I have often discussed my abiding adoration of the Bear of Little Brain (and no, I’m NOT talking about Bob!) so it was with great excitement and anticipation that I read that Winnie the Pooh had entered the public domain this year.
This means that anyone can include Pooh Bear and his friends, and representations thereof, in their own creative works! This only applies to the original A.A. Milne/ Earnest H. Shepard version, which is fine, since I have always considered the Big Mouse World version as a crime against art. My first introduction to the World of Pooh Bear was via the original (and far superior) black and white drawings. I still think they are what made me want to be an artist, and maybe led me to making stories with pandas.
Of course, there must be a commemorative ‘toon for the occasion!
We’ll have to wait a few more years for Tigger, as he first appears in the 1928 House at Pooh Corner, which is not yet in the public domain!
Be the Bear!
Bob T Panda
I am over the moon! I visited the Pooh sculpture in London over 2 decades ago, to the chagrin of my new husband who was in a more honeyMOONish mood… And I have had a long love affair with the Bear of Very Little Brain!
I feel like us “Pooh People” need a support group or something. If you have access to London, may I recommend visiting the V & A, making an appointment in the Prints and Drawing study center, where you can request to see actual sketches from House at Pooh Corner. You have to make an appointment, but it’s free and not too hard. I think I found the phone number on the museum website. Not sure they are open with all the covid stuff, but if you ever have the chance to do this, it will be the highlight of your life. Where is the Pooh sculpture? I sort of feel like I have a vague memory of seeing it, but it was overwhelmed by the drawings.
Always wonderful to hear from a kindred spirit!
Oh how I love Winnie The Pooh. I could not wait for my boys to be old enough to sit still while I read those wonderful stories to them each night. I have all the books and I still like to read then now and then and I have a Winnie the Pooh stuffed ….um….thingy to hug on days when life has been too much (like the past two years? And the years when the Idiot sat in the White House!) To me, Winnie exhibits pure love.
You speak the truth! Pooh Bear is all good things, even if he isn’t wearing pants! I keep a copy at all times, and reading it can soothe the worst mood. He inspires my pandas. I suspect most, if not all, fans of our black and white bears have an abiding love for the bear of little brain.