John Fiedler
John Donald Fiedler was an American actor and voice actor, slight and bespectacled, with a distinctive, high-pitched voice. His career lasted more than 55 years in stage, film and radio. Among his best-known roles are the nervous Juror #2 in 12 Angry Men. Fiedler was born in Platteville, Wisconsin, a son of Donald Fiedler, a beer salesman, his wife Margaret, he was of Irish descent. His family moved to Shorewood, Wisconsin in 1930, where he graduated from Shorewood High School in 1943, he enlisted in the United States Navy and served until the end of World War II. After his discharge from the Navy, Fiedler began acting in Manhattan, New York City, appearing on the radio comedy The Aldrich Family as Homer Brown, he appeared on early television and played Cadet Alfie Higgins on the 1950s show Tom Corbett, Space Cadet, he made his film debut in 1957 in 12 Angry Men, as Juror #2. Most of his roles were playing gentle or nervous individuals, though he appeared as the lawyer J. Noble Daggett in True Grit and in the original Star Trek episode "Wolf in the Fold" as Mr. Hengist, a Chief Administrator possessed by the spirit of Jack the Ripper.
Fiedler was in the original cast of A Raisin in the Sun as housing committee representative Lindner, a role he played in both the 1961 film version and the 1988 TV version. He appeared in the 1968 film The Odd Couple as poker player Vinnie, he appeared in the films Harper Valley PTA and The Cannonball Run. He appeared three times in a recurring role on Kolchak: The Night Stalker as morgue attendant Gordy "The Ghoul" Spangler, he played Mr. Peterson, one of Bob's regular patients, on The Bob Newhart Show, Mr. Dundee in the 47th episode of the Twilight Zone, "The Night of the Meek", his many other guest appearances on TV included Columbo, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Perry Mason, Gunsmoke, My Favorite Martian, Get Smart, A Touch of Grace, The Rockford Files, Quincy, M. E; the Golden Girls and Cheers. He appeared in The Munsters. Fiedler's voice was heard or appears in the Disney features The Rescuers, The Fox and the Hound, Robin Hood, The Emperor's New Groove, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, The Tigger Movie, Piglet's Big Movie, Pooh's Heffalump Movie and The Shaggy D.
A. in Disneyland Records' Winnie the Pooh for President, in the Square Enix/Disney video game Kingdom Hearts. His last film was a voice appearance in Kronk's New Groove. Fiedler was the narrator of several McDonaldland commercials during the 1980s, including when Birdie the Early Bird learns to fly and how the Hamburglar got his stripes. Fiedler died of cancer on June 25, 2005 in Englewood, New Jersey, at the Lillian Booth Actors Home, a residence for retired entertainers sponsored by the Actors' Fund of America. Fiedler's friend and Winnie-the-Pooh co-star, Paul Winchell, who voiced Tigger, died the previous day due to natural causes.. Fiedler was cremated and his ashes were scattered from Long Island, New York. Travis Oates has since replaced Fiedler as the voice of Piglet; the Book of Pooh: A Story Without A Tail as Piglet Kingdom Hearts as Piglet Piglet's Big Game as Piglet Winnie the Pooh's Rumbly Tumbly Adventure as Piglet John Fiedler on IMDb John Fiedler at the Internet Broadway Database John Fiedler at the Internet Off-Broadway Database John Fiedler at Memory Alpha
Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day
Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day is a 1968 animated featurette based on the third, fifth and tenth chapters from Winnie-the-Pooh and the second and ninth chapters from The House at Pooh Corner by A. A. Milne; the featurette was produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by Buena Vista Distribution Company on December 20, 1968 as a double feature with The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit. This was the second of the studio's Winnie the Pooh shorts, it was added as a segment to the 1977 film The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. The music was written by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman, it was notable for being the last animated short produced by Walt Disney, who died during its production. Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day won the 1968 Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film; the Academy Award was awarded posthumously to Walt Disney, who died of lung cancer two years before the film's initial release. It is the only Winnie the Pooh production that won an Academy Award; the animated featurette served as an inspiration for the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh ride in Walt Disney World in which the rider experiences several scenes from the cartoon, including Pooh's Heffalump and Woozle dream.
