A Rather Blustery Day
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''Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day'' is a 1968 American
animated Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most anim ...
featurette In the American film industry, a featurette is a kind of film that is shorter than a full-length feature, but longer than a short film. The term may refer to either of two types of content: a shorter film or a companion film. Medium-length film ...
based on the third, fifth, ninth, and tenth chapters of ''
Winnie-the-Pooh Winnie-the-Pooh, also called Pooh Bear and Pooh, is a fictional Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic teddy bear created by English author A. A. Milne and English illustrator E. H. Shepard. The first collection of stories about the character w ...
'' and the second, eighth, and ninth chapters from ''
The House at Pooh Corner ''The House at Pooh Corner'' (1928) is the second volume of stories about Winnie-the-Pooh, written by A. A. Milne and illustrated by E. H. Shepard. It is notable for the introduction of the character Tigger. Plot The title comes from a sto ...
'' by
A. A. Milne Alan Alexander Milne (; 18 January 1882 – 31 January 1956) was an English writer best known for his books about the teddy bear Winnie-the-Pooh, as well as for children's poetry. Milne was primarily a playwright before the huge success of Winni ...
. The featurette was directed by
Wolfgang Reitherman Wolfgang Reitherman (June 26, 1909 – May 22, 1985), also known and sometimes credited as Woolie Reitherman, was a German–American animator, director and producer and one of the "Disney's Nine Old Men, Nine Old Men" of core animators at Walt ...
, produced by
Walt Disney Productions The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
and released by
Buena Vista Distribution Company Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, formerly known as Buena Vista Pictures Distribution, Inc. until 2007, is an American film distribution studio within the Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution division of The Walt Disney Company. It ha ...
on December 20, 1968 as a double feature with the live-action comedy feature ''
The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit ''The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit'' is a 1968 American comedy film directed by Norman Tokar, with a screenplay by Louis Pelletier and starring Dean Jones (actor), Dean Jones, Diane Baker, Ellen Janov, Kurt Russell and Lurene Tuttle, as well a ...
''. This was the second of the studio's ''
Winnie the Pooh Winnie-the-Pooh, also called Pooh Bear and Pooh, is a fictional Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic teddy bear created by English author A. A. Milne and English illustrator E. H. Shepard. The first collection of stories about the character w ...
'' theatrical featurettes. It was later added as a segment to the 1977 film ''
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh ''The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh'' is a 1977 American animated musical anthology comedy film produced by Walt Disney Productions and distributed by Buena Vista Distribution. It is the 22nd Disney animated feature film and was first rel ...
''. The music was written by
Richard M. Sherman Richard Morton Sherman (born June 12, 1928) is an American songwriter who specialized in musical films with his brother Robert B. Sherman. According to the official Walt Disney Company website and independent fact checkers, "the Sherman Brothers ...
and
Robert B. Sherman Robert Bernard Sherman (December 19, 1925 – March 6, 2012) was an American songwriter, best known for his work in musical films with his brother, Richard M. Sherman. The Sherman brothers produced more motion picture song scores than any ...
. It was notable for being the last animated short produced by
Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...
, who died of lung cancer in December 1966, two years before its release. It starred the voices of Sterling Holloway as Winnie the Pooh, Jon Walmsley as Christopher Robin (replaced
Bruce Reitherman Bruce Reitherman (born September 15, 1955) is an American filmmaker and former child actor. He voiced Christopher Robin in ''Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree'' and Mowgli in ''The Jungle Book''. Life and work Born in Burbank, California, ...
), Barbara Luddy as Kanga, Clint Howard as Roo, Paul Winchell as Tigger, Ralph Wright as Eeyore, Hal Smith as Owl, Howard Morris as Gopher, John Fiedler as Piglet, Junius Matthews as Rabbit, and Sebastian Cabot as the narrator. ''Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day'' won the 1968 Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. The Academy Award was awarded posthumously to Disney. This was also the only ''Winnie the Pooh'' production to ever win an Academy Award. ('' Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too'', which was released six years later in December 1974, was nominated for the same Academy Award, but lost to '' Closed Mondays''.) The animated featurette also served as an inspiration for the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh ride in the Disney theme parks in which the rider experiences several scenes from the cartoon, including Pooh's Heffalump and Woozle dream.


