{"id":63684,"date":"2021-03-02T00:01:41","date_gmt":"2021-03-02T08:01:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/?p=63684"},"modified":"2021-03-02T18:15:57","modified_gmt":"2021-03-03T02:15:57","slug":"disney-winnie-the-pooh-stories-that-premiered-on-records","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/index.php\/disney-winnie-the-pooh-stories-that-premiered-on-records\/","title":{"rendered":"Disney “Winnie the Pooh” Stories That Premiered on Records"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"After The Sword in the Stone<\/em> in 1963, the next feature-length Walt Disney animated film with all the songs by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman was to be Winnie the Pooh<\/em>. Then Walt had a different idea.<\/p>\n

As they explained in their autobiography, Walt\u2019s Time<\/em> (edited by Bruce Gordon, David Mumford and Jeff Kurtti), \u201cWe had completed songs for about two-thirds of the film when Walt stunned everyone by announcing that, since not many children outside of England had heard of \u201cthe bear with very little brain,\u201d he intended to \u201cplatform\u201d the feature by dividing the feature into three separate featurettes of 26 minutes each.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pooh and his Hundred Acre Wood friends were not exactly anonymous in America. Both literary entities were beloved by many in the U.S. Shirley Temple presented a one-hour adaptation of Pooh stories on her weekly NBC musical series<\/a>. Jimmy Stewart narrated several stories for RCA children\u2019s records<\/a>. But like Mary Poppins<\/em>, a big-screen adaptation had the potential to create a much wider phenomenon (and of course both did).<\/p>\n

Walt (and perhaps also Roy O. Disney) may have also been acutely aware of other advantages of presenting Pooh<\/em> in featurette form. A short film was less expensive and a lower risk. When attached to a modest comedy feature it could catapult both into box-office success. With virtually no regular short cartoons in production it kept the artists busy, too. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>And so, fifty-five years ago this year, Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree<\/em> was released with the Dean Jones comedy The Ugly Dachshund<\/em> and struck gold. Pooh gradually became a major Disney franchise and every division of the Walt Disney Studios found their way to Rabbit\u2019s table. As have so many of Walt\u2019s original plans, it succeeded decades beyond and is still earning rewards today.<\/p>\n

Disneyland Records President Jimmy Johnson, had created, sustained and finally brought the in-house record company to full fruition by aggressively petitioning Roy to keep the Mary Poppins<\/em> soundtrack album with the company\u2019s still-new Buena Vista label instead of licensing it externally. He did it be successfully promoting and marketing the one disc as well as dozens of component records (second cast, singles, book sets, etc.). There would be no Walt Disney Records today without this groundwork. With these learnings he could see even more potential in Pooh<\/em> than in Poppins<\/em>. Disneyland Record set forth the produce and release records and books related to Pooh than any other characters up to that date in Disney history.<\/p>\n

The short form style of the Milne books lent themselves to multiple records, books and packaging. Johnson also had the good fortune of having hired Tutti Camarata, an arranger, conductor, songwriter, musician, producer and experienced Anglophile. Tutti\u2019s role in the success of the Poppins and Pooh music is well worth noting. Here\u2019s some background. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>When the Shermans first found themselves assigned to the Milne books, they admitted that they found them to be \u201ckiddie nonsense.\u201d It was Julie Andrews\u2019 then-husband, award-winning designer Tony Walton, who explained what Pooh meant to him as a British child. \u201cSoon we started to fall in love with Pooh ourselves,\u201d they wrote. \u201cOur songs for Winnie the Pooh<\/em> were truly a love affair, thanks to A.A. Milne and to Tony Walton, who loved him as a little boy.\u201d<\/p>\n

A New Jersey native after many years in America working with such names as Jimmy Dorsey, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday and Bing Crosby, he moved to England as an executive at London\u2019s Decca label and got a vast knowledge of the musical styles and talents in the British industry. When the Sherman Brothers were working on Mary Poppins<\/em>, Tutti shared his knowledge of British musical theater and music hall form and style.<\/p>\n

Music of this knowledge and enthusiasm came into play as well with the Winnie the Pooh<\/em> records. When Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree<\/em> was released to theaters, Disneyland had produced several successful tie-in records. The film, the records and related merchandise were highly successful, so Johnson and Camarata planned a greater number of Disneyland Records for 1968, the year Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day was to pair with another Dean Jones comedy, The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit<\/em>, for the Christmas season.<\/p>\n

\n

WHEN WE WERE VERY YOUNG<\/strong><\/p>\n

In June of 1968, the first non-film related Pooh\/Milne Disneyland album was released. When We Were Very Young<\/em> is a collection of poems that had already been set to exquisite music by Harold Fraser-Simson that dated back to 1926. Several were very popular throughout the years, particularly this version by a young Petula Clark<\/a>. Another called \u201cHalfway Down the Stairs\u201d became a favorite to Muppet fans after Robin sang it on the classic TV series<\/a>. Ten of these songs were released on an excellent Disneyland Storyteller album with Camarata and The Mike Sammes Singers. <\/p>\n