The real story behind Winnie the Pooh, the 100-year-old cartoon bear

Channel: CBS News

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:00] We can see lots of trees.

[0:02] >> These young explorers are stepping

[0:04] straight into a story book as they trek

[0:06] through Ashdown Forest in southern

[0:08] England. Also known as the original 100

[0:11] Acre Wood.

[0:12] >> It's kind of like the playground

[0:14] basically of um Christopher Robin.

[0:16] >> The real life boy with a famous teddy

[0:18] bear he named Winnie after a bear he

[0:21] adored at the London Zoo.

[0:23] >> That's what inspired the stories of

[0:24] Winnie the Pooh. Winnie the Pooh sat

[0:26] down at the foot of the tree. A tale

[0:28] first told by Robin's father, aa Mil

[0:31] century ago. What's Winnie the Pooh's

[0:34] favorite food?

[0:35] >> Honey.

[0:36] >> Still captivating imaginations all these

[0:39] years later.

[0:40] >> I found eel. I found Winnie right here

[0:43] behind the this big log.

[0:45] >> Those childhood stories have spread

[0:47] around the globe. And Christopher

[0:49] Robin's original toys have traveled far

[0:51] from this 100 acre wood. The stuffed

[0:54] animals are now in a forest of Manhattan

[0:56] skyscrapers here at the New York Public

[0:59] Library, where inside Winnie the Pooh

[1:01] still sparks magic.

[1:03] >> His eyes glisten.

[1:04] >> They really do. They really do. He seems

[1:06] alive.

[1:06] >> Director of research libraries Brent Rei

[1:08] says Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, KGA, and

[1:11] Eeyore arrived in New York in the 1940s,

[1:14] long before Disney drew its versions.

[1:16] Wave it up.

[1:19] >> Do you find that people are ever

[1:21] surprised? They don't look like what

[1:22] they're used to on screen.

[1:24] >> I think it surprises people at first,

[1:25] but then think, "Oh, this this looks

[1:27] like the bear I have at home. It looks a

[1:30] little worn."

[1:30] >> The library also has Mil's working copy

[1:33] and translations that show his impact on

[1:35] millions of readers.

[1:37] >> So, that's Winnie the Pooh and Piglet.

[1:39] >> Hector Trejo grew up with the stories

[1:41] and wanted to see what started it all. I

[1:44] loved it when I was a kid and I I have

[1:46] it on my skin like it's forever for me.

[1:49] >> A silly century old bear who's here to

[1:53] stay with Tina Krauss in England.

[1:55] Bradley Blackburn, CBS News, New York.