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Signor Tomato is the secondary antagonist of the 1961 Soviet animated film Chipollino. He is a servant of countesses Cherries, serving as the manager and the loyal right hand of prince Lemon.
He was voiced by the late Grigory Shpigel.
Personality
Signor Tomato is the loyal, cruel and merciless servant of the crown. He follows the laws, signed by prince Lemon and he will do anything to satisfy his majesty. If something may satisfy him or make him laugh, he’ll do it.
History
He first appeared when his carriage was riding on the road, passing nearby Chipollino and his friend. Later, he stopped his carriage, when he saw uncle Pumpkin, sitting inside his little wooden house. That made signor Tomato rage, as he believed that Pumpkin broke the law, by building his house on the territory of countesses Cherries. So without any questions, he started to shout and ordered to Pumpkin to get out. Uncle Pumpkin tried to explain to signor Tomato that he got the permission to build the house from the count Cherry. But signor Tomato didn’t even want to listen and decided to confiscate the house. Then Cipollino showed up and called signor Tomato “Thief”. After hearing this, Tomato asked to show to him where is the thief. Then Cipollino took out the small mirror and stated “There he is! Do you recognize him?”. Tomato didn’t appreciate the insolence from Cipollino and grabbed his hair. Immediately after that, the onion juice from Cipollino’s head fell into Tomato’s eyes and that made him cry. Before jumping into his carriage, Tomato threatened to Cipollino that he will pay for those tears and once again warned uncle Pumpkin that his house will be confiscated. Very soon, it did happen with the help of two lemon soldiers. After confiscating the house, the dog was placed to guard it. I didn’t last for long, because with help of Cipollino, the dog was soothed and the house was hidden in the forest. The next morning, signor Tomato drove the dog away and informed countesses Cherries and prince Lemon about the stolen confiscated house. That brought countesses into the shock, and prince Lemon almost without thinking, ordered to arrest everyone, who is behind this “crime”. Eventually, Signor Tomato and lemon soldiers arrested all Chipollino’s friends. It did not last long. With the help of the young Count Cherry, the son of Countesses Cherries, Chipollino stole the key from signor Tomato and released his friends from jail and they all escaped from Signor Tomato's custody. Signor Tomato informed prince Lemon about this crime, and he finally decided to place a bounty on Chipollino and the same time, Signor Tomato hired a detective Carrot to do it. Carrot didn’t manage to capture and arrest Chipollino, but the lemon soldiers did.
While Chipollino’s friends tried to free him and the other inmates from prison, signor Tomato attended during the speech of prince Lemon and listened everything he said. And when the prince almost gave the order to shoot at the little wooden house from the cannon, Chipollino, his friends and the other freed inmates showed up. They stood for uncle Pumpkin’s little wooden house and ordered prince Lemon and his soldiers to get out. Prince Lemon was going to shoot in Chipollino and his friends by himself, but accidentally, he turns the cannon in his side and was shot to death.
Signor Tomato ran to the place where prince Lemon was shot to and tried to wake him up to make sure that he alive. Only after realizing that prince Lemon is dead, he got really frightened and together with some of the lemon soldiers, he ran away from the citizens of the town, who were finally freed from the tyrannical rule of prince Lemon. He apparently drowned after falling out of the boat on which he was trying to escape.
Trivia
- In the film Signor Tomato with Lemon make escape and drown. In the book Tomato, after serving his sentence in prison, was sent to work as a gardener.
- It is possible that his cartoon design was drawn from a person, who made the voice acting of him.
- Despite that fact that he is only the secondary antagonist, he has more appearance on screen than prince Lemon.