The film's plot is based on seven A. A. Milne stories: "In which Eeyore finds the Wolery and Owl moves into it" "In which Tigger comes to the forest and has breakfast", "In which Pooh & Piglet go hunting and nearly catch a Woozle", "In which Piglet does a grand thing", "In which Christopher Robin gives a Pooh Party and we say goodbye" and "In which Piglet is surrounded by water", with elements taken from "In which Piglet meets a Heffalump". In A. A. Milne's original story, Pooh shows more initiative during the flood, finding his way to Christopher Robin by riding on one of his floating honey pots, which he names The Floating Bear having the inspiration of using Christopher Robin's umbrella to carry them both to Piglet's house. Winnie the Pooh is on his way to his thoughtful spot. Today is a windy day, but as Pooh sits thinking, Gopher pops out of the ground and advises Pooh to leave the spot because of it being "Winds-day". Pooh having misunderstood his warning goes across the Hundred Acre Wood to wish everyone a happy Winds-day.
Pooh first goes to his friend Piglet. Piglet came out to rake leaves but the wind proves too strong for him to handle. Piglet is nearly blown away but Pooh hangs on to him by his scarf, like a kite on a string; as Pooh struggles to keep a hold of the scarf he passes by Kanga and Roo, wishing them both a happy Winds-day. The blustery wind blows Pooh and Piglet over to Owl's treehouse, where he invites them in. Pooh wishes Owl a happy Winds-day, as he has everyone else, but Owl informs them that the wind is due to "a mild spring zephyr" rather than to a particular holiday. While Owl begins telling Pooh and Piglet stories of adventures his relatives had, the strong wind rocks his house back and forth causing it to sway, the tree and house both collapse. Owl blames Pooh at first but Pooh says he did not do it. Christopher Robin and the others come and examine the wrecked house, since it cannot be repaired, Eeyore volunteers to seek out a new house for Owl, who proceeds to tell the others more stories of his relatives for quite some time.
Meanwhile, on page 62, as night falls, the wind is still blowing, Pooh is kept awake by growling and scratching noise and opens his door for the visitor outside. Tigger emerges from outside, sitting on him. Tigger introduces himself with his signature song and informs Pooh that he has come looking for something to eat, he decides to try some of Pooh's honey but after some tastes he gets disgusted and decides that Tiggers do not like honey. Before leaving Pooh's house, Tigger tells him that there are Heffalumps and Woozles in the forest that steal honey. Pooh, frightened by Tigger's tale, stays up to guard his honey, but falls fast asleep; as he is sleeping, he has a nightmare about Heffalumps and Woozles stealing his honey and chasing him around until he wakes up during a flood-inducing rainfall. Piglet is washed away from his home, he writes a bottle-note for help. Pooh manages to reach higher ground with only ten honey pots. However, as he is eating some of the honey the rising waters carry him away.
Kanga, Roo and Tigger all gather at Christopher Robin's house, situated on the highest ground, while Eeyore continues house hunting for Owl. Roo finds Piglet's bottle, Owl flies off to tell Piglet that help is on the way. Owl manages to reach Piglet and Pooh, but before he can inform them of the impending rescue a waterfall threatens to carry them al
Poohsticks
Poohsticks is a game first mentioned in The House at Pooh Corner, a Winnie-the-Pooh book by A. A. Milne, it is a simple game. The annual World Poohsticks Championships have been held at Day's Lock on the River Thames in the UK since 1984. Poohsticks was invented by English author A. A. Milne for his son Christopher Robin Milne; the game first came to prominence when it was described in the author's book The House at Pooh Corner as well as in the Disney animated featurette Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore. Winnie-the-Pooh, the protagonist of the book, accidentally drops a pine cone into a river from a bridge and, after observing how it appeared on the other side of the bridge, devises the rules for Poohsticks. Pooh continues to play the game with the other characters, Christopher Robin and Eeyore; the game was first played at a bridge located in Ashdown Forest, close to the village of Upper Hartfield, East Sussex, England. Built in 1907 and called Posingford Bridge, it is considered to be the bridge on which Milne and his son first played the game.