Sources

The film's plot is based primarily on seven A. A. Milne stories: "In which Eeyore finds the Wolery and Owl moves into it" (Chapter IX from ''
The House at Pooh Corner ''The House at Pooh Corner'' (1928) is the second volume of stories about Winnie-the-Pooh, written by A. A. Milne and illustrated by E. H. Shepard. It is notable for the introduction of the character Tigger. Plot The title comes from a sto ...
'') "In which Tigger comes to the forest and has breakfast" (Chapter II from ''
The House at Pooh Corner ''The House at Pooh Corner'' (1928) is the second volume of stories about Winnie-the-Pooh, written by A. A. Milne and illustrated by E. H. Shepard. It is notable for the introduction of the character Tigger. Plot The title comes from a sto ...
''), "In which Pooh & Piglet go hunting and nearly catch a Woozle" (Chapter III of ''Winnie the Pooh''), "In which Piglet does a very grand thing" (Chapter VIII from ''
The House at Pooh Corner ''The House at Pooh Corner'' (1928) is the second volume of stories about Winnie-the-Pooh, written by A. A. Milne and illustrated by E. H. Shepard. It is notable for the introduction of the character Tigger. Plot The title comes from a sto ...
''), "In which Christopher Robin gives a Pooh Party and we say goodbye" (Chapter X of ''
Winnie-the-Pooh Winnie-the-Pooh, also called Pooh Bear and Pooh, is a fictional Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic teddy bear created by English author A. A. Milne and English illustrator E. H. Shepard. The first collection of stories about the character w ...
'') and "In which Piglet is entirely surrounded by water" (Chapter IX of ''
Winnie-the-Pooh Winnie-the-Pooh, also called Pooh Bear and Pooh, is a fictional Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic teddy bear created by English author A. A. Milne and English illustrator E. H. Shepard. The first collection of stories about the character w ...
''), with elements taken from "In which Piglet meets a Heffalump" (Chapter V from ''
Winnie-the-Pooh Winnie-the-Pooh, also called Pooh Bear and Pooh, is a fictional Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic teddy bear created by English author A. A. Milne and English illustrator E. H. Shepard. The first collection of stories about the character w ...
'': Winnie the Pooh's nightmare of Heffalumps and Woozles). 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'', then having the inspiration of using Christopher Robin's umbrella to carry them both to Piglet's house.


Plot

On a very windy day, Winnie the Pooh visits his "thoughtful spot". As Pooh sits thinking, Gopher pops out of the ground and advises him to leave as it is a " Winds-day". Misunderstanding Gopher's warning, Pooh goes across the Hundred Acre Wood to wish everyone a happy Winds-day. He arrives at the beech tree home of his good friend Piglet, who is nearly blown away while trying to rake leaves. Pooh grabs Piglet by his scarf, like the string of a kite. They pass by Kanga and
Roo Roo is a fictional character created in 1926 by A. A. Milne and first featured in the book ''Winnie-the-Pooh''. He is a young kangaroo (known as a joey) and his mother is Kanga. Like most other Pooh characters, Roo is based on a stuffed toy an ...
; Eeyore, whose stick house Pooh breaks as he passes; and
Rabbit Rabbits, also known as bunnies or bunny rabbits, are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also contains the hares) of the order Lagomorpha (which also contains the pikas). ''Oryctolagus cuniculus'' includes the European rabbit speci ...
, whose carrots Pooh inadvertently helps harvest as he slides by. The wind blows Pooh and Piglet 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 In European tradition, a zephyr is a light wind or a west wind, named after Zephyrus, the Greek god or personification of the west wind. Zephyr may also refer to: Arts and media Fiction Fiction media * ''Zephyr'' (film), a 2010 Turkish ...
". As Owl tells Pooh and Piglet some of the adventures of his relatives, the strong wind causes his tree to sway. It collapses, taking the house with it; Owl briefly suspects Pooh caused this.
Christopher Robin Christopher Robin is a character created by A. A. Milne, based on his son Christopher Robin Milne. The character appears in the author's popular books of poetry and ''Winnie-the-Pooh'' stories, and has subsequently appeared in various Disney a ...
and the others soon hear of the news and rush to the scene; as Owl's house is wrecked beyond the point of repair, Eeyore volunteers to seek out a new house for Owl, who proceeds to tell the others more stories for quite some time, boring them. As night falls, the wind is still blowing, and Pooh is kept awake by noises outside. He opens his door for a visitor: Tigger, who introduces himself with his signature song ("The Wonderful Thing About Tiggers") before stating that he has come looking for something to eat. Disgusted by the taste of Pooh's honey, Tigger tells him that there are Heffalumps and Woozles in the forest that steal honey before departing. Frightened by Tigger's words, Pooh stays up to guard his honey but falls asleep as a thunderstorm brews. After he has a nightmare about Heffalumps and Woozles stealing his honey and chasing him around, Pooh wakes up in a flood caused by the storm. In the flood, Piglet is washed away from his home in a floating chair, but not before he manages to write a message in a bottle for help. Pooh manages to escape to higher ground with ten honey pots, only to also be washed away by the rising waters. Kanga, Roo, Rabbit, and Tigger gather at
Christopher Robin Christopher Robin is a character created by A. A. Milne, based on his son Christopher Robin Milne. The character appears in the author's popular books of poetry and ''Winnie-the-Pooh'' stories, and has subsequently appeared in various Disney a ...
's house, the only place in the Hundred Acre Wood that isn't flooded, while Eeyore continues house hunting for Owl. Roo finds Piglet's bottle, and Owl flies off to tell Piglet that help is on the way. Owl eventually finds Piglet as well as Pooh, but before he can inform them of the impending rescue – and tell another boring story – a waterfall threatens to carry them all over the side. Pooh switches places with Piglet as they take the plunge, and the waterfall washes them right into Christopher Robin's yard. Thinking that Pooh has rescued Piglet, Christopher Robin tells Pooh he is a hero. Once the flood has subsided, Christopher Robin throws a party for Pooh, where Eeyore announces he has found a new home for Owl. He leads everyone to his discovery which, known to everyone except Owl and Eeyore, is Piglet's house. Piglet generously lets Owl have his home, despite having nowhere else to live himself. Pooh then invites Piglet to move into his home, which Piglet happily accepts, and at Pooh's request Christopher Robin declares the occasion a "two hero party".


