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"Pooh" redirects here. For other uses, see Pooh (disambiguation).

File:Winniethepooh.jpg

Disney's representation of Winnie the Pooh.

Winnie-the-Pooh is a fictional bear created by A. A. Milne. He appears in the books Winnie-the-Pooh (published October 14 1926) and The House at Pooh Corner (1928). Milne also wrote two books of children's poetry, When We Were Very Young and Now We Are Six, which include several poems about Winnie-the-Pooh. All four volumes were illustrated by E. H. Shepard.

The setting of the stories is based on the Ashdown Forest in East Sussex, England. The name "Winnie" was inspired by a pet bear of a Canadian soldier, named after his hometown of Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Pooh Bear's friends include Christopher Robin, Piglet, Rabbit, Eeyore, Owl, Kanga and Roo, and Tigger.

The Pooh stories were later made into a series of Winnie the Pooh (without hyphens) featurettes by Walt Disney Productions, which became one of the company's most successful franchises worldwide. The character Gopher was added in the Disney version.

Origins

The character was named after a toy bear owned by Milne's son, Christopher Robin Milne. Most of the other characters are also named after toys belonging to Christopher Milne, the exceptions being Christopher Robin himself, and Owl and Rabbit, who are presumably based on real-life animals. Christopher Milne had named his toy after a real bear called Winnipeg, brought to Britain from Canada and whom Milne and his son often saw at London Zoo, and "Pooh", a swan they had met on a holiday (who appears in When We Were Very Young).

Winnipeg the bear was discovered at a stop in White River, Ontario, by members of The Fort Garry Horse Canadian regiment of cavalry, en route to the battlefields of France during World War I. The bear was smuggled into Britain as the unofficial regimental mascot. Winnie's first owner was Lt. Harry Colebourn. He was the regiment's veterinarian, responsible for their horses. Winnie's eventual destination was to be the Assiniboine Park Zoo in Winnipeg, but at the end of the War, the officers of the Fort Garry Horse decided to allow her to remain in London Zoo, where she was much loved for her playfulness. She was known as a gentle bear and never attacked anyone. This is exactly what inspired Milne to write about Pooh Bear.

Christopher Robin's toy bear is now on display at the Donnell Library Center Central Children's Room in New York .

The forest in which the stories are set is based on the Ashdown Forest in which the Milnes lived. The fictional "Hundred Acre Wood" is a named location in the stories. The form of the name appears to follow that 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.

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A poem by Milne, called “Vespers,” was presented to the editors of Vanity Fair Magazine in 1923 by his wife Daphne.

In the 1920s, Charles Scribner, The New York Evening Post and St. Nicholas Magazine, among others, published Milne’s stories with illustrations by several of the more famous American artists of that decade.

Their work on Pooh is now forgotten, for Milne’s original version is better known in the company of decorations by E.H. Shepard. (According to Tim Benson of BBC News , Shepard "hated" Pooh.) Shepard decorated the books published by Methuen and E.P. Dutton, but preferred to be known as a political cartoonist for London’s Punch Magazine. The only known painting that Shepard did of Winnie the Pooh is on display at the Assiniboine Park in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Milne was also a veteran of The Punch Table who dreamed of being remembered as a famous playwright, as opposed to the author of “four trifles for the young.”

In 1930 illustrator/producer Stephen Slesinger and his company Stephen Slesinger, Inc. adapted the character for use in children’s theatre, on radio and TV, in story-telling records with Jimmy Stewart and Gene Kelly, in song recordings, in early animated paper films and in the promotion of goods and the advertising of services.

Slesinger was the largest developer of rights in the 1930s and 1940s for most of the famous comic and children’s book characters of those days. He brought Pooh up to be the best-loved bear in history. With the help of Pooh’s American Publisher Dutton, Pooh sales reached $50 million dollars in 1931, according to trade reports. After Stephen Slesinger's death in 1953, his wife, Shirley Slesinger, continued developing the character herself until 1961 when she granted rights to Disney in exchange for royalties.