However, it is uncertain whether the game was first played at the bridge and written into the story, or vice versa. The bridge maintained the public's interest and a campaign to rebuild it in the late seventies was considered important enough to feature on the BBC Nine O'Clock News; the bridge was subsequently reopened by Christopher Robin Milne and renamed as Poohsticks Bridge. The site was so popular that in 1999 the East Sussex county council made an appeal to Disney as the old wooden bridge had been worn down by an overwhelming number of visitors; the company provided a substantial donation towards the estimated £30,000 needed to replace the bridge. Rebuilt in 1979, the donations from Disney, building firms and members of the public funded its complete reconstruction; the newly built and modernised bridge retained its precursor's original style. A plaque was placed to commemorate the occasion and thank those who financially contributed to the project; the game can still be played in Ashdown Forest to this day and the site attracts tourists from as far afield as the United States and Japan.
However, visitors are now advised to bring their own sticks, as previous visitors have caused damage to the trees in the vicinity. A game for two players or more, in the traditional version of poohsticks the participants must drop a stick on the upstream side of a bridge and run to the other side; the winner is the player. Alternatively, players may decide upon a starting point on a river and a finish line farther downstream; the winner is the player. It is agreed that the stick must be made of organic materials, preferably willow, not of any artificial materials. All participants must drop their sticks at the same time after a referee shouts "drop", "twitch" or any other agreed keyword. Additionally, no advantage may be gained through either dismantling the bridge or the use of any self-propelling stick devices; the stick must be dropped, not thrown, into the water and any player, deemed to have thrown their stick is disqualified. Poohsticks is considered to be a game of chance yet some players claim skill is involved.
Some strategies involve the way in which the stick is held before it is dropped and trying to find the fastest route in the river. Author Ben Schott outlined a throwing method as a winning strategy in his third book, Schott’s Sporting and Idling Miscellany, but his method was dismissed as cheating by competition organisers. In any event, the turbulence around the bridge supports make the path of the stick difficult to predict and may vary according to the season; the traditional game has inspired filmmakers and screenwriters and has been portrayed in the 1998 film Into My Heart with Rob Morrow and Claire Forlani, BBC sitcom To the Manor Born and in a Marks & Spencer clothes advert where models, including Twiggy and Myleene Klass, played the game. The popularity of the game was underlined when it featured as a question on long-running British quiz series University Challenge. Following the closure of the short-lived Oxford University Poohsticks Society, Poohsticks was brought to a larger audience by the annual World Poohsticks Championships.
These took place at Day's Lock on the River Thames near Dorchester-on-Thames, Oxfordshire. But were moved to Langel Common in Witney in Oxfordshire, have attracted over 1,500 visitors, including many from overseas; the championships features a four-person team event. Players come from a wide variety of countries including the United States, Kenya and England. Before its move to Witney, the event took place from Little Wittenham Bridge but now uses a bridge over the River Windrush near Cogges Manor Farm; the sporting event was started at Little Wittenham Bridge in 1984 by the lockkeeper, Lynn David, as a fund-raising event for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. He noticed that people snapped sticks from nearby hedges to play the game and he came up with the idea of a competition to aid the charity, he put out a box of sticks and a collection box and it soon became an annual event. In this championship version of the game, a finish line is set up farther downstream and the winner is the first to pass this point.
The competition took place every January, but it was moved to March due to icy weather in 1997. The event proved popular with the local community and attracted the attention of the
Seasons of Giving
Seasons of Giving is a 1999 American made-for-video animated musical film which included A Winnie the Pooh Thanksgiving, two episodes from The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. It features new songs by The Sherman Brothers. Tigger wants to ski. So, they go ask Rabbit what day of the year it is, but after opening his front door and letting the wind blow in, Rabbit's calendar pages get torn off and get swept under Rabbit's bed, but he doesn't realize it, claims that it's February 2, Groundhog Day. In an effort to find out if there are two more weeks of winter or if spring comes tomorrow, they ask Gopher if he sees his shadow. Gopher angrily points out he's a gopher not a groundhog, so they have Piglet pretend to be a groundhog, his hat falls over his eyes. Thinking that winter is over, they all prepare for spring by airing out their houses, planting gardens and spring cleaning; that day, it snows. A discouraged Rabbit confronts Piglet for lying to them and tells him that it's all his fault, goes home to see wind blowing into his house and the calendar pages being blown outside.
