– Milne’s son was named Christopher Robin Milne and on his first birthday, August 21, 1921, he received a stuffed bear purchased from Harrods as a gift. He named him “Edward.”
– Christopher Robin renamed the bear Winnie after a bear in the London Zoo of the same name in honor of the Winnipeg regiment of the Canadian Army. The “Pooh” portion of his name came from the name of a swan in When We Were Very Young.
– Winnie the Pooh first appeared in print the London Evening News in a story called “The Wrong Sort of Bees” published on December 24, 1925.
– Winnie-the-Pooh, the book, was published in 1926, followed by Now We Are Six in 1927, and The House at Pooh Corner in 1928.
– The hyphens were dropped in 1961 when Disney purchased the rights to the characters.
– The Hundred Acre Wood is quite similar to the Ashdown Forest in southern England, which is close to where the Milne family lived.
– The original Pooh animals – Winnie, Eeyore, Piglet, Kanga, and Tigger – can be seen in New York Public Library, with the exception of the adorable Roo, who was lost around 1930 in an apple orchard. The stuff animals have been in the library since 1987 and thousands of young readers and their grownups visit the animals each year in their new quarters in the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building. They are displayed in the Children’s Area and absolutely worth a trip if you’re in New York City.
– Their location has been a source of controversy. In 1998, a British Member of Parliament wanted them returned to England, but they stayed in the U.S.
– If you’re in London, stop by the National Portrait Gallery where you can find this image of Milne, Christopher Robin and the original Winnie the Pooh taken by Howard Coster in 1926.
– Sterling Holloway voiced Winnie the Pooh in the Disney featurettes until 1977. Holloway also provided the voice of Sleepy in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs as well as the Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland.
– The silly old bear has his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
“So they went off together. But wherever they
go, and whatever happens to them on the way, in
that enchanted place on the top of the Forest a
little boy and his Bear will always be playing.”
– The House at Pooh Corner
Sources: The New York Public Library, The Express, The Houston Chronicle
You May Also Like: Feel all the feels with the teaser trailer for Disney’s Christopher Robin
Prior Post: Lin-Manuel Miranda reads Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Beyond Vietnam”
Don’t miss a post! Please subscribe to Between Us Parents’ safe, spam-free email list in the box in the top right corner of the page!
Please like Between Us Parents on Facebook. You can also find Between Us Parents on Pinterest and Twitter.
Pin for Later:
]]>
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate posts.
Moana, Disney’s latest animated film, has a lot of elements that appealed to both me and my daughter.
A strong female protagonist? Check!
New and beautiful setting for a Disney film? It’s set in Oceania, so check!
Adorable sidekicks? Check!
Appreciation of the environment? Check!
A story about the connection to the past while also looking toward the future? Check!
Music by Lin-Manuel Miranda, one of our favorites? Check!
Knowing what went on behind the scenes of the making of Moana made me appreciate the film even more. Here are some fun facts about my favorite parts of Moana.
How the Ocean becomes a true character
The ocean is nonverbal, but it plays a huge role in Moana. It really is a character in its own right, displaying a great deal of personality.
The rigging team built a rig with a curved wave-like shape that could be varied depending on the need of the story in order to bring that personality, emotion, and spirit to the big screen.
Lin-Manuel Miranda brought his musical talents (as well as his dance skills)
Moana isn’t a musical, but the soundtrack is great. Lin-Manuel Miranda (of Hamilton fame), Opetaia Foa‘i, and Mark Mancina composed the music. Miranda and Foa‘i even perform “We Know the Way.”
The powerhouse musical trio met in New Zealand at Pasifika, one of the biggest Polynesian cultural festivals. Miranda was quickly pulled onstage by the dancers to join dance. It turned out to be a competition with other audience members. Miranda won, and proved that he’s a man of many talents.
“I’d been there two days already,” says Mancina. “And I didn’t even know where the restrooms were. Meanwhile, he hops up onstage and wins this contest. He’s a very talented guy.”
Miranda’s official invite to join the“Moana” musical team was not the biggest news he received that week – it was also when he learned that his wife was expecting their first baby.
