🐻 Pooh: A silly old bear made of stuff, fluff, and cash.

He’s friendly, loyal, a creative problem solver, and—by his own admission—doesn’t have much between the ears. But Winnie the Pooh is more than just a worldwide children’s phenomenon: He’s a case study in the corrosive effects of commerce. Across the globe, children, adults, and even the sulky ones in between are familiar with Winnie the Pooh and the whole gang. For nearly a century, entire generations have grown up with a catalog of works that just keeps expanding, as clever marketers re-stuff Pooh into new films, TV shows, games, books, and—perhaps most of all—endless arrays of merchandise. Disney’s latest installment, out this month, features a a live-action, grownup Christopher Robin, who rediscovers how whimsical life can be by revisiting the scene of his childhood imaginings—complete with CGI renderings of his walking, talking, humming, honey-eating friends. Depending on your own level of whimsy, Christopher Robin may be a welcome return to the world of the Hundred Acre Wood; if you’re feeling a little more Eeyore, it’s a cynical attempt to wring some money from a hard-won intellectual property deal. That’s the Pooh phenomenon: both cheerful and cynical. The lovable bear was created by a talented writer who wanted to delight his own child, and the plan worked so well that it turned into a financial honeypot. Thus, the modern licensing agreement—perhaps the least whimsical of business deals—was born. 🐦 [Tweet this!]( 🌐 [View this email on the web]( [Quartz Obsession] Winnie the Pooh August 10, 2018 In which we are introduced --------------------------------------------------------------- He’s friendly, loyal, a creative problem solver, and—by his own admission—doesn’t have much between the ears. But Winnie the Pooh is more than just a worldwide children’s phenomenon: He’s a case study in the corrosive effects of commerce. Across the globe, children, adults, and even the sulky ones in between are familiar with Winnie the Pooh and the whole gang. For nearly a century, entire generations have grown up with a catalog of works that just keeps expanding, as clever marketers re-stuff Pooh into new films, TV shows, games, books, and—perhaps most of all—endless arrays of merchandise. Disney’s latest installment, out this month, features a a live-action, grownup Christopher Robin, who rediscovers how whimsical life can be by revisiting the scene of his childhood imaginings—complete with CGI renderings of his walking, talking, humming, honey-eating friends. Depending on your own level of whimsy, Christopher Robin may be a welcome return to the world of the Hundred Acre Wood; if you’re feeling a little more Eeyore, it’s a cynical attempt to wring some money from a hard-won intellectual property deal. That’s the Pooh phenomenon: both cheerful and cynical. The lovable bear was created by a talented writer who wanted to delight his own child, and the plan worked so well that it turned into a financial honeypot. Thus, the modern licensing agreement—perhaps the least whimsical of business deals—was born. 🐦 [Tweet this!]( 🌐 [View this email on the web]( History lesson In which a little boy is thrust into the spotlight --------------------------------------------------------------- Before Disney got its white gloves on the chubby little cash cow, there was Alan Alexander Milne (1882-1956), a writer who was [“swallowed up by his own creation]( Milne was a playwright, a novelist, and an essayist who never set out to be a children’s author, much less exploit the childhood of his son, Christopher Robin Milne. But A.A. hadn’t banked on just how high Pooh’s star would rise, and how difficult it would be to separate his reputation as a writer from his most well-known creation—one that many peers ridiculed as cutesy-wutesy drivel. Frank Cottrell-Boyce’s screenplay Goodbye Christopher Robin, which was released as a live action feature in 2017, explores the pitfalls within the Hundred Acre Wood. Christopher Robin Milne stated in his memoir, The Enchanted Places, that he “quite liked being famous” until he was sent to boarding school. “For it was now that began that love-hate relationship with my fictional namesake that has continued to this day.” Giphy Quotable “It is more fun to talk with someone who doesn’t use long, difficult words but rather short, easy words like ‘What about lunch?’” —Pooh, in Winnie-the-Pooh Timeline In which a children’s story becomes a business --------------------------------------------------------------- [1926:]( A.A. Milne publishes Winnie-the-Pooh, a companion book to his book of children’s verse When We Were Very Young, which also mentions the bear. The original copyright term was 28 years, with an option to renew for another 28. [1930:]( Milne and Stephen Slesinger sign a deal in which the latter gets to merchandise Pooh, in exchange for 66% in royalties and a $1,000 one-time payment to Milne. [1931:]( Pooh becomes a $50 million business. [1949:]( Christopher Robin Milne marries his first cousin, Lesley de Sélincourt. [1956:]( Milne dies, passing his rights to his wife, Dorothy “Daphne” Milne. Shortly thereafter, Christopher’s daughter, Clare Milne, is born, and diagnosed with severe cerebral palsy. [1961:]( Shirley Slesinger, the widow of Stephen Slesinger, sells the rights to Winnie-the-Pooh to Disney, which dropped the hyphens. The Slesinger estate was supposed to retain 2% of the franchise’s revenue. [1966:]( Disney releases the first of many, many Pooh films, with a short called Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree. While Slesinger had made Pooh a lucrative product, Disney made the bear into a cash-printing machine. [1991:]( A complex legal battle ensues between Slesinger and Disney over allegedly under-reported revenue. Private detectives are hired to sort through Disney’s trash, and Disney is accused of destroying thousands of documents. [2003:]( Christopher’s daughter Clare joins the legal fray, claiming that a new copyright law actually means that she, not the Slesingers, own the rights to Pooh. Disney backs her claim, but it is ultimately dismissed. [2009:]( The case is finally settled, and nothing much changes in the way of the royalty agreement. Slesinger is denied the $2 billion in damages