After putting the lost pages back on the calendar, he realizes that it's not Groundhog Day, it's only November 13. Feeling awful for what he said, Rabbit goes to apologize to Piglet, only to find a note from Piglet saying that he's gone to look for a real groundhog. Rabbit frantically goes looking for Piglet. Rabbit tells everyone that it's November 13. So, they decide to get ready for Thanksgiving, it is Thanksgiving in the Hundred Acre Wood and Winnie the Pooh and his friends bring food for the big dinner. Things change when Rabbit informs them that Thanksgiving is a special time of year that should include special items, so Pooh and the gang set off to find those items. A month on Christmas Eve, Rabbit tells the story of how he met a baby bluebird named Kessie; that summer, Owl teaches her to fly. Rabbit refuses to let her fly, with that, they go home. In the fall, Kessie looks out the window to see wild ducks flying South for the winter. For days, she tries to fly. Pooh and Piglet have an idea on how to get Kessie South for the winter, a giant slingshot.
When Kessie is about to take off, Rabbit arrives, stops him. He yells at Pooh, tells Tigger to let go of the slingshot. Tigger lets go, Rabbit is hit, falls off the same cliff Kessie had fallen off of that summer. Kessie swoops down, grabs Rabbit, brings him back to the top; the next morning, Pooh and Tigger say goodbye to Kessie as she prepares to fly South. Meanwhile, Rabbit is in his garden feeling sad, stubs his toe on a potted carrot, that Kessie had planted, he rushes to say goodbye to Kessie, but finds he's too late now and Kessie is gone. However, he is happy. Back in the present, Rabbit tells Roo. Everyone hurries outside to decorate a tree. Christopher Robin arrives to help decorate. After the tree is done, Rabbit realizes he forgot the most important part, a star to go on top of the tree. Rabbit is sad, but sees a falling star. Everyone gathers to make a wish, it is Kessie holding a star. Rabbit and Kessie hug, Kessie wishes Rabbit a Merry Christmas. Jim Cummings as Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Paul Winchell as Tigger, Andrew Collins served as the supervising animator for Tigger.
Steve Schatzberg as Piglet John Fiedler as Piglet Ken Sansom as Rabbit Brady Bluhm as Christopher Robin Gregg Berger as Eeyore Peter Cullen as Eeyore Laura Mooney as Kessie Nikita Hopkins as Roo Tress MacNeille as Kanga Andre Stojka as Owl Michael Gough as Gopher Laurie Main as The Narrator Tim Hoskins as Christopher Robin Seasons of Giving was released on VHS in 1999 and was re-released on VHS on October 31, 2000. It was released on DVD on November 4, 2003, it was reissued again as a 10th anniversary gift set edition on DVD on September 29, 2009 the same day as Muppet Christmas: Letters to Santa DVD. This release included a collectible stocking gift pack. Official website Seasons of Giving on IMDb Seasons of Giving at The Big Cartoon DataBase
Wolfgang Reitherman
Wolfgang Reitherman known and sometimes credited as Woolie Reitherman, was a German-American animator and producer, one of Disney's Nine Old Men. Reitherman was hired at Walt Disney Productions on May 21, 1933, his first project was working as an animator on the Silly Symphonies cartoon, Funny Little Bunnies. Reitherman continued to work on a number of Disney shorts, including The Band Concert, Music Land, Elmer Elephant, he animated the Slave in the Magic Mirror in the Seven Dwarfs. His next assignments was animating Monstro in Pinocchio, the climactic dinosaur fight in Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring in Fantasia, several scenes of Timothy Q. Mouse in Dumbo. Starting in 1942, Reitherman had left Disney to serve in World War II for the United States Air Force, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross after serving in Africa, China and the South Pacific, he was discharged in February 1946 having earned the rank of Major. Reitherman rejoined Disney in April 1947, where he animated the Headless Horseman chase in "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" section in The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad.
