Flea Market Finds: Knickerbocker Pinocchio Puppet

Just this past weekend, we went to the annual in-door flea market at McMoran's in Port Huron, MI. I seem to have good luck there and this year was definately not an exception. Besides buying a stack of comics for .25 to $1 (including many issues of DC's All Star Squadron from the 80s) and getting three Toy Biz Spider-Man Classics action figures still in the package (just like Marvel Legends) of Kraven the Hunter, Beetle & Scorpion, in the very last row of tables, I found this little guy. My eyes lite up like a kid on Christmas morning! I knew exactly who he was - Pinocchio! But not the Disney version. He's from the 1962 Videocraft series, produced by Rankin/Bass, "The New Adventures of Pinocchio." I fondly remember watching reruns of this "Ani-Magic" show on CBC Windsor Channel 9 in the 70s (along with The Friendly Giant and Mr. Dress-up). And I'm a huge Rankin/Bass fan (have to watch Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer every year!) Pinocchio is in excellent condition, very clean. The only problem is the finger trigger on his controller is broken off and some of his strings are fraying. Otherwise, he's in great shape and only cost $5 (that also included a Flintstone's Pebbles push button puppet). Pinoc is now proudly hanging in my comic book/tool area in the basement.