Learning about Oceania and Polynesian culture
Moana is inspired in part by oral histories of the people and cultures of Oceania, and filmmakers traveled there to learn as much as they could from direct sources.
I loved that this was a new setting for Disney and that it helped educate me about Polynesian culture.
Filmmakers consulted a group of advisors called the Oceanic Story Trust (OST). Members of the trust span a wide variety of areas, including anthropologists, educators, linguists, master tattooists, choreographers, haka practitioners, master navigators, and cultural advisors who collaborated with Disney’s creative team.
Maui’s hook, which is inspired by a real constellation known by the same name in Oceania and Scorpio, is stylized to emulate the character’s prized possession.
All the characters in “Moana” wear outfits made only from materials that would have been available to them 2,000 years ago.
Speaking of Maui, he’s awesome
Dwayne Johnson (aka “The Rock”) does a tremendous job as the voice of Maui. He’s hilarious and endearing, but far from perfect. His voice fits the character perfectly.
Their appearances were originally going to match up more than they do now. Maui was originally drawn as bald. However, Oceanic Story Trust consultants from Tahiti advised filmmakers that Maui, the subject of many and varied legends, was typically imagined with a full head of hair.
Nods to Disney of the past
I love that there are a few nods to some of our old Disney pals. Some fun characters make a cameo early in the film. (Not to spoil anything, but their names rhyme with Flirt and Flush) But that’s not all. Maui’s tattoos feature “Mini Maui” that act as his conscience, weighing in on his decisions whether he asks for their opinion or not.
Watching the film, I thought that Mini Maui was a throw back to old school Disney. Turns out that’s exactly what the animators intended. They created him using traditional hand-drawn techniques by Walt Disney Animation Studios’ animator Eric Goldberg and his team. Mini Maui is akin to Jiminy Cricket, the official conscience of Pinocchio.
All facts are courtesy of Disney. Photos are ©2016 Disney. All Rights Reserved.
You May Also Like: The new Rogue One: A Star Wars Story trailer is here!
Prior Post: 5 fun facts about Anna Kendrick
Don’t miss a post! Please subscribe to Between Us Parents’ spam-free email list in the box in the top right corner of the page!
Please like Between Us Parents on Facebook. Also, you can find Between Us Parents on Pinterest and Twitter.
What’s the origin of “Papa,” “Dada,” and other names for ‘father’?
“Papa” and its many variations were primarily imitative of the first sounds that young children produce, which include the p, b and d sounds. Baba, dada, and papa are examples of what child-language acquisition experts call “reduplicated canonical babbling,” something universally observed as children enter the babbling phase of language accession.
The term “Dad” was first recorded in the 1500s, along with the more colloquial daddy. Pop is the most recent linguistic twist on affectionate names for our dads, arising in America in the 1830s.
Where does the apostrophe go? Why is it Father’s Day and not Fathers’ Day?
Since it is a day to celebrate all dads, it makes sense that the apostrophe would fall after the s, making the holiday apply to fathers as a whole, right? Well, it does make sense, but that’s not how it is. The short answer for why it’s not? Mother’s Day set a precedent on this fuzzy grammatical issue of apostrophe placement.
The folks at Dictionary.com say, “We can accept the placement with the reasoning that each father matters to his own children, thus the holiday belongs to each individual father.”
When did Father’s Day begin?
Father’s Day started thanks to Sondra Smart Dodd. Dodd’s mother died in childbirth and after hearing a Mother’s Day sermon in 1909, Dodd decided there should be a corresponding holiday to celebrate fathers.
Dodd got to work, rallied support for her idea, and the first Father’s Day was celebrated by Washington State in 1910.
It didn’t exactly chat on quickly, however. In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge urged state governments to observe Father’s Day but men weren’t thrilled. As one historian writes, they “scoffed at the holiday’s sentimental attempts to domesticate manliness with flowers and gift-giving, or they derided the proliferation of such holidays as a commercial gimmick to sell more products–often paid for by the father himself.”
