Topo Gigio

Cafe Society
1

We get Ed Sullivan reruns Saturdays on the PBS station, and of course there’s lots of Topo Gigio. Man, was he on a lot. And there’s some things I don’t understand. Like the website, www.topogigio.it/, which is of course only in Italian.

  1. How did the puppet work? It’s clearly about as long as Ed’s upper arm, yet has working feet, fingers, and eyelids. There’s a lot of movement going on. It clearly isn’t a hand puppet, and the black background suggests either a stringed marionette or a bunraku figure, but I can’t see attachments or gloved fingers.

  2. What’s the history behind this act? Who had the idea for making a complicated puppet for a cheesy ethnic character? Who did Topo Gigio interact with - other puppets, or a human who was part of the act when they weren’t doing the Sullivan show? How did the act work in Italy - as straightforward goofiness, or still ethnic, only with a funny American accent? Is the act still running, or is it over and Topo’s in a museum somewhere?

  3. Why was Ed Sullivan so obsessed with this? It’s not much of an act, okay but not enthralling. Most of the appeal was Ed’s goofiness for it, not anything the puppet did.

You don’t have to kiss me goodnight.

2

I managed to find this:

3

Its all about perspective I guess. I was a kid in the sixties and we just loved Topo Gigio. Audiences are more sophisticated nowadays and expect more.

4

The interesting appeal of the act, at least for me, was the juxtaposition of the endearing, cuddly[?] puppet and the stone-faced, stick-up-the-bum host of the show. To watch Ed Sullivan talking to/with an inanimate object, having a laugh or two, and giving it a “kiss goodnight”, was absolutely hilarious. The Italian background of TG was admired in my family, but it was the incongruous humor that made us watch it on Sunday nights. It was, after all, a simpler time…

5

I thought that this thread was about this arcade/restaurant that I went to.

I should just leave now.

6

:eek: He’s Italian?! I thought he was just seen in Mexico. :eek:

7

Topo Gigio was just plain cute. He had the mannerisms of a shy young boy, and was extremely charming. Sullivan’s stolid appearance was a factor (though Ed was much looser when he worked with the puppet – he was usually smiling and was genuinely charmed by the act), but even without Sullivan, the puppet was a delight.

8

“Oh, Eddddddiiiiieeee”

9

Hey, he’s a mouse.

10

Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t Ed Sullivan, which was on CBS, directly up against Walt Disney on NBC on Sunday night during the 60’s? If so, bringing in Topo Gigio may have been an attempt to draw away the younger viewers (and their families) who would’ve otherwise been watching Disney.

11

The last half hour of Walt Disney overlapped with the first half hour of Ed Sullivan on Sunday nights in the 1960s.

12

Nothing like a good old-fashioned, rough-and-tumble mouse fight.