Around this same time, he had claimed he was instrumental in helping Walt Disney commit to producing Cinderella. Reitherman recalled, "I just went in his office which I did, I said,'Gee, that looks great. We ought to do do it.' It might have been a little nudge to say,'Hey, let's get going again and let's do a feature'." On Cinderella, he was the directing animator of the sequence in which Jaq and Gus laboriously push and pull the key up the stairs to Cinderella. On Alice in Wonderland, he animated the scene in which the White Rabbit's home is destroyed by an enlarged Alice. On Peter Pan, he animated the scene of Captain Hook attempting to escape the crocodile. For Lady and the Tramp, Reitherman animated the alley dog fight sequence and Tramp's fight with the rat in the nursery room. Reitherman served as the sequence director of Prince Phillip's climatic fight against Maleficent as a dragon in Sleeping Beauty, directed the "Twilight Bark" sequence for One Hundred and One Dalmatians. Beginning with The Sword in the Stone, he became the first sole director of a Disney animated feature, in direct contrast to having several directors over an animated feature.
Animator Ward Kimball had claimed it was because Reitherman's work compatibility and willingness to accept any project "with a smile" while animator Bob Carlson noted that Disney had trusted Reitherman's decision-making before he would embark on a film project. He would continue to direct The Jungle Book, The Aristocats, Robin Hood, The Rescuers. Additionally, he would direct several animated shorts such as Goliath II and the first two Winnie the Pooh shorts, Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree and Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day, which had won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. While directing The Jungle Book, Reitherman followed the procedure to keep production costs low recalling Walt advising him to "keep the costs down because going to price themselves out of business. So with that piece of advice, with the way he pointed to Jungle Book into entertainment and character development rather than complicated stories that needed a lot of production qualities, he set the course for ten years after his death."
During his tenure, he used "recycled" or limited animation from prior works because it was a safer method for a quality product, though it was in fact more labor-intensive, not because it was cheaper. Reitherman's use of recycling animation proved to be controversial within the studio as animator Milt Kahl lamented its use stating "I detest the use of—it just breaks my heart to see animation from Snow White used in The Rescuers, it kills me, it just embarrasses me to tears." Note this is similar to, but not the same as, rotoscoping. Following The Rescuers, he was slated to direct The Fox and the Hound, but following creative conflicts with co-director Art Stevens, he was taken off the project. Reitherman moved on to several undeveloped animation projects such as Catfish Bend based on the book series by Ben Lucien Burman and Musiciana, a follow-up project to Fantasia in which he co-developed with artist Mel Shaw. In 1980, he developed an adaptation of the children's novel The Little Broomstick by Mary Stewart, but work was discontinued due to the studio's desire for ambitious films such as The Black Cauldron.
In the following year, he retired. Born in Munich, German Empire, Reitherman's family moved to America. After attending Pasadena Junior College and working as a draftsman for Douglas Aircraft, Reitherman returned to school at the Chouinard Art Institute, graduating in 1933. Following his discharge from the Air Force, he married Janie Marie McMillan in November 1946. All three of Reitherman's sons — Bruce and Robert — provided voices for Disney characters, including Mowgli in The Jungle Book, Christopher Robin in Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree, Wart in The Sword in the Stone. On May 22, 1985, Reitherman died in a single-car accident near his Burbank, California home, aged 75. Reitherman was posthumously named a Disney Legend in 1989. Barrier, Michael. Hollywood Cartoons: American Animation in Its Golden Age. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-802079-0. Barrier, Michael; the Animated Man: A Life of Walt Disney. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0520256194.</ref> Canemaker, John. Walt Disney's the Art of Animation.
Disney Editions. ISBN 978-0786864966. Wolfgang Reitherman on IMDb
Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too
Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too is a 1974 animated featurette from Disney released as a double feature with The Island at the Top of the World. It lost to Closed Mondays, it was added as a segment to the 1977 film The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. A soundtrack album was released and featured such songs as "The Honey Tree" and "Birthday, Birthday." The film, whose name is a play on the slogan "Tippecanoe and Tyler too" made famous during the 1840 United States presidential election, is based on the third and seventh chapters from The House at Pooh Corner by A. A. Milne. During the fall, Tigger has been bouncing on anyone he comes across for fun Rabbit when he is gardening, which makes Rabbit angry, so he decides to arrange a meeting with Pooh and Piglet and formulate a plan to prevent Tigger from bouncing: abandon Tigger in the woods, find him the next day so Tigger will stop bouncing on his friends unexpectedly; the plan seems to work, but when Rabbit and Piglet cannot find their way home, Pooh makes a suggestion about following a sandpit in order to find their way out of the forest.