Voice cast

* Sterling Holloway as Winnie the Pooh, an anthropomorphic
bear Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae. They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Nor ...
who loves eating
honey Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of plants (primar ...
. * Paul Winchell as Tigger, a tiger who loves to bounce on his tail. * John Fiedler as Piglet, a small pig and Pooh's best friend who fears nearly everything. * Clint Howard as Roo, Kanga's energetic young joey. * Barbara Luddy as Kanga, a kangaroo and Roo's mother. * Ralph Wright as Eeyore, an old grey
donkey The domestic donkey is a hoofed mammal in the family Equidae, the same family as the horse. It derives from the African wild ass, ''Equus africanus'', and may be classified either as a subspecies thereof, ''Equus africanus asinus'', or as a ...
who is always losing his tail and talks in a slow and deep depressing voice. * Hal Smith as Owl, an owl who loves to talk about his family. * Junius Matthews as Rabbit, a
rabbit Rabbits, also known as bunnies or bunny rabbits, are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also contains the hares) of the order Lagomorpha (which also contains the pikas). ''Oryctolagus cuniculus'' includes the European rabbit speci ...
who is obsessive-compulsive and loves planting his vegetables in his garden. * Jon Walmsley as Christopher Robin, a 7-year-old boy and Pooh's human best friend. * Howard Morris as Gopher, a hardworking gopher who lives underground and often falls into his hole. * The Mellomen as the Singers * Sebastian Cabot as Mr. Narrator


Production

Shortly before Walt Disney's death in December 1966, the animation department was finishing work on ''
The Jungle Book ''The Jungle Book'' (1894) is a collection of stories by the English author Rudyard Kipling. Most of the characters are animals such as Shere Khan the tiger and Baloo the bear, though a principal character is the boy or "man-cub" Mowgli, ...
'' and preparing for '' The Aristocats''. In late summer 1967, before ''The Aristocats'' went into production, it was decided to go ahead with a featurette-length sequel to '' Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree''. Because ''The Honey Tree'' was popular with American audiences, it was decided ''Blustery Day'' would be the first animation project without Disney. Under the new circumstances, the " Nine Old Men" animators Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston, and Milt Kahl were brought onto the project.
Wolfgang Reitherman Wolfgang Reitherman (June 26, 1909 – May 22, 1985), also known and sometimes credited as Woolie Reitherman, was a German–American animator, director and producer and one of the "Disney's Nine Old Men, Nine Old Men" of core animators at Walt ...
remained as director, but he decided to feel more faithful to the source material. During a story meeting for the short, Disney considered Wally Boag to be perfect for the role of Tigger, who was added to the short. However, after Disney's death, Boag's performance of the character was considered to be "too zany for a children's film," and Paul Winchell, a ventriloquist, took the job instead. Following a British backlash to ''The Honey Tree'' led by film critic
Felix Barker Richard Felix Raine Barker (7 May 1917 – 11 July 1997) was an English journalist, drama critic and historian. He is known for having been the youngest dramatic critic on Fleet Street. Biography Barker was born in London on 7 May 1917, the so ...
, Piglet was added to the short. For the part, Disney had heard John Fiedler's voice on television and selected him to voice the character. Although Fiedler's natural speaking voice was higher than most men's, he still had to raise it considerably to achieve the character's high pitch.


