Topo Gigio was the lead character of a children's
puppetA puppet is an inanimate object or representational figure animated or manipulated by a puppeteer. It is usually a depiction of a human character, and is used in puppetry, a play or a presentation that is a very ancient form of theatre...
show on Italian television, in the early 1960s. The character was created by artist Maria Perego in 1958 and has been customarily voiced by actor Giuseppe (Peppino) Mazzullo. The
ItalianItalian is a Romance language spoken by about 60 million people in Italy, and by a total of around 70 million in the world. In Switzerland, Italian is one of four official languages. It is also the official language of San Marino, as well as the primary language of Vatican City...
name could be translated as "Louie Mouse".
Topo Gigio, a soft foam
mouseA mouse is a small mammal belonging to the order of rodents. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse . It is also a popular pet. The American white-footed mouse and the deer mouse also sometimes live in houses. In some places, certain kinds of field mice are also common...
with dreamy eyes and childish personality, was very popular in Italy for many years — not only on TV but also in children's magazines, such as the classical
Corriere dei PiccoliThe Corriere dei Piccoli , later renamed Corriere dei Ragazzi and nicknamed Corrierino , was a weekly magazine for children published in Italy from 1908 to 1995...
, animated cartoons, movies, and merchandising. Its popularity spread to the world after being featured on
Ed SullivanEdward Vincent "Ed" Sullivan was an American entertainment writer and television host, best known as the presenter of a TV variety show called The Ed Sullivan Show that was popular in the 1950s and 1960s....
's weekly TV show in the U.S. Today Topo Gigio still has a cohort of faithful fans, and has become an icon of Italian pop culture. He performs regularly at
Zecchino d'OroZecchino d'Oro is an international children's song festival that has taken place every year since 1959.It was started by Cino Tortorella, and the first two festivals were held in Milan...
festival and other programs created by
AntonianoAntoniano can refer to:People:* Giovanni Antoniano , Dutch scholar* Silvio Antoniano , Italian cardinalPlaces:* Institute of Antoniano, an educational and charitable institution in Bologna, ItalyOther:...
and
RAIRai , known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane, is the Italian state owned public service broadcaster controlled by parliament. RAI is the biggest television company in Italy...
. In 1965, a feature length motion picture
Le Avventure di topo GigioLe avventure di topo Gigio is a 1965 Italian animated family film directed by Federico Caldura. It was the first full length feature film of the Topo Gigio Italian children's television series.-Cast:*Armando Benetti ... *Ignazio Colnaghi*Carlo Delfini*Ignazio Dolce*Topo Gigio .....
(
The Adventures of Topo Gigio) was released internationally.
The endearing puppet has made appearances and has a fan base in many other countries — including
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,
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,
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,
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,
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,
GuatemalaGuatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast. Its size is just under 110,000 km² with an estimated population...
,
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,
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,
Dominican RepublicThe Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are occupied by two countries...
,
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,
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,
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2. The country is bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The Pacific Ocean lies to the west of...
,
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,
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,
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,
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,
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,
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and
VenezuelaVenezuela , officially titled Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It is a continental mainland with numerous islands located off its coastline in the Caribbean Sea...
.
Ed Sullivan Show
During the 1960s, the American TV audience was charmed by the antics of the adorable mouse, Topo Gigio, on the long-running CBS-TV variety show
The Ed Sullivan ShowThe Ed Sullivan Show was a popular American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from June 20, 1948 to June 6, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan.-History:...
. Created by a highly creative troupe of Italian puppeteers, it took four people to bring the 10" tall character to life, three to manipulate him and one to create his sweet voice. The puppet stood in a special "limbo"
black art stage with black velvet curtains, designed to absorb as much ambient light as possible, which helped hide the puppeteers, who also dressed in black from head to toe. Each puppeteer operated a different part of Gigio's foam rubber body by using several wooden dowel rods (also painted black). The illusion was quite remarkable, since unlike traditional hand puppets, Topo Gigio could actually appear to walk on his feet, sing, make subtle hand gestures, and even walk up Ed Sullivan's arm and perch on his shoulder. Careful lighting and TV camera adjustment made the "black art" illusion perfect for the television audience, though on at least one appearance, Ed asked the puppeteers to come out and take a bow, revealing their black-clad appearance (though deftly hiding Gigio's mechanisms to conceal the secret).
In more than fifty appearances on the show, the little Italian mouse would appear on stage and greet Ed with a sugary "Hello Eddie!". Gigio also was quite the lover, often speaking of his girlfriend "Rosie", but the enduring image is how Gigio ended his weekly visits, literally crooning to the host, "Eddie, Keesa me goo'night!".
Topo Gigio closed the final
Ed Sullivan Show in 1971, but his success wasn't limited to his airtime with Ed. The character was introduced in South America, Spain and in Japan, which spawned a successful Japanese animated series. There was also a feature film released in 1965 entitled
The Magic World of Topo Gigio and Gigio continues, to this day, as a well-known character in mainstay of Italian and Spanish speaking territories. He is also "the spokes-mouse" for the United Nations.
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