In an attempt to prove Pooh wrong, Rabbit wanders away. Pooh and Piglet fall asleep, but are awakened by Pooh's empty stomach, he explains to Piglet that his twelve honeypots in his cupboard have been calling to his tummy from home and that he couldn't hear them over Rabbit's voice. Pooh and Piglet find their way out of the forest, but are bounced by Tigger. Piglet, realizing that the plan failed, mentions Rabbit's plan, Tigger goes into the forest to find him. Rabbit walks through the darkest part of the forest by himself, is scared by numerous noises such as a caterpillar eating a leaf and frogs croaking. Rabbit tries to run away in a panic. Rabbit is humiliated. Tigger explains to him that "Tiggers never get lost", takes Rabbit home. In the next chapter, wintertime comes and Roo wants to go play. Kanga cannot be with him so she calls on Tigger to look after Roo as long as he comes back in time for Roo's nap. Tigger gladly accepts. Along the way through the woods and Roo see Rabbit skating on the ice.
Tigger tries to teach Roo how to ice skate by doing it himself, but he loses his balance and collides with Rabbit while trying to regain it. In moments Tigger slides into a Rabbit crashes into his house. Tigger decides that he does not like ice skating. On, while bouncing around the woods with Roo on his back, Tigger accidentally jumps to the top of a tall tree and is afraid to climb back down, he gets more scared when Roo uses his tail as a swing, making Tigger think he's "rocking the forest". Meanwhile and Piglet are investigating strange animal tracks that are Tigger and Roo's, they hear Tigger howling, for help and hide. At first, Pooh mistakes Tigger's howl for the sound of a "Jagular". Shortly afterward, Christopher Robin and Kanga arrive and the gang uses Christopher's coat as a net for Tigger and Roo to land in once they jump from the tree. Roo jumps down, but Tigger, still too frightened to move, makes up several excuses to not come down. Rabbit decides that the group will just have to leave Tigger in the tree forever, on which Tigger promises never to bounce again if he is released from his predicament.
At that moment, the narrator chimes in for help. Tigger begs him to "narrate" him down from the tree, he tilts the book sideways, allowing Tigger to step onto the text of the page. Tigger starts to feel better that he made it this far but before he can do otherwise, the narrator tilts the book back the other way, causing Tigger to fall into the snow. Happy, Tigger attempts to bounce. Devastated, Tigger realizes he cannot bounce anymore and walks away and Rabbit feels better that there will be peace, but everyone else does not and felt sad to see Tigger depressed and remind Rabbit of the joy Tigger brought when he was bouncing. Rabbit, realising how selfish he was, shows sympathy for Tigger and takes back the promise they had agreed on. Tigger invites everyone to bounce with him and teaches Rabbit how to do it. For the first time, Rabbit is happy to be bouncing, as is everyone else as Tigger sings his signature song once more before the short closes. Paul Winchell as Tigger Sterling Holloway as Winnie-the-Pooh Junius Matthews as Rabbit Dori Whitaker as Roo John Fiedler as Piglet Timothy Turner as Christopher Robin Barbara Luddy as Kanga Sebastian Cabot as the Narrator In 1975, Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too won the Grammy Award for Best Album for Children.
It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short. Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore The film's plot is based on three A. A. Milne stories: "In which Pooh & Piglet go hunting and nearly catch a Woozle", "In which Tigger is unbounced", "In which it is shown that Tiggers don't climb trees", List of American films of 1974 Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too on IMDb Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too at the TCM Movie Database
E. H. Shepard
Ernest Howard Shepard OBE, MC was an English artist and book illustrator. He is known for illustrations of the anthropomorphic soft toy and animal characters in The Wind in the Willows and Winnie-the-Pooh. Shepard was born in London. Having shown some promise in drawing at St Paul's School, in 1897 he enrolled in the Heatherley School of Fine Art in Chelsea. After a productive year there, he attended the Royal Academy Schools, winning a Landseer scholarship in 1899 and a British Institute prize in 1900. There he met Florence Eleanor Chaplin, whom he married in 1904. By 1906 Shepard had become a successful illustrator, having produced work for illustrated editions of Aesop's Fables, David Copperfield, Tom Brown's Schooldays, while at the same time working as an illustrator on the staff of Punch; the couple bought a house in London, but near Guildford. Shepard was a prolific painter, he exhibited at the Royal Society of Artists, Birmingham—a traditional venue for generic painters—as well as in the more radical atmosphere of Glasgow's Institute of Fine Arts, where some of the most innovative artists were on show.