she requested. [2013:]( A Variety article lists Winnie the Pooh as the third-most lucrative licensed Disney franchise, behind Star Wars and Disney Princess. Fun fact Winnie ille Pu, a Latin translation by Alexander Lenard of Milne’s book, was published in 1958 and made it to the the New York Times Best Seller List, becoming the only Latin book ever to do so. It also [has its own entry on the Latin Wikipedia]( Vicipaedia. Reuters/Simon Dawson By the numbers [£430,000:]( Amount EH Shepard’s original Hundred Acre Wood sketch fetched at a Sotheby’s auction in July of this year. [6,080:]( Official number of acres in Ashdown Forest, the real-life setting for the Hundred Acre Wood. [1:]( Number of sticks needed to become a poohsticks competitor. [150,000:]( Copies of Winnie-the-Pooh sold in the US in the book’s first three months. [20 million:]( Copies of Winnie the Pooh books sold as of 2015. [$5.5 billion:]( Global sales of Winnie the Pooh merchandise as of 2011. [25%:]( Estimated share of Disney’s revenue attributable to Winnie the Pooh in 2002. [$1 million:]( Cost of a “Pooh revenue” audit during the Disney/Slesinger legal battle. In which we take you down this 🐻 hole Benjamin Hoff, author of the bestselling Tao of Pooh and Te of Piglet, used Pooh characters (licensed from the Milne estate for a handsome fee) to make Taoist principles accessible and relatable for Westerners. Pooh, he found, [generated just the right amount of “happy serenity,”]( as is evidenced in the bear’s cheerful “Tiddley Pom” song: “The snow just keeps on snowing, and that’s okay.” Giphy Pessimists unite! In which we defend Eeyore --------------------------------------------------------------- If you look at Pooh’s donkey friend as an impossible-to-please Debbie Downer, you’re missing out on the importance of an archetypal outsider. [As Chris Cox writes in the Guardian]( “Melancholy often teeters on the brink of absurdity, and Eeyore regularly falls over the edge. Take the classic scene in The House at Pooh Corner when Eeyore tumbles into the stream after the irrepressible Tigger bounces up behind him and takes him by surprise. The image of Eeyore, floating around in circles with his feet in the air, trying to maintain his sombre demeanor, is desperately funny and sad.” And without Eeyore as his foil, Pooh wouldn’t be quite as charming in his generosity, his spontaneity, and his general contentedness. Also: [it feels wickedly good]( when Eeyore hits his irrepressible tubby friend with a real zinger. Quotable “We can’t all, and some of us don’t. That’s all there is to it.” —Eeyore, in Winnie-the-Pooh Giphy Quiz Piglet has a sign above his house that says: Trespassers WFrances HaKeep OutNo Heffalumps Correct. Correct! He tells Pooh it’s named after his grandfather, Trespassers William. Incorrect. No, but we can see Piglet getting into that. If your inbox doesn’t support this quiz, find the solution at bottom of email. Origin story In which a real bear lends its name --------------------------------------------------------------- Winnie-the-Pooh’s utterly unique name came from the mouths of babes—the real Christopher Robin reportedly named his stuffed animal friend after a live bear named Winnie that he saw at the zoo, combined it with the name of a swan he knew named Pooh, and added the “the” because, well, kids are weird sometimes. Winnie the actual bear was brought to London during World War I by a soldier named Harry Colebourn, who bought her from a trapper as a cub and made her the unofficial mascot of his regiment. Colebourn named the cub after his hometown of Winnipeg, Canada; when the army moved to France, he decided Winnie was best left in the care of professionals. In 2015, [Canadian author and Colebourn’s great-granddaughter Lindsay Mattick]( penned a children’s book called Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World’s Most Famous Bear, which won the Caldecott Medal, a picture book’s highest honor, for illustrator Sophie Blackall. Pooh illustrator E.H. Shepard was about a decade too early to bag the medal for himself—the Caldecott didn’t get going until 1937—and, like his friend Milne, grew to deeply resent the bear for defining his career. Watch this! In which Pooh visits the Soviet Union --------------------------------------------------------------- Winnie the Pooh had a second life on the other side of the Iron Curtain, where he was no less beloved. Vinni Pukh was translated by the Russian poet Boris Zakhoder, who also translated Mary Poppins and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. “Alice is very brilliant, but that brilliance is a cold one. Winnie is much warmer,” Zakhoder [told]( the New York Times. He also described a Soviet radio show in which Vinni Pukh teaches Russian grammar. Zakhoder’s translations, which sold [3.5 million copies]( in a single year, were the basis for a three-part film adaptation by pioneering animator Fyodor Khitruk—who was inspired by Disney’s [Three Little Pigs]( featured [Yevgeny Leonov]( a major comedic actor, as the voice of Pooh. You can’t do that on television In which Pooh becomes a revolutionary symbol --------------------------------------------------------------- Disney’s new Christopher Robin film has been [banned]( in China, where online critics are fond of using Pooh bear to make fun of full-figured president Xi Jinping. “Apparently, Xi Jinping is very sensitive about his perceived resemblance to Winnie the Pooh,” Last Week Tonight host John Oliver noted earlier this year. Proving the point, HBO’s website was [blocked]( and all mentions of Oliver were banned from social media after he ran his segment on the topic. Giphy Poll Who’s the most underrated Pooh character? [Click here to vote]( Um, how could it be anyone but Roo?Owl is the world’s most delightful know-it-all.The bees, you never can tell with them.Is...Tweety Bird a Pooh character? The fine print In yesterday’s poll about [deepfakes]( 71% of you think artificial intelligence is “mostly going to end the world.” Today’s email was written by [Susan Howson]( edited by [Whet Moser]( and produced by [Luiz Romero](. 📣 Let’s talk! Discuss this topic now with other [Obsession Obsessives on Reddit]( take us down a 🐰🕳 of your own! 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