Acting for Two: Hal Smith does double duty in "...and a Day for Eeyore", taking over the role of Pooh while also retaining his established role as Owl.
Cash-Cow Franchise: While the Pooh franchise is very successful generally, during the '90s, it was one of Disney's biggest franchises, outshining even Mickey Mouse. It helps that a large part of the merchandise is baby apparel and the film itself is considered the most baby-friendly of Disney's features.
Disowned Adaptation: E. H. Shepard, the illustrator of the original books, reportedly described the film as a travesty, and he hated the film's Americanization of the original books. Christopher Robin Milne (the son of Winnie-the-Pooh author, A. A. Milne, and the inspiration for Christopher Robin in the books) was reportedly not fond of the film either and had been equally outspoken against Disney's Americanization and commercialization of the property. That said, his daughter, Claire Milne, liked the film.
The theatrical poster for Honey Tree features Tigger and Piglet, despite the two not appearing in the film. This is a leftover from back when Winnie the Pooh was originally conceived by Walt to be a feature-length film before he decided to split it into three short films at the last minute.
Some early records released to promote Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day back in 1968 feature an early unused design for Tigger◊ that is more faithful to his original E. H. Shephard design.
God Never Said That: One of the biggest misconceptions fans have about Gopher is that he was meant to replace Piglet. Although Gopher was added for American appeal, he was never intended to outright replace Piglet and no sources indicate that was the case. Piglet was planned to appear in Honey Tree (and he still appears on the film's posters, as well as the opening credits), but time and length constraints stemming from Many Adventures being split into three short featurettes forced Disney to cut him and save him for Blustery Day instead.
Keep Circulating the Tapes: As of 2023, the original featurette versions from 1966-1974 have not yet received their own DVD release. They had several frequent VHS releases in the 1990s, and were last put out in 2000. When The Many Adventures came to DVD, these versions nearly ceased to exist. As of now, Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day has received only one DVD release as a bonus feature of Pooh's Grand Adventure in 2006. This and Tigger Too have also re-aired (letterboxed and with restored footage) on Disney Junior at least once in 2015. Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree also had Bruce Reitherman as Christopher Robin replaced with Jon Walmsley (who originally performed him in the "Blustery Day" and "We Say Goodbye" segments) in the 1977 Many Adventures compilation film. (It also ended with a short vocal reprise of the Winnie the Pooh theme song, unlike Blustery Day and Tigger Too which both ended with (different) instrumental arrangements, the one for Blustery Day later being used for Many Adventures.)
In the US, a set of six plushies (Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, Rabbit, Eeyore, and Roo) was used to promote the film's 25th anniversary home video release in 2002.
Marth Debuted in "Smash Bros.": As The House on Pooh Corner was not translated into Spanish until the 1980's, Disney introduced Tigger to Latin America and Spain.
Missing Episode: A Day for Eeyore is the only one of the four shorts not to appear in any shape or form on Disney+.
Orphaned Reference: During the scene where Pooh's friends are pulling him out, one of the lyrics is "For mind over matter has made the Pooh un-fatter". This is due to the fact that the song in the film is the last verse of a song called "Mind Over Matter" wherein the preceding lyric would have been sung several times.
The Other Darrin: "A Day for Eeyore" is the first theatrical Pooh cartoon to feature replacement voices for Pooh (Hal Smith), Rabbit (Will Ryannote Who would voice both him and Tigger in Welcome to Pooh Corner.), Kanga (Julie McWhirter), and the Narrator (Laurie Mainnote Who would also appear in Welcome to Pooh Corner also playing the narrator (both off screen and on screen).). Roo and Christopher Robin, who had already been portrayed by multiple voice actors, are also recast here. Averted in the Japanese version where the cast from Many Adventures reprises their roles.
The Other Marty: Seemingly attempted but averted. Some DVD and Blu Ray releases of A Day For Eeyore feature altered credits listing then-contemporary voice actors such as Jim Cummings and Ken Sansom, implying a re-dub of the short was attempted, despite the original audio remaining. Amusingly Disney did later toy with this strategy on clips of all four shorts with The Mini Adventures of Winnie the Pooh segments.