President Lyndon B. Johnson issued the first Presidential proclamation honoring fathers on the third Sunday in June in 1966, but it wasn’t until 1972 that President Richard Nixon officially signed a proclamation making Father’s Day a federal holiday.
Why is Father’s Day in June?
Because Susan Dodd’s father’s birthday was in June. Apparently, she was good with having to buy multiple gifts in a month.
Facts from Dictionary.com and History.com
You May Also Like: 5 Favorite Festive Fourth of July Ideas
Prior Post: How water from ReadyRefresh℠ by Nestlé® helped my family hydrate and conquer FORO #NoMoreFORO
Don’t miss a post! Please subscribe to Between Us Parents’ completely safe, spam-free email list in the box in the top right corner of the page!
Please like Between Us Parents on Facebook. You can also find me on Pinterest, Twitter, and Instagram.
]]>
* A team of more than 800 computer graphics artists spent more than a year animating more than 70 species, crafting 100 million leaves and simulating earth, fire and water.
* The virtual environment makes up 80 percent of the film frame 100 percent of the time. Artists digitally built most of the jungle environment that appears in the film, creating moss, bark, rock, water, grass, trees, leaves that were all inspired by India.
* Mother wolf Raksha is appropriately named because in Hindi, “Raksha” means “protector.”
* If you thought costume designer Laura Jean Shannon had it easy with Mowgli wearing a loin cloth, think again. He had 17 different loin cloths.
“Mowgli’s immersed in water and mud, he gets rained on, he runs,” says Shannon. “We even rigged a hidden safety harness into the costume because Mowgli hangs on tree limbs and cliffs. Each of the loincloths . . . had a very specific purpose.”
* Baloo (one of my favorites) can reach nearly 15 feet high. He is so heavy and has so very much fur that the free-spirited bear took nearly five hours per frame to render. King Louie stands nearly 12 feet high.
* Disney’s 1967 animated film, “The Jungle Book,” was the last film that Walt Disney oversaw. He passed away in 1966, the year before the film’s release. “Walt Disney’s work has influenced my work. He was considered high tech for the time,” says Director Jon Favreau. “He was the first person who locked soundtrack with picture, so the characters were perfectly choreographed to the musical score—something that absolutely blew people’s minds. Disney was on the cutting edge of technology.”
* Does the song “The Bare Necessities” pop into anyone else’s head when talking about The Jungle Book? The iconic song was written by Terry Gilkyson and nominated for an Academy Award® in 1968.
* Composer John Debney, who wrote the score for the new, live-action film “The Jungle Book,” is the son of Louis Debney, who worked for Walt Disney. “When I was a youngster, they were making this incredible magical film called ‘The Jungle Book,’ and I was sort of a studio brat,” says Debney, who says his family traveled with the family of Bruce Reitherman, who played Mowgli in the original film.
* The voices in the film include Bill Murray (“Baloo”), Sir Ben Kingsley (“Bagheera”), Lupita Nyong’o (“Raksha”), Scarlett Johansson (“Kaa”), Idris Elba (“Shere Khan”), Christopher Walken (“King Louie”), Giancarlo Esposito (“Akela”). Neel Sethi plays Mowgli, the only live action character in the film! Here’s a cool video highlighting each of them:
If you’re looking for a review of the film, check out this one by Becca of My Crazy Good Life.
You May Also Like: Free printable The Jungle Book activity sheets OR Fun facts about Zootopia
Prior Post: 6 things to know before you go to Cabana Bay Beach Resort at Universal Studios
Don’t miss a post! Please subscribe to Between Us Parents’ completely safe, spam-free email list in the box in the top right corner of the page!
Please like Between Us Parents on Facebook. You can also find me on Pinterest, Twitter, and Instagram.
- The words LEGO comes from the Danish words “leg godt,” which translate to “play well.”
- The LEGO brick as we know it was invented in Denmark in the 1950’s and came in five colors: blue, white, black, red, and yellow.
- They patented them on January 28, 1958, and since then, every single 2×4 LEGO brick has been produced to the exact same measurements as this patent.