He was twice an exhibitor at the prestigious Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool, one of the largest and most important provincial galleries in the country, another at the Manchester Art Gallery, a Victorian institution now part of the public libraries. But at heart, Shepard was a Londoner, his wife, a painter, found a home in London's West End venue for her own modest output during a 25-year career. Although in his mid-thirties when World War I broke out in 1914, Shepard received a commission as a second lieutenant in the Royal Garrison Artillery, an arm of the Royal Artillery, he was assigned to 105th Siege Battery, which crossed to France in May 1916. and went into action at the Battle of the Somme. By the autumn of 1916, Shepard started working for the Intelligence Department sketching the combat area within the view of his battery position. On 16 February 1917, he was made an acting captain whilst second-in-command of his battery, served as an acting major in late April and early May of that year during the Battle of Arras before reverting to acting captain.
He was promoted to substantive lieutenant on 1 July 1917. Whilst acting as Captain, he was awarded the Military Cross, his citation read: For conspicuous devotion to duty. As forward Observation Officer he continued to observe and send back valuable information, in spite of heavy shell and machine gun fire, his courage and coolness were conspicuous. In 1917 105th Siege Battery participated in the final stages of the Battle of Passchendaele where it came under heavy fire and suffered a number of casualties. At the end of the year it was sent to help retrieve a disastrous situation on the Italian Front, travelling by rail via Verona before coming into action on the Montello Hill. Shepard missed the Second Battle of the Piave River in April 1918, being on leave in England and attending a gunnery course, he was back in Italy with his battery for the final victory at Vittorio Veneto. After the Armistice of Villa Giusti in November 1918, Shepard was promoted to acting major in command of the battery, given the duty of administering captured enemy guns.
Demobilisation began at Christmas 1918 and 105th Siege Battery was disbanded in March 1919. Throughout the war he had been contributing to Punch, he was hired as a regular staff cartoonist in 1921 and became lead cartoonist in 1945. He was removed from this post in 1953 by Malcolm Muggeridge. Shepard was recommended to A. A. Milne in 1923 by E. V. Lucas. Milne thought Shepard's style was not what he wanted, but used him to illustrate the book of poems When We Were Very Young. Happy with the results, Milne insisted Shepard illustrate Winnie-the-Pooh. Realising his illustrator's contribution to the book's success, the writer arranged for Shepard to receive a share of his royalties. Milne inscribed a copy of Winnie-the-Pooh with the following personal verse: Eventually Shepard came to resent "that silly old bear" as he felt that the Pooh illustrations overshadowed his other work. Shepard modelled Pooh not on the toy owned by Milne's son Christopher Robin but on "Growler", a stuffed bear owned by his own son.
His Pooh work is so famous that 300 of his preliminary sketches were exhibited at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1969, when he was 90 years old. A Shepard painting of Winnie the Pooh, believed to have been painted in the 1930s for a Bristol teashop, is his only known oil painting of the famous teddy bear, it was purchased at an auction for $243,000 in London late in 2000. The painting is displayed in the Pavilion Gallery at Assiniboine Park in Winnipeg, Canada. Shepard wrote two autobiographies: Drawn from Drawn From Life. In 1972, Shepard gave his personal collection of papers and illustrations to the University of Surrey; these now form the E. H. Shepard Archive. Shepard was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 1972 Birthday Honours. Shepard lived from 1955 in Lodsworth, West Sussex, he and Florence had two children and Mary, who both became illustrators. Lt. Graham Shepard died when his ship HMS Polyanthus was sunk by German submarine U-952 in September 1943. Mary married E.
V. Knox, the editor of Punch, became known as the illustrator of the Mary Poppins
