And the Oscar Goes To: Winnie The Pooh and the Blustery Day
It’s been rainy here lately. Too rainy. Windy too. You may even call it blustery. So earlier this week when I encountered a page in one of my Disney books about Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day, I took notice. Here’s a character that can relate to the annoyance of excessive wind and rain! When I learned the short film also won an Academy Award, Walt Disney’s last of 22 wins, I decided it was time to watch it again. Consider it a precursor to this weekend’s Academy Awards.
Picture of Jim Fanning’s The Disney Book.
Disney originally released Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day as an animated short that accompanied The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit in December 1968. (Mental note to investigate the horse movie later…). The story is based on multiple tales from author A. A. Milne’s original Winnie the Pooh series from the 1920s. For his movie Walt Disney wisely chose Sterling Holloway to portray the lead character and the talented Sherman Brothers to contribute memorable tunes. Nearly ten years later, Disney Studios combined Blustery Day with a handful of other Winnie the Pooh stories to create The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. That’s the version I watched today, when I probably should have been doing something else.
Copy of the original poster by Walt Disney Productions.
The story begins on a crazy windy day (surprise!) and follows Winnie the Pooh over two action-packed days. In the film he gets blown around by the wind, dreams about strange creatures that want to steal his honey and floats away in a rain-induced flood. He also crashes to the ground in Owl’s treehouse, destroys Rabbit’s carrot garden and scares himself with his own reflection.
Screen shot from Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day
Maybe my week hasn’t been so bad after all.
Screen shot from Walt Disney’s Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day
Of course the film has its delightful moments too. Winnie the Pooh meets his new pals Piglet and Tigger for the very first time. The Sherman Brothers’ introduce us to The Wonderful Thing about Tiggers, which tends to make me smile. At the end of the film, Christopher Robbin hosts a party with all of the characters to celebrate friendship and bravery. It’s simple, yes, but that’s part of the appeal. Don’t you think the modern world could use a little more simplicity?
Overall, I enjoyed the film. It’s a sweet story about a stuffed bear, his loyal friends and the ups and downs of life.
Image of The Illustrated Disney Song Book. Hal Leonard/Random House Publishing.
Maybe it’s odd for a grown woman to watch a fifty year old cartoon by herself. Walt Disney often said he didn’t make films for kids, he made movies for the kid in all of us. I’ll use that as my excuse. I’ll also add it’s typically good for all of us to take a break from the realities of life sometimes, at least in short increments. I tend to enjoy Disney books and films in these moments. You may have other options in your tool bag. Whatever you choose, I hope the pause allows you to relax, refocus and return to life’s difficult tasks with a restored point of view.
My cartoon break led to pretty positive lessons too. Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day taught me once again that sunshine always follows rain, no matter how long the rain lasts. It also reminded me we can find friends in unexpected places and enduring difficulty with friends can lead to lasting bonds. The film also brought back happy memories of riding The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh attraction at Disney World. It may have cleared up some of the odd storyline there too. (so that’s why that weird dream sequence is in there!).
Overall Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day showed me how Walt Disney took a movie about nasty weather and a simple character and turned it into gold. Pretty inspiring when you think about it. Maybe you could do the same in your own way. Better get your acceptance speech ready just in case.
Add a little blustery magic to your world!