Recursive Adaptation: The film is based off the Winnie the Pooh children's books by A. A. Milne and the film would later receive a few children's book adaptations of its own, going full circle.
Role Reprise: Barbara Luddy had previously performed the role of Kanga in a televised adaptation featuring Shirley Temple—the first screen adaptation, in fact, being televised five and a half years before Honey Tree was released and the year before Disney got the movie rights.
Swan Song: For the Many Adventures film version, it is the final time that Junius Matthews, Barbara Luddy, Sterling Holloway and Sebastian Cabot appeared in a Disney production.
Throw It In!: Tigger's famous signing off catchphrase, "T.T.F.N., Ta Ta For Now!" was an ad-lib suggested by Paul Winchell's then-wife.
Troubled Production: A rather heartwarming example. The Sherman Brothers noted they had trouble making music for Honey Tree at first, as they failed to connect with the appeal of the Pooh stories. Disney set designer Tony Walton, an avid Pooh fan, discussed the series with them in heavy sentimental detail, to the point that by the end of it they loved Pooh as much as he did. The Sherman Brothers went on to write songs for all three Pooh shorts used in the film, plus several follow-on projects such as Welcome to Pooh Corner and The Tigger Movie.
Uncredited Role: Ron Clements conceived the story for "Day for Eeyore", but he took his name off the film in protest of Disney outsourcing the animation. Ironically, Rick Reinert Productions, the ones who animated the special, also went uncredited (as was standard at the time; though Reinert himself was credited).
Walt Disney had tapped famous Disneyland performer Wally Boag to voice Tigger in Blustery Day, and Boag contributed heavily early on in the short's development to help define Tigger's personality. After Disney's death, Boag was dropped from the project in favor of Paul Winchell. Other actors who auditioned for the role included such legends as Paul Frees, Don Messick, and Daws Butler.
There were originally plans to do a theatrical rerelease of Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree alongside Winnie the Pooh (2011), which would have featured deleted scenes from the original featurette. The project was ultimately scrapped due to the staff feeling there weren't enough deleted scenes to truly justify the rerelease and make it worthwhile.
When Walt Disney started production, he originally intended to adapt the stories into a feature length film. However, late in Honey Tree's production, he decided to scrap this approach and adapt the stories into short featurettes instead, as he felt it was more suitable for the stories and a better way to introduce Americans to Pooh (since most were unfamiliar with the stories at the time). It wouldn't be until 1977, nearly a decade after Walt's death, that a feature film adaptation of the stories (consisting of the previous three featurettes combined) would be made in the form of The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. It’s unknown if Many Adventures was what Walt had originally envisioned, or if his plan was different. Leftovers of this original plan can still be seen on the promotional◊ posters◊ for Honey Tree, which feature Tigger and Piglet on them — despite the two not appearing in the featurette — and the live action opening, which features the two as plushies (with Piglet getting an additional Early-Bird Cameo in the theme song).
Walt originally wanted the designs of the characters to be very faithful to E.H. Shepard's illustrations, nude Pooh and all, which can be seen in much of the earlyconcept◊ art for the film◊. However, this caused a stir within Disney animation, as the animators had issues faithfully translating the original designs into animation and wanted to draw the characters in their traditional in-house style instead of following Shepard's illustrations. Eventually, after a bit of back-and-forth over it, Walt and the animators came to a compromise on the designs, leading to the Disney-esque but still faithful designs featured in the finished film.
Originally, there was supposed to be a song called "Mind Over Matter" which would have been sung throughout the second half to sum up Pooh's situation while stuck in Rabbit's front door. This explains the lyric "For mind over matter has made the Pooh un-fatter" when Christopher Robin and the others are pulling Pooh out.
◊ that is more faithful to his original E. H. Shephard design.:format(webp):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-11043467-1508790704-6710.jpeg.jpg){kind=small}
