This Day in Pop Culture for October 14

1926: ‘Winnie-the-Pooh’ First Published

The origin of the name of the bear that was stuffed with fluff began years before the book Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne was published on this day in 1926. During the first World War, Canadian Lieutenant Harry Colebourn caught a bear and named her “Winnie” after his adopted hometown in Winnipeg, Manitoba. She was the brought to the London Zoo where Milne’s son, Christopher Robin would visit. Christopher re-named his own teddy bear, Edward Bear, to Winnie-the-Pooh. His father named the characters in his book after Christopher’s stuffed animals including Piglet, Eeyore, Kanga, Roo and Tigger. (Mr. Milne added Owl and Rabbit). In 1961, Walt Disney Productions bought the rights to the stories to create a series of cartoon shorts beginning with Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree which debuted in 1966. The last full-length animated movie from Disney, simply titled Winnie the Pooh, came out in theaters in 2011; the live action movie about the inspiration of the stories, Goodbye Christopher Robin by Fox Searchlight Pictures arrived in theaters in October of 2017 and Disney followed up with a live action/CGI about an adult Christopher Robin returning to the 100 Acre Wood in 2018.

1957: Everly Brothers’ First #1 Hit

It is said that it was the Everly Brothers, with their close-harmony singing style, was the inspiration to such groups such as Simon and Garfunkel, the Beatles or the Byrds. Don and Phil’s first hit was “Bye Bye Love” followed by “Wake Up Little Susie” which made the top of the Billboard pop chart on this day in 1957. The achievement was met with some controversy as the song hinted at teenage sex. But the song actually told just the opposite. It is a song about two teenagers who have accidentally fallen asleep at the movies and woke up at 4:00 a.m.