The first of two agreements between Stephen Slesinger, Inc. and Disney was signed in 1961. Daphne Milne also licensed certain rights to Disney, including theatrical motion picture rights, in 1961.

Pooh videos, teddy bears, and other merchandise generate substantial annual revenues for Disney — as much as is earned by Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, and Pluto combined. Pooh stuffed toys can be found in sizes from Beanie and miniature versions up to human-size stuffed varieties. As well as the stylised Disney Pooh there is also a large range of Classic Pooh merchandise depicting the EH Shepard style in toy form.

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. The last of the films listed introduced an elephant-like heffalump named Lumpy. The classic characters, plus Lumpy, are expected to appear in the future Disney Channel animated television series, entitled My Friends Tigger & Pooh in 2007. Christopher Robin has been replaced with a girl named Darby.

Ownership controversy and drastic changes

File:Christopher robins replacement.jpg

a 6-year-old "tomboyish" red-haired girl named Darby.

A. A. Milne left the rights to Pooh, and his other characters, in trust to four beneficiaries: The Garrick Club, Westminster School, The Royal Literary Fund, and the A. A. Milne Family.

In 1991, Stephen Slesinger, Inc, filed a lawsuit against Disney, based upon Disney's breach of the 1983 Agreement in which Disney had promised to report accurately after it had failed to do so once before, the suit alleged. Under the agreement, Disney was allowed to retain about 98% of the gross revenues Pooh generated worldwide and was supposed to pay Slesinger about 2%. Disney was also required to pay royalties on all commercial exploitation, but when video and other uses became popular Disney stopped paying royalties. Disney was sanctioned by a judge for destroying millions of pages of evidence. Then a new judge was assigned to the case and he granted Disney's motion to terminate the case based on the fact that Slesinger's investigator had rummaged through Disney's garbage to try to retrieve some of the evidence Disney discarded. That case is still on appeal.

In order to minimise its liability to Slesinger and Milne, In the wake of the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998, Disney bought Clare Milne's name (Clare Milne is Christopher Robin's daughter). Disney then paid for all of the legal expenses and attempted to terminate the future US Copyright rights of Stephen Slesinger, Inc. Disney financed that action all the way up to the Supreme Court and lost. The federal district court found in favour 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.

In December 2005, Disney announced that Pooh's friend and owner Christopher Robin would be replaced by a 6-year-old "tomboyish" red-haired girl for the future Disney Channel animated television series, My Friends Tigger & Pooh. Contrary to published reports, Darby has not replaced Christopher Robin, who will still appear intermittently in the series.

In countries where copyright terms are no longer than required by the Berne Convention, the copyrights to the Pooh stories will expire at the end of 2006, because Milne died in 1956. (Ernest Shepard's illustrations will remain under copyright for longer, however, since he lived until 1976.)

Other works

The Tao of Pooh and The Te of Piglet by Benjamin Hoff use Milne's characters in an effort to explain the Eastern Philosophy/Religion of Taoism in a more accessible way. Pooh's Workout Book by Ethan Mordden adds to Milne's world an unknown narrator who tries to interest the residents of the 100 Aker (sic) Wood in an exercise program, culminating in a "Forest Marathon." Pooh has also been featured in four notable satires: Pooh and the Philosophers by J. T. Williams, Was the Winnie-the-Pooh a good Muslim?, and Frederick Crews' The Pooh Perplex and Postmodern Pooh, which both poke fun at literary theory.

"The Hums of Pooh" (verses from the original books supposed to have been composed and sung by Pooh) were set to music by Harold Fraser-Simson, who also set some verses from Milne's books of children's poetry (When We Were Very Young, and Now We Are Six).

The "sport" of Poohsticks, in which competitors drop sticks into a stream from a bridge and then wait to see whose stick will cross the finish line first, began as a game played by Pooh and his friends in the stories, but has crossed over into the real world. A World Championship Poohsticks race takes place in Oxfordshire each year.