Release

In anticipation of the short's release, Los Angeles Mayor Sam Yorty proclaimed October 25, 1968 as "Winnie the Pooh Day". Starting from Disneyland, Pooh and several other characters made personal appearances in several Sears stores throughout 25 cities in the United States to help promote merchandise. The film was released on December 20, 1968 in the United States, as a supplement to Disney's live-action comedy feature ''
The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit ''The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit'' is a 1968 American comedy film directed by Norman Tokar, with a screenplay by Louis Pelletier and starring Dean Jones (actor), Dean Jones, Diane Baker, Ellen Janov, Kurt Russell and Lurene Tuttle, as well a ...
''. It would later be included as a segment in ''
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh ''The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh'' is a 1977 American animated musical anthology comedy film produced by Walt Disney Productions and distributed by Buena Vista Distribution. It is the 22nd Disney animated feature film and was first rel ...
'', which included the two other Pooh featurettes, released on March 11, 1977. Like ''Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree'', ''Blustery Day'' also had its television premiere on November 30, 1970 as a special on the NBC television network. Like both specials, both Pooh specials ran throughout most of the 1970s and was sponsored by Sears, who was then the exclusive provider of Pooh merchandise. On March 5, 1989, the film was re-aired on NBC's '' Magical World of Disney''.


Home media

The film was released on VHS and
Betamax Betamax (also known as Beta, as in its logo) is a consumer-level analog recording and cassette format of magnetic tape for video, commonly known as a video cassette recorder. It was developed by Sony and was released in Japan on May 10, 1975, ...
in 1986. It was re-released in 1989, 1991, 1993, 1994 and 1997, and on July 11, 2000 as part of the ''Storybook Classics Collection''. This short also shows up as a bonus feature on the 2006 DVD release of '' Pooh's Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin''. It was also released on the Super 8mm film format by Derann in the early 2000s, making it one of the company's final and rarest films released, with only twelve copies made.


Music

All songs were written by
Robert and Richard Sherman The Sherman Brothers were an American songwriting duo that specialized in musical films, made up of Robert B. Sherman (December 19, 1925 – March 6, 2012) and Richard M. Sherman (born June 12, 1928). Together they received various accolades in ...
, who wrote most of the music for the '' Winnie-the-Pooh'' franchise over the years, subsequently incorporated into the
1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic R ...
musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, but in some cases, they serve merely as breaks ...
, ''
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh ''The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh'' is a 1977 American animated musical anthology comedy film produced by Walt Disney Productions and distributed by Buena Vista Distribution. It is the 22nd Disney animated feature film and was first rel ...
'' which is an amalgamation of the three previous Winnie-the-Pooh featurettes. In advance of the featurette's release, Disneyland Records released several LP albums accompanied with a read-along book. The first one was titled ''Walt Disney Presents Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day'' and released in 1967. Sterling Holloway served as both the narrator and the voice of Pooh on the album. Distinctively from the featurette, Sam Edwards sang as Tigger.


Winnie the Pooh featurettes

*'' Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree'' (1966) *''Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day'' (1968) *'' Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too'' (1974) *''
Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore ''Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore'' is a 1983 American animated featurette based on the sixth chapter of both books ''Winnie-the-Pooh'' and '' The House at Pooh Corner'' by A.A. Milne. Produced by Walt Disney Productions and distributed by B ...
'' (1983)


See also

* List of American films of 1968


References


Bibliography

*


External links

* {{Authority control 1960s English-language films 1968 short films Best Animated Short Academy Award winners 1960s musical drama films 1960s Disney animated short films Short films with live action and animation Winnie-the-Pooh featurettes 1968 animated films Musicals by the Sherman Brothers Animated films set in England Animated musical films Short films directed by Wolfgang Reitherman Films produced by Walt Disney Winnie the Pooh (franchise) Films scored by Buddy Baker (composer) American animated featurettes 1968 drama films 1960s children's animated films Films about toys Films with screenplays by Winston Hibler