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A.A. Milne’s beloved children’s creation Winnie the Pooh is celebratedevery year on Jan. 18, Milne’s birthday.
The children’s icon got its start via a black bear named Winnie (apparently the former mascot of the Winnipeg regiment of the Canadian army, hence the name, according to the New York Public Library) living at the London Zoo during World War I. Milne’s coincidentally named son, Christopher Robin, visited the animal often and named his own stuffed bear after the real Winnie — and, oddly enough, a swan named Pooh.
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Milne,who served in the front lines of WWIat the Battle of the Somme and was part of a secret British propaganda unit called MI7b, began writing the books in 1926 asWinnie-the-Pooh(the hyphen was dropped when Disney bought the rights to the character in the 1960s) with illustrations from E.H. Shepard.
Milne had actually studied mathematics at Cambridge, but turned his focus to writing while still at school, crafting humor pieces forPunchmagazine. (Prior to his success with Winnie, he was also a successful playwright and authored a detective novel.) He eventually grew unhappy with being pegged solely as a children’s writer, despite his continued output of plays and novels in the ’30s and ’40s.
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Pooh didn’t come to Disney directly from Milne: The author sold the American and Canadian merchandising rights to the character to producer and literary agent Stephen Slesinger (who worked with Western authors Zane Grey andbecame a prominent merchandiser of Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan character as well), who released a Pooh plush toy with a red T-shirt in 1932. When Slesinger’s widow in turn sold the character’s rights to Disney in 1961, they continued with the design.
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Slesinger also took some considerable liberties with the design of the toys.The original toyswere given to Christopher Robin between 1920 and 1928 (Pooh was purchased at Harrods in London and originally named Edward, according to the NYPL) — they were also toys for the family dog, which contributes to their haggard appearance. Sadly, Roo was lost in an apple orchard some time in the 1930s. The toys are displayed at the New York Public Library’s Children Center in Manhattan —in 2015, they underwent an extensiverestoration at the Textile Conservation Workshop for repairs to their fabric patches and plush, reportsForbes.
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Pooh starred in innumerable animated shorts and feature films both pre- and post-Disney ownership. If Pooh’s distinctive voice in the early animated shorts sounds familiar to you, it should: Sterling Holloway, the character’s voice in Disney featurettes until 1977, also was the voice of the Cheshire Cat inAlice in Wonderlandand Sleepy inSnow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
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On the literary side, Pooh’s books have been translated into 29 languages, and the 1958 Latin translation,Winnie Ille Pu, spent 20-plus weeks on theNew York TimesBest Sellers list,the only book in Latin ever to do so, according to theTimes.
source: people.com