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 feature on the New York Times Bestseller List.

In the Soviet Union, three Winnie the Pooh stories were made into celebrated cartoons by Soyuzmultfilm. Quotes and songs from the films are still a staple of Russian vernacular, and, together with the characters, are often parodied in anecdotes.

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 narrated by Alan Bennett and were also released as recordings.

Peek-a-poohs

A Peek-a-pooh is a small plastic toy that looks like Pooh in a costume. Several series of these have been produced with Pooh in various removable animal costumes. There have been at least 10 series of these characters produced. They are available for purchase in crank machines. They are $2.00 CDN.

Broadway

Pooh debuted on Broadway with Sue Hastings' Marionettes in the 1930s.

Disney adaptations

Featurettes

1966: Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree
1968: Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day
1974: Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too!
1983: Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore

Full-length features

1977: The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (trilogy of the three featurettes: The Honey Tree, The Blustery Day, and Tigger Too)
1997: Pooh's Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin V
1999: Winnie the Pooh: Seasons of Giving * V
2000: The Tigger Movie
2002: Winnie the Pooh: A Very Merry Pooh Year * V
2003: Piglet's Big Movie
2004: Winnie the Pooh: Springtime with Roo V
2005: Pooh's Heffalump Movie
2005: Pooh's Heffalump Halloween Movie * V

* - Means that the feature integrates stories from The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and/or the holiday specials with new footage

V - Means that it was a Direct-to-video release

Television show

Welcome to Pooh Corner (Disney Channel, 1983-1987)
The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (ABC, 1988-1992)
The Book of Pooh (Disney Channel, 2001-2002)
My Friends Tigger & Pooh (Disney Channel, 2007-)

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

Trivia

This article contains a list of miscellaneous information. Please relocate any relevant information into other sections or articles.

The Disney incarnation of Winnie the Pooh, as a stuffed toy

Academy Award winning songwriters Robert and Richard Sherman wrote songs for all the Winnie the Pooh featurettes as well as The Tigger Movie which was released in 2000.

Winnie the Pooh is such a popular character in Poland that a Warsaw street is named after him (in Polish, Ulica Kubusia Puchatka).

The sign over Pooh's door says "Mr Sanders", although the name is not Pooh's.

Pooh's official birthdate is August 21 1921, the day Christopher Robin was given to him on his first birthday.

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, Eeyore with ChronicDepression etc. .

Pooh's obsession with honey is based on a completely false premise about bear behaviour. While bears are major predators of beehives, they are seeking the brood (larvae and pupae).

On April 11, 2006, Winnie the Pooh was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6834 Hollywood Boulevard.

Singer Kenny Loggins wrote a song entitled "Return To Pooh Corner" (1969) based on the story of Christopher Robin and Winnie The Pooh. In 1994 he recorded a children's album bearing the same name.

References

External links

Report on the outcome of the Slesinger lawsuit
"Pathology in the Hundred Acre Wood: a neurodevelopmental perspective on A.A. Milne"(pdf) from The Canadian Medical Association Journal (Vol 163, Issue 12)
A Bear Named Winnie - CBC television dramatisation of the story of the original Winnipeg Bear.
"Was Winnie the Pooh a good Muslim?" One of the popular satires (see above) featuring the bear
Pooh's Heffalump Movie, Official Site.
Winnie the Pooh DVD Movies, Official Site.
ACHIM-THE-POOH's Homepage about Winnie-the-Pooh a. o. (German)
Star wears red shirt, no pants to Walk of Fame ceremony
A. A. Milne's Honey-Balloon-Pit-Gun-Tail-Bathtubcomplex by Karl Anschauung, M.D.
Pooh of Walden Pond by Jason Arbaugh-Twitty
Mr. Sanders - Winnie the Pooh news, history, stories, pictures and sounds.
A Bear Named Winnie - CBC television dramatisation of the story of the original Winnipeg Bear.

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