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Unedited Cover Article for Walt
Disney
Collector's Society Sketches Magazine about new sculpture of the Blue
Fairy
She Came from the Wishing Star
"Little puppet made of pine, wake! The gift of life is thine." With
these words the Blue Fairy waves her magic wand and grants life to
Pinocchio.
She is the answer the Wishing Star bestows upon the dreaming Geppetto
when he hopes his puppet will become a real boy. As he drifts off to
sleep the star becomes bright and a halo of soft light fills the
window. Smiling and laughing, the Blue Fairy appears in Geppetto's
workshop wearing a diaphanous blue gown and carrying a sparkling wand.
The Blue Fairy was Walt Disney's first ever animated fairy and was
patterned after Marjorie Bell, who had been the live model for Snow
White. In early color tests the Blue Fairy was originally illustrated
with blue hair. Walt remarked "I don't mind this here. After all, she
is the Blue Fairy". Then, he later decided to give her gold hair but
kept the blue lace over her arms calling it very effective.
But for all her lacey delicacy this fairy has a practical side and must
help Pinocchio learn to be brave, truthful and unselfish. She reminds
Pinocchio that whether he becomes a real boy is entirely up to him. But
it's hard for the young Pinocchio to accomplish his goal. In one of the
most famous scenes in film history, the Blue Fairy watches Pinocchio's
nose grow as he tries to lie about his terrible predicament as prisoner
of the evil Stromboli. Taking pity on his plight, she makes him promise
to be good and advises; "A boy who won't be good, might just as well be
made of wood." She frees him from his cage and before vanishing warns
"I may not always be around to help you."
Through the guidance of the Blue Fairy and Pinocchio's tenacity he
finally comes to life as a real boy.
The task of bringing Pinocchio"s (1940) Blue Fairy to life is
beautifully met by sculptor Kent Melton. "She has an ethereal look, and
that's pretty difficult to sculpt out of clay."
"My biggest challenge", he recalls, "was capturing the subtlety of her
design in the film. Dave Pacheco and I talked and came up with the way
to make the lace on her sleeves look translucent. We decided on an
undercoat of flesh for her arms and then an overglaze of iridescent
light blue. I'm very pleased, it's like doing a magic trick."
Today, she stands in all her shimmering elegance to join Tinker Bell
and Cinderella's Fairy Godmother as one of Disney's magical fairies
sculpted for the Walt Disney Classic Collection. The Blue Fairy is a
special event piece available from September to November at selected
Walt Disney Classics Collection retailers She waits to awaken the
potential in all of us to attain our dreams.
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Alternate titles:
Star Light Star Bright
Disney's First Fairy
When You Wish Upon a Star
© Disney |
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