Winnie-the-Pooh, commonly shortened to Pooh and once referred to as Edward Bear, is a bear created by A. A. Milne. The character first appeared in the children
books Winnie-the-Pooh (1926) and The House at Pooh Corner (1928). Milne also included several poems about Winnie-the-Pooh in
the children’s poetry books When We Were Very
Young and Now We Are Six. All four volumes were illustrated by E. H. Shepard.
The hyphens in the character's name were later dropped when The Walt Disney
Company adapted the Pooh stories into a series of Winnie the
Pooh featurettes which became one of the company's most successful franchises worldwide.
The Pooh stories have been translated into many languages, notably including Alexander
Lenard's Latin translation, Winnie ille Pu, which was first published in 1958, and,
in 1960, became the first foreign-language book to be featured on the New York
Times Bestseller List, and is the only book in Latin ever to have been featured therein.
History
Origin
Original Winnie the Pooh stuffed toys. Clockwise from bottom left:
Tigger,
Kanga, Edward Bear ("Winnie the Pooh"),
Eeyore, and
Piglet.
Milne named the character Winnie-the-Pooh after a teddy bear owned by his son,
Christopher Robin Milne, who was the basis for the character Christopher Robin. His toys also lent their names to most of the other characters, except for
Owl and Rabbit, who were
probably based on real animals, and the Gopher character, who was added in the
Disney version. Christopher Robin's toy bear is now on display at the Donnell Library Center Central Children's Room in
New York.[1]
Christopher Milne had named his teddy after Winnipeg, a bear which he and his father
often saw at London Zoo, and "Pooh", a swan they had met while on holiday. Winnipeg the Bear
was puchased from a hunter for $20 by Canadian Lieutenant Harry Colebourne in White River,
Ontario, Canada, while en-route to England during WWI. He named the bear "Winnipeg" after
his hometown in Winnipeg, Manitoba. "Winnie", as she became known, became the mascot of the 2nd
Canadian Infantry Brigade, and when the brigade left for France, Colebourne gave Winnie to the London zoo. The bear, called
"Winnie", was known as a gentle bear who never attacked anyone, and she was much loved for her playfulness. This is exactly what
inspired Milne to write about Pooh Bear.[2] Pooh the swan
appears as a character in its own right in When We Were Very Young.
In the first chapter of Winnie-the-Pooh, Milne offers this explanation
of why Winnie-the-Pooh is often called simply "Pooh": "But his arms were so stiff ... they stayed up straight in the air for more
than a week, and whenever a fly came and settled on his nose he had to blow it off. And I think - but I am not sure - that
that is why he is always called Pooh."
The home of the Milnes, Ashdown Forest in East
Sussex, England, was the basis for the setting of the Winnie-the-Pooh stories. The name
of the fictional "Hundred Acre Wood" is reminiscent of the Five Hundred Acre Wood,
which lies just outside Ashdown Forest and includes some of the locations mentioned in the book, such as the Enchanted Place.
Publication
The first appearance of the bear Pooh was in December 1925, when what became the first chapter of the book
Winnie-the-Pooh was commissioned as a Christmas story by London's Evening
News. The book was published in October 1926 by Methuen, the London
publisher of Milne's earlier children's work When We Were Very
Young.[3] The the illustrator was
E.H. Shepard, who had also drawn the pictures for the earlier book.
Disney
Pooh as realised by Disney
Stephen Slesinger acquired US and Canadian merchandising, television, recording and
other trade rights to the "Winnie-the-Pooh" from A. A. Milne in the 1930s, and developed "Winnie-the-Pooh" commercializations for
more than 20 years. After Slesinger's death in 1953, his wife, Shirley Slesinger
Lasswell, continued developing the character herself. In 1961, she licensed rights to Disney in exchange for royalties in
the first of two agreements between Stephen Slesinger, Inc. and Disney.[4] The same year, Daphne Milne also licensed certain rights, including motion picture rights, to
Disney.
Since 1966, Disney has released numerous features starring Winnie the Pooh and related characters. Many direct-to-video featurettes have been created, as well as the
theatrical feature-length films The Tigger Movie, Piglet's Big Movie, and Pooh's Heffalump
Movie.