-
Two eight-stud LEGO bricks (2×4) can be combined in 24 different ways and three eight-stud LEGO bricks can becombined in 1,060 ways. Six eight-stud LEGO bricks can be combined 915,103,765 different ways.
- Children around the world spend approximately a total of 5 billion hours per year playing with LEGOs.
- LEGOs are so popular that, on average, each person on Earth owns 86 LEGO bricks.
- In 2012, 45.7 billion LEGO bricks were produced at a rate of 5.2 million per hour.
- On a roll: The LEGO Group is one of the world’s largest tire manufacturers due to the fact that it creates tires for the vehicles in its sets.
- To reach the moon you would need to build a column of approximately 40 billion LEGO bricks.
- Laid end to end, the number of LEGO bricks sold in 2012 would stretch around the world more than 18 times.
The Brick by Brick exhibit will be at the Museum of Science and Industry through February 2017, and it’s absolutely worth checking out.
There are models of everything from Cinderella’s Castle at Walt Disney World to the International Space Station, all created by LEGO® Certified Professional and Chicago native Adam Reed Tucker. It’s very interactive, with my eighth grader loved, and you can do a scavenger hunt that gets you even more involved.
This post isn’t sponsored, we just thought it was fun and think your family will enjoy it, too.
Facts courtesy of LEGO Education and Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago
You May Also Like: Trivia about Chicago in honor of the city’s birthday
Don’t miss a post! Please subscribe to Between Us Parents’ completely safe, spam-free email list in the box in the top right corner of the page!
Please like Between Us Parents on Facebook. You can also find me on Pinterest, Twitter, and Instagram.
There are 64 species of animals in the movie. The team behind the film spent 18 months just researching animals. “We met with animal experts from all over the world, including Disney’s Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World. We traveled 9,000 miles to Kenya, Africa, for a two-week deep dive into animal personality and behavior. We wanted each species of animal to be real, to feel authentic and to be based on their real-world behavior,” says producer Clark Spencer.
I love some of the ways the characters hearken back to prior Disney films:
* Artists designing Assistant Mayor Bellwether were inspired by the lambs in the old Disney films “Make Mine Music” and “Melody Time.”
* Artists were inspired by Mufasa from Disney’s classic film “The Lion King” when creating the look of Mayor Lionheart.
Here are more fun facts about Zootopia:
Hairy Situation
While researching the variety of animals that would inhabit Zootopia, filmmakers learned that not all fur is the same. A strand of polar bear fur is clear—it’s the light reflecting off of it that makes it appear white—and a strand of fox fur is dark at the root, getting lighter till its red tip. Artists strived to replicate their findings to ensure that the animals in “Zootopia” were believable.
Tweeze Me
Speaking of hair, advances in technology allowed filmmakers to trim the fur that fell beneath clothing so that the garments hung correctly. Previously, hairs that intersected with an item of clothing—like Bolt’s collar—had to be plucked one by one, which would have been an impossible feat in a film like “Zootopia.”
Fancy Dresser
As for those outfits, artists crafted six unique outfits for Assistant Mayor Bellwether. The chosen fabric, naturally, was wool. Her outfits include a houndstooth dress, a blazer and a little bell in honor of her moniker. She also has an orange dress with a scissor pattern that represents shears.
Stiff Upper Lip
When artists realized that real rabbits actually have a split upper lip, they decided to forego authenticity in this case and kept Judy’s lip all together.
The Eyes Have It
Clawhauser may not share a real cheetah’s svelte shape, but he does sport the animal’s iconic tear marks—markings that run from the inside corners of his eyes down to the outside edges of his mouth.
Here Kitty, Kitty
Nathan Warner, director of cinematography-layout, got a pat on the back from a real-life cheetah during their research trip to Africa. The rescued animal that caretakers had introduced to the filmmakers seemingly took offense to the camera Warner carried and leapt up to let him know. Both filmmaker and cat were just fine following the event.
Roll in the Hay
In an effort to bolster the animal-feel, artists added bits of debris—hay, leaves, sticks—in the coats of animals like the big sheep and Yax the Yak.
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: At the movies in 2016: Flicks my family can’t wait to see
]]>