The Coachman

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The Coachman, also known as Barker, is a villain from the Disney film Pinocchio. He is a fat man in a red coat who speaks in a Cockney accent (or reasonable facsimile). The Coachman was voiced by Charles Judels, who also voiced Stromboli.

[edit] Pinocchio (the Disney film)

In the film, the Coachman enlists Honest John and Gideon to help him lure wayward boys to take to "Pleasure Island," a paradise for boys to play, eat whatever they wish and create havoc all day. Honest John and Gideon thus set out and run into Pinocchio (after recently having sold him to Stromboli) and are easily able to entice him to make the trip, despite the efforts of Jiminy Cricket. The true and sinister purpose of "Pleasure Island" is not long revealed, however, as it turns out to be a cursed funfair where wayward boys are transformed into donkeys, then sold. The Coachman is seen to be the overseer of the project, ordering shadowy, faceless minions to take the newly transformed donkeys and hurl them into cages. One donkey named Alexander, still able to talk, is ordered by the Coachman to be thrown into a separate group, as they are not yet ready to be sold. Pinocchio, with the guidance of Jiminy, is able to escape, though even he can't escape growing donkey ears and a tail. Nothing more is seen of the Coachman (or Honest John and Gideon) after Pinocchio's escape.

[edit] Comparisons to Book

• In the original story by Carlo Collodi, the character appears generally as he does in the Disney film, though he has no connection with the Fox and the Cat. He simply picks up Lamp-Wick and Pinocchio at a certain place. Pinocchio is initially steadfastly resistant to going but eventually surrenders to temptation upon the insistent coercion of first Lamp-Wick, then the Coachman.
• In the original story, Pleasure Island is called the Land of Toys.
• Pinocchio actually completes the transformation to a donkey in the original story. He is sold to a circus owner to perform tricks and, after he becomes lame from jumping through a hoop, is sold to a man wanting to make a drumskin from the donkey's hide. The man ties a rope around the donkey's neck and a stone around one of his feet and throws him into the sea to drown him. When the man pulls Pinocchio out of the water, expecting a dead donkey, Pinocchio explains that instead of drowning, he was devouored by fishes, except for his skeleton which turned out to be the original wooden marionette himself. Pinocchio explains that it was all the work of his mother, the Fairy, looking out for him. He then escapes into the sea, after the man demands the money he paid for him and threatens to sell him as firewood.

• In the original story, Pinocchio meets Lampwick again, when he goes to a near farm to beg some milk for his father. However, Lampwick dies while he is talking with Pinocchio (they talk in the donkey's language)