In December 2005, Disney announced that the Disney Channel animated television series, My
Friends Tigger & Pooh, will focus on adventures had by 6-year-old Darby and the Pooh characters, with the
occasional appearance from Christopher Robin.[5]
The Disney version of Winnie the Pooh was featured in Cartoon All-Stars to
the Rescue, the Kingdom Hearts videogames and the TV series House of Mouse
Pooh also appears at Walt Disney Parks and Resorts as a meetable
character.
Ownership controversy
Pooh videos, teddy bears, and other merchandise generate substantial annual revenues for
Disney. The size of Pooh stuffed toys ranges from Beanie and miniature to human-sized. In
addition to the stylized Disney Pooh, Disney markets Classic Pooh merchandise which more closely resembles E.H. Shepard’s
illustrations. It is estimated that Winnie the Pooh features and merchandise generate as much revenue as Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald
Duck, Goofy, and Pluto combined.[6]
In 1991, Stephen Slesinger, Inc. filed a lawsuit against Disney which alleged that Disney had breached their 1983 agreement by
again failing to accurately report revenue from Winnie the Pooh sales. Under this agreement, Disney was to retain approximately
98% of gross worldwide revenues while the remaining 2% was to be paid to Slesinger. In addition, the suit alleged that Disney had
failed to pay required royalties on all commercial exploitation of the product name.[7] Though the Disney corporation was sanctioned by a judge for destroying millions
of pages of evidence,[8] the suit was later
terminated by another judge when it was discovered that Slesinger's investigator had rummaged through Disney's garbage in order
to retrieve the discarded evidence.[9] Slesinger appealed
the termination, and on September 26, 2007, a three-judge
panel upheld the lawsuit dismissal.[10]
After the Sonny Bono Copyright Term
Extension Act of 1998, Clare Milne, Christopher Milne's daughter, attempted to terminate any future U.S. copyrights for
Stephen Slesinger, Inc.[11] After a series of legal
hearings, the United States District Court found in favor of Stephen
Slesinger, Inc., as did the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. On
Monday, June 26, 2006, the US Supreme Court refused to hear the
case, thus sustaining the Appeals Court ruling and ensuring the defeat of the suit.[12]
On February 19, 2007, it was reported Disney lost a court
case in Los Angeles which ruled their "misguided claims" to dispute the licensing agreements with Slesinger, Inc. were
unjustified.[13]
In doing so, the claims by Slesinger, Inc. can now be tackled without any argument over who owns the rights. Though the ruling
was downplayed by a Disney attorney, the outcome of the case should prove a significant blow to Disney's revenue, since
Pooh-related merchandise has been reported to bring the Walt Disney Company approximately 1 billion dollars a year.[14]
Adaptations
Radio
Pooh made his radio debut in 1930 in New York. Readings of various Winnie-the-Pooh stories have been broadcast on
BBC Radio 4 in the United Kingdom with narration by
Alan Bennett and also have been released as recordings.
Broadway
Pooh debuted on Broadway with Sue Hastings' Marionettes in the 1930s.
Peek-a-poohs
A Peek-a-pooh is a small plastic toy in a removable rubber costume. Costumes might include various land, jungle and sea
creatures not to mention holiday themed outfits for Halloween or Christmas. More than ten different series of these have been
produced and are available from vending machines for $1.00 in the United States, £1 in the UK, $2.00 in Canada and ¥100 in Japan.
There is also a larger form made of plastic, sold for $4 in Canada. In Australia they are marketed as "Pooh Animal Wear" and cost
$2.
Many children and teenagers collect Peek-A-Poohs and exchange them for others or for money.
Disney media
Featurettes
Full-length features
*These features integrate stories from The New Adventures of
Winnie the Pooh and/or holiday specials with new footage.
†These features were Direct-to-video.
Winnie-the-Pooh, as seen in the opening of
Welcome to Pooh Corner
Television shows
Holiday TV specials
- 1991: Winnie the Pooh & Christmas Too!
- 1996: Boo! To You Too! Winnie the Pooh
- 1998: A Winnie the Pooh Thanksgiving
- 1998: Winnie the Pooh, A Valentine For You
Video games
Winnie the Pooh in a Soviet cartoon
Other cartoons
In the Soviet Union, three Winnie-the-Pooh, or "Vinni
Puh" (Russian language: Винни-Пух) stories were
made into a celebrated trilogy[15] of short films by Soyuzmultfilm (directed by Fedor Khitruk) from 1969 to 1972. Pooh was voiced by Yevgeny Leonov,
looking distinctly different from both the yellow-and-red Disney incarnation and Shepard's illustrations.
