for slave labor. Lampwick's transformation is swift: within a minute, he loses all humanity and is last seen wrecking the pool hall in panic. Strangely enough Lampwick and to a lesser extent Pinocchio are the last victims to become donkeys; this may simply be a matter of perspective, as Lampwick was one of the worst-behaved boys on the island. In the live action Lampwick has often starred in Disneyland's Electrical Parade along with an unnamed boy from Pleasure Island. Lampwick and the other boys have tails and donkey ears and wave to guests at Disneyland.