Jiminy Cricket in the context of "Mickey's Christmas Carol"

Clifton Avon "Cliff" Edwards (June 14, 1895 – July 17, 1971), nicknamed "Ukulele Ike", was an American pop singer, musician and actor. He enjoyed considerable popularity in the 1920s and early 1930s, specializing in jazzy renditions of pop standards and novelty tunes, including "Singin' in the Rain" in 1929. Later in his career, he appeared in films and did voices for animated cartoons, and is well-remembered as the voice of Jiminy Cricket in Walt Disney's Pinocchio (1940) (introducing the standard "When You Wish Upon a Star") and Fun and Fancy Free (1947), and Dandy Crow in Walt Disney's Dumbo (1941).

Bambi is the title character in Felix Salten's 1923 novel, Bambi, a Life in the Woods, and its sequel, Bambi's Children. The character also appears in Salten's novels Perri and Fifteen Rabbits.

Early German-language editions of the novels were illustrated by Hans Bertle. In the Disney film adaptations, Bambi's species was changed from a roe deer to a white-tailed deer, which would be more familiar to American audiences. His image is a Disney icon, comparable to the recognition of Jiminy Cricket or Tinker Bell, and he is even shown on Disney stock certificates.