References in other media
- Pooh is a frequent villain in International Moron Patrol, where he is depicted as being pure
evil and having a deep, booming voice.
- In a Dudley Do-Right cartoon, in which Snidely Whiplash reports himself to be
Dudley's kid brother, Dudley, upon discovering this, becomes Snidely's "big brother" and, with parental authority warns Snidely
not to associate with Homer or else Snidely will have to remain indoors for a while... and no "Winnie-the-Pooh".
- In The Hums of Pooh, Harold Fraser-Simson set to music several of
Milne’s poems and the verses sung by Pooh in the original books.
- Pooh, along with many other Disney characters, appears in a double-length episode of the TV series Roseanne in 1996, in which the Conners raise enough money to buy a Walt Disney World vacation.
- In Family Guy episode Holy Crap, Stewie starts reading the bible and quotes "You won't find that in Winnie the Pooh." Then,
Chris asks Stewie, "Please don't mention Pooh," due to being constipated.
- In Family Guy episode Screwed the Pooch, the
Griffins go to the zoo at the beginning of the episode. When they reach the kangaroo exhibit,
Peter lures a joey out of the pouch and climbs
in himself. When the family finds him, he is too big for the pouch and says, "Look Lois, I'm Roo! Hey ma, let's watch Pooh drink honey while pretending he's in rain clouds."
- In the "sport" of Poohsticks, competitors drop sticks into a stream from a bridge and
then wait to see whose stick will cross the finish line first. Though it began as a game played by Pooh and his friends in the
stories, it has crossed over into the real world: a World Championship Poohsticks race takes place in Oxfordshire each year.
- In December 2000, a Canadian medical journal jokingly "diagnosed" characters in the books and films with various mental
illnesses, e.g. Winnie the Pooh shows signs of obsessive compulsive
disorder, Tigger shows signs of ADHD etc.[16]
- Possibly the strangest incarnation of Winnie the Pooh is in Peter David's
Star Trek: The Next Generation novel Q-Squared. The child-Q Trelane brings some Winnie the Pooh characters (Pooh,
Owl and Rabbit) to life to entertain a group of primary school children in one of the
Enterprise's classrooms. Pandemonium results, with Rabbit and Owl (under Trelane's guidance) harmlessly physically attacking
several security guards who are attempting to control the situation. Pooh says his trademark phrase "Oh, bother." when he appears
and is the only one of the three who does not "attack" the guards, as "The bear, for no discernable reason, was performing
mild calisthenics and muttering to himself."
- An episode of the British SciFi/Comedy Red Dwarf saw several of history's most famous
figures reincarnated as robots made of wax. Two vast opposing armies are formed, with history's most celebrated figures on the
good side, and the most reviled on the bad. The bad side happens to take one of the good side prisoner; none other than Winnie
the Pooh. Although we don't actually see it (the character 'Lister' views from a window), the honey loving bear is led out and
tied to a stake (and refuses the blindfold), before being shot by a firing squad. Lister is left in shock, stating "That is
something no one should ever have to see!"
- A Bathing Ape recently made a plush toy of Winnie the Pooh with their popular Bape
camo.
- Pooh and his friends are a part of the Kingdom Hearts series, the
Square Enix game that combines characters from Final Fantasy and characters from
Disney.
- In Rocky II, Rocky Jr. can be seen wrapped into a Winnie the Pooh blanket when
Rocky Balboa and Adrian first see him.
- In one skit on Saturday Night Live, there is a game show, and one
question is, "What is the name of Winnie the Pooh's feline friend?" When the contestant answers, a censor sign goes up. The host,
played by Bernie Mac, is then seen attacking the contestant, who is saying, "I said
Tigger, with a T!"
- In the 2001 movie Dr. Dolittle 2, Dr. Dolittle and the bear, Archie are making a deal
for Archie to be in the wild to save animals from their home. Archie asks the doctor if he'll be bigger than Pooh and Dr.
Dolittle claims that people will start calling Pooh Bear "Winnie the Who?" if Archie agrees.
