It all began with a great lobby card reproduction from Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day. I’ve always had an affinity for all things Disney, and Winnie the Pooh is one of my favorites. So the first signature that I collected was from Jon Walmsley, who was the voice of Christopher Robin in this particular short film. Others would eventually voice the part in the various shorts, but Walmsley was the first (The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh feature film was an amalgam of several short subjects).
Jon Walmsley was actually more famous for his role in The Waltons in which he played Jason Walton. I would eventually get him to sign a photos from that show as well (as seen here), but I first requested that Bob pick me up this color lobby card photo that he was selling at one of the Hollywood Collectors Shows in the late 1990’s. Later on when he did another appearance at a show, I had Bob get me two more, with the intention of acquiring multiple signatures on it.
In October of 1997, I sent two of the three copies of the photo off to Paul Winchell who had so effectively portrayed the voice of Tigger in all of the Winnie the Pooh films. I had intended that he only sign them with his name and not inscribe them, so I said that one was going to my daughter Ashleigh. I can’t recall why I didn’t assume that he would merely sign one “To Ashleigh” – but in fact he ended up signing both “To Brad” and then sent along a separate signed card for Ashleigh. These arrived in my mailbox on November 20, 1997.
Anyway, as the years have passed, I am thrilled that I obtained this signature at all. When I wrote to him just a while later to have him sign the Piglet photo seen below and a photo of him with his famous ventriloquist dummy Jerry Mahoney, he was no longer signing at all.
John Fiedler, the voice of Piglet, was a bit more amiable at signing through the mail. I wrote to him on at least three occasions, first obtaining the portrait (with Piglet likeness) seen below along with two notecards, then two copies of the lobby card above, and finally two copies of the the Tigger/Piglet photos that I had had my Dad make up from a photo in a Winnie the Pooh storybook, one for me and one for Lisa for Christmas. Fiedler also meant a lot to me for his portrayal of Mr. Peterson on The Bob Newhart Show.
I actually took the second lobby card photo and had my friend Steve Cox erase the inscription and gave that to Lisa as a gift as well. After the divorce, I ended up with it again and eventually either sold it or traded it, one or the other.
In the early 2000’s, I got the opportunity to add a fourth signature to the photo, when Clint Howard (younger brother of Ron Howard), who had been the voice of Roo, made an appearance at a Hollywood Collectors Show. I hated to let the photo out of my sight even briefly to have Bob obtain the signature…but it was ultimately well worth it. The signed photo is one of the favorites in my collection.
It is too bad that I didn’t obtain Pooh’s voice Sterling Holloway, or have yet to meet any of the actors involved. Also unfortunate is that I’ll never get the chance to meet Paul Winchell or John Fiedler as they both passed away in 2005, just one day apart.
Autographs of 1997 will continue…
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