Walt Disney Studios always had a live-action film division, which is of course dwarfed in recognition to the Walt Disney Animation Studios, producers of animated feature film adaptations of fairy tales. It was animated fairy tales that gave the company its first success, in fact. Disney was just wrapping up production of Snow White, without any tests indicating its probable success, when it bought the rights to its next project, the story of a lovable wooden puppet-boy and his cricket (that doesn’t look anything like a cricket) friend.

On this day, February 7, in 1940, Pinocchio premiered to a sold-out RKO theatre in New York. It went on to earn critical acclaim, including an Oscar for “When You Wish Upon a Star,” sung by musician Cliff Edwards in the person of Jiminy Cricket.

By the start of the Pinocchio production, Walt Disney was enjoying the fruit of his labors on Snow White. The success led Disney to look for well-known voice actors. Disney brought in musicians and stage actors with a long history of successes, and one still somewhat unknown named Mel Blanc, the future voice of Bugs Bunny. Blanc was to voice a minor character part, but ultimately Disney decided to make the character mute, leaving only Blanc’s voiced-over hiccup in the film.