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Tuesday, August 22, 2017

Original Production Animation Cel of Winnie The Pooh and Rabbit from "Winnie The Pooh and The Honey Tree," 1966


Original hand painted production animation cel of Winnie The Pooh and Rabbit from "Winnie The Pooh and The Honey Tree," 1966; Numbered 73 in ink lower right; Walt Disney Studios; Set on a lithographic background; Size - Winnie The Pooh & Rabbit: 5 1/2 x 6", Image 10 x 15 1/4"; Unframed.

To purchase this cel or to visit the Art Gallery, CLICK HERE! 

"And then one morning, when Rabbit began to wonder if Pooh might be stuck there forever, a miraculous thing happened. He budged!" -Narrator

"The Many Adventures of Winnie The Pooh," 1977 was composed of a series of featurettes Disney produced based upon the Winnie-the-Pooh books by A. A. Milne. Walt Disney wanted to introduce the public to the Pooh characters slowly over time and the released featurettes include, "Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree," 1966, "Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day." 1968, and "Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too," 1974. For the full length film in 1977, extra material was added and used to link the three featurettes together. A fourth, shorter featurette was added at the end of the film and was based on the final chapter of "The House at Pooh Corner."


Original production animation cel of Rabbit and Winnie The Pooh.

Wolfgang Reitherman began working for Walt Disney in 1934, along with future Disney legends Ward Kimball and Milt Kahl. The three worked together on a number of early classic Disney shorts and Reitherman worked on Disney feature films produced from 1937 to 1981, including "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" (animating the Slave in the Magic Mirror) up to "The Fox and the Hound," where he served as the co-producer for the film. Beginning with 1961's "One Hundred and One Dalmatians," "Woolie" (as he was called by friends) served as Disney's chief animation director.

One of Reitherman's productions, the 1968 short "Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day," won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. In addition, all three of Reitherman's sons — Bruce, Richard, and Robert provided voices for Disney characters. Bruce Reitherman was the voice for Christopher Robin in "Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree."


Close up of the production number.

"Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree," 1966 is a film that combined live-action and hand painted cel animation. It was released by The Walt Disney Company, directed by Wolfgang Reitherman, and was based on the first two chapters of the book "Winnie-the-Pooh" by A. A. Milne. This was the only Winnie the Pooh production to be released under the supervision of Walt Disney before his death on December 15, 1966. Music and lyrics were written by the Sherman Brothers (Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman); with background music provided by Buddy Baker. The American actor Sterling Holloway provided the voice of Winnie The Pooh.

This cel is from the scene,when the Silly Old Bear visits Rabbit at his house, and is invited inside for lunch. This proves to be a huge mistake for Rabbit, because Pooh eats all of Rabbit's honey. Realizing that there is no more food to eat; Pooh tries to exit, but becomes stuck in Rabbit's hole. After a while the narrator says, "And then one morning, when Rabbit began to wonder if Pooh might be stuck there forever, a miraculous thing happened. He budged!" Rabbit exclaims, "Today's the day!" Christopher Robin, Kanga, and Eeyore pull and tug Pooh from the outside of the hole, and with Rabbit pushing him from the inside; they all chant "Heave-ho! Heave-ho!"

Rabbit was animated by the great Don Bluth and was voiced by Junius Matthews; a veteran radio actor who also voiced the owl Archimedes in the Disney film "The Sword In The Stone," 1963. This is a spectacular cel of Rabbit and Winnie The Pooh, who is stuck in Rabbit's hole. This is one of the greatest scenes in all of the Pooh Disney shorts, and one of the greatest Disney scenes of all time! An absolutely beautiful piece of animation art, that is perfect for any art collection!

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