- On Red Eye, a sketch on the Palestinian
Tomorrow's Pioneers children show provides fake 'sneak peeks' at the replacement
characters for Farfour, a plagiarised version of Mickey Mouse. One of these is 'Winnie the
Jew', a bearded kippah-wearing Winnie described as 'an evil character who steals honey from poor
Palestinian children.'[17]
- Jethro Tull's song Up The 'Pool includes the line "The politicians there
who've come to take the air - while posing for the daily press - will look around and blame the mess on Edward Bear."
- In the Polish translation, by Irena Tuwim, Pooh was called Kubuś Puchatek (Jacob the Pooh), because using a woman's
name for a male bear would have been too controversial.
- A number of philosophical books have been written about Winnie the Pooh - Postmodern Pooh and The Pooh Perplex
by Frederick Crews rewrite stories from Pooh's world in abtruse academic jargon (from a number of sources including
postmodernism, psychoanalysis and so on) for the
purpose of satire [2]. Pooh and the Philosophers by John T. Williams uses Winnie the Pooh as a backdrop to illustrate the works
of philosophers including Descartes, Kant, Plato and Nietzsche [3].
- In the song "Erosion", found on the album Learning to Breathe by the Christian
rock band Switchfoot, the lyrics utilize one of Pooh's favorite sayings: "Tut, tut it looks
like rain."
- Not everyone was a fan of the original stories. Dorothy Parker in particular was
critical of what she considered A. A. Milne's "dumbing down of English for children", a
criticism she had for many other children's book authors as well. In her pseudonym as Constant
Reader in the New Yorker magazine she made one of her most famous barbs when she,
while reviewing one of the stories, wrote, "and it is precisely at that word, 'hummy' that Tonstant Weader fwowed up."
Facts and figures
The Disney incarnation of Winnie the Pooh, as a stuffed toy
- Pooh's official birthdate is August 21 1921, the day
Christopher Robin received him as a present on his first birthday.
- The sign over the door to Pooh's house says "Mr Sanders." This is because it is mentioned in the original book that Pooh
lived under the name of "Sanders" (that meant that he had the name on a sign above his door, and he lived underneath it).
- Pooh's obsession with honey is based on a misconception about bear behavior. While bears are
major predators of beehives, they are seeking the brood (larva
and pupa).[18]
- On April 11, 2006, Winnie the Pooh was awarded a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6834 Hollywood Boulevard.[19]
- It is revealed near the end of The Many Adventures of Winnie the
Pooh that Pooh is one year younger than Christopher Robin, which is
obviously because he is "born" on Christopher's first birthday.
See also
References
- ^ "The Adventures of the Real Winnie-the-Pooh. The New York Public Library.
- ^ "Winnie". Historica Minutes.
- ^ Thwaite, Ann (2004). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: Alan Alexander Milne. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
- ^ "The Curse of Pooh." Fortune.
- ^ "New-look Pooh 'has girl friend'." BBC News.
- ^ "The Curse of Pooh" Fortune.
- ^ "The Pooh Files" The Albion Monitor.
- ^ Nelson, Valerie J (2007-07-20). Shirley Slesinger Lasswell, 84; fought Disney over Pooh royalties. Los Angeles
times. Retrieved on 2007-08-14.
- ^ "Judge
dismisses Winnie the Pooh lawsuit" The Disney Corner.
- ^ James, Meg. "Disney wins lawsuit ruling on Pooh rights", The Los Angeles Times,
2007-09-26. Retrieved on 2007-09-26.
- ^ "Winnie the Pooh goes to court" USA Today
- ^ "Justices Refuse Winnie the Pooh Case." ABC News.[dead link]
- ^ [1] ca.news.yahoo.com[dead
link]
- ^ Nelson, Valerie J.. "Shirley Slesinger Lasswell; fought over Pooh royalties", The Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, 2007-07-21.
Retrieved on 2007-08-07.
- ^ http://www.animator.ru/db/?ver=eng&p=show_film&fid=6758
- ^ "Pathology in the Hundred Acre Wood: a neurodevelopmental perspective on A.A. Milne." The
Canadian Medical Association Journal. December 12, 2000. V163: 12.
- ^ Possible replacements for Farfour "The Terror Mouse"
- ^ [The American Bear Association. http://www.americanbear.org/Kids'%20questions.htm]
- ^ "Winnie the Pooh
Celebrated 80th Anniversary with Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame."
External links
be-x-old:Віні-Пух
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