Buratino

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This article is about the Tolstoy character. For the multiple rocket launcher named for its resemblance, see TOS-1.

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Dmitri Iosifov as Buratino holding the Golden Key in the 1975 movie The Adventures of Buratino

A Russian stamp with a drawing of Buratino

Buratino (Russian: Буратино) is the main character of the book The Golden Key, or the Adventures of Buratino by Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy. A loose Russian adaptation of Pinocchio, Buratino originated as a character in the commedia dell'arte (play of professional artists). The name Buratino is derived from the Italian burattino, which means wooden puppet or doll.^[1] The book was published in 1936, and Buratino quickly became hugely popular among children in the Soviet Union, and remains so to this day (though present-day children are equally familiar with Buratino's Western counterpart). The story has been made into several films, including The Adventures of Buratino (1960).

1 Origin
2 Plot Summary
3 Characters
4 Themes & Issues
5 References in Popular Culture
6 Adaptations
7 External links
8 References
9 See also

[edit] Origin

According to Tolstoy, he had read Pinocchio as a child, but, having lost the book, he started re-imagining it many years later in an attempt to come up with a series of bedside stories for his own children. The resulting story turned out to be so original and became so loved by the writer's children, that he decided to put it to paper and publish it.

[edit] Plot Summary

Like Pinocchio, Buratino is a long nosed wooden puppet, which is where the similarities end. The plot of the story is completely original. According to the story, the puppet Buratino was carved by Papa Carlo from a log, and suddenly came to life. Upon creation, Buratino comes out long-nosed due to Papa Carlo's sloppy woodworking. Papa Carlo tries to shorten it, but Buratino resists. Papa Carlo then sells his only good jacket in order to buy textbooks for Buratino and sends him to school, However, the boy becomes distracted by an advertisement for a local puppet theater show, and sells his textbooks to buy a ticket to the show. There he befriends other puppets, but the evil puppetmaster Karabas Barabas wants to destroy him because Buratino disrupted the show. Karabas Barabas releases Buratino after he learns that Papa Carlo's home contains a secret door for which Karabas has been searching his entire life. A Golden Key that Karabas once possessed but later lost opens this secret door. Karabas releases Buratino and even gives him five gold coins, asking only that Buratino watch after his father's home and make sure they do not move. The story proceeds to tell of Buratino and his friends' hunt for the Golden Key, and their struggles against the evil Karabas, his loyal friend Duremar, as well as a couple of crooks: Alice the Fox and Basilio the Cat, who are after Buratino's coins.

[edit] Characters

Buratino is a wooden puppet with long nose.
Papa Carlo (Russian: папа Карло), poor barrel organ player, who created Buratino.
Giuseppe (Джузеппе), nicknamed "Giuseppe the Blue Nose" for always being drunk, is a woodworker and a friend of Carlo. He wanted to make a table leg from the talking log, but got scared and finally gave the log as a present to Papa Carlo.
Karabas Barabas (Карабас-Барабас), the evil puppeter. He owns a puppet theater with lots of marionettes, including Malvina, Pierrot, and Harlequin.
Malvina (Мальвина), the beautiful female puppet with blue hair.
Atremon (Артемон), Malvina's poodle.
Pierrot (Пьеро), a sad puppet and a poet, who is deeply in love with Malvina
Harlequin (Арлекин), Pierrot's scene partner in Karabas' theatre. Usually mocks and beats Pierrot.
Alice the Fox (Лиса Алиса) and Basilio the Cat (Кот Базилио), two canny swindlers.
Tortilla the Turtle (Черепаха Тортилла) gave to Buratino the Golden Key, which was lost by Karabas.

[edit] Themes & Issues

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[edit] References in Popular Culture

The name Buratino was and remains to be used on a variety of products and stores marketed to children in the ex-Soviet Union — most notable of these is the Buratino soft drink brand.

Buratino is also the nickname of the TOS-1 multiple launch rocket system, due to the big "nose" of the launcher.