Becoming Winnie The Pooh

How are you doing? Oh dear, it's me Tiger ah Am Dark Wayne
Duck. It's me Bunkers keep babcat all right? Yeah? Did it rate
your favorite bibly you design? Hold Old not Go. My name is Jim
Cummings, and welcome to tune Jin. Welcome everybody to the very first episode
of Tuned In with Jim Cummings here on the four Finger Discount Network. I
am Brendan Dando, joined right now by several gentlemen, the first of which
being the professor of pop culture, mister Guy Davis. Very nice to be
here, Brendan. We have got Chris Judge, producer Chris. How are
you doing, Chris? Hey good? How are you guys doing? I'm
doing very well. And of course, the man of the hour, the
man, the myth of the legend, here is the one, the only,
Jim Cummings. How are you my good sir? Oh, very good.
Everybody's favorite failed mime. So Hi, good to see you are now,
big smile on his face as always, I've never seen you not smiling.
But what how's your weight been anyway? So what have you been up
to? What's the world of Jim Cummings been like this? Week. Did
you say, how's my weight? Man? Thank you for my week?
Oh? My week? Oh wow? Oh okay good? No, No,
it's been another another week in paradise. I had a we're all kind
of on strikecare Yeah, as far as recording right now, so, um,
whatever you do, don't let anybody know we're recording this because you know
that just probably wouldn't go over well. But but no, it's it's been
great, it's been great. Well, how does the writers strike impact you?
Like? So, what were you working on that you're now not?
Well, the latest iteration of Mickey Mouse. And there's just one other thing
that's I can they don't have a name for um, So we went full
bore and now we're sitting around on our hands and twiddling our thumbs and I'm
going back to miming apparently I don't know, maybe, but but here we
are, Philly Tom starting a podcast. Yeah that's right, Yes, come
on, come on, get me while I'm hot. Is the mood on
the street gym that the strike is gonna sort of stretch on for a while
to thing? Or does it seem like there might be a quick resolution to
this one? Boy? Good question. I really have no way of gauging
that. I don't even live in that part of the California, but I
wish them well, you know, they put it this one. I mean,
without our writers were doomed. So I hope that everybody deserves to get
paid. But aren't you the man that ad libs everything anyway? Yeah,
I'm notorious for you know, not as much with Winnie the Pooh, but
but definitely Tigger. Yeah, you know it's he just lends himself to poos
a little more like the steady stream going through the woods, and Tiggers like
the poo's the eye of the storm. Tigger is the storm for a usual
Whinnie script. What percentage do you think is as it was written to Jim's
ad lib? Oh gosh, It's got to be ninety five percent as written
because you have to serve the story. And you know, I'm not trying
to put writers out of business. So they're all my buddies, the very
important, Yes I are in day, Yes, they're very important. You
were telling us just off the air before that you had an interesting story you
want to bring up. What was that? Told us? Well, yes,
you know I had occasion to um make contact with a really interesting man.
His name is Reid Moon and he lives in Utah and he is a
collector of rare antiquities and rare books and very old books. And he has
in his possession the original A. A. Milne Winnie the Pooh and the
Blustery Day and it's signed by A. A. Miln himself, the author,
and uh, it's it was just amazing. And then he shows up,
pulls up another one and here's Winnie the Pooh and Tiger two and here's
Winnie the Pooh in a day for ere and they're all original and they're just
they're pretty pristine. You know, they look they don't look a day over
one hundred. But but you know, it was really interesting and uh,
and he started telling stories and one of them, well, see, I'm
sure you know a lot of people know that Winnie the Pooh is uh came
from Canada. He's Canadian. A lot of people think he's from England.
Well, the fact is that way back when, there were a bunch of
fellas on the train and they were on their way to enlist in the army,
and they got off the train because they were kind of you know,
they're taking a break and they're out there stretching legs. And sure enough,
there's a guy over there standing on the on the breakaway there, and he's
holding a little bear, a live bear, a baby bear three or four
days old. And you know, you see a little baby bear three or
four days old, you want to go up and go you little you didn't
do all that stupid stuff. And so they did, and they said,
well, you know, I have to ask you, how is it that
you came to have this bear? And and he said, well, the
fact is, I'm a hunter and I was out in the forest one day.
And let's just say that he ended up without a mother and I was
there, so you can add two plus two. And he says, as
he was going about his business us he felt these little eyes on him,
and he looked up and there was a little baby bear sticking his head around
a tree, staring at him. Well, he couldn't leave him there.
His mother was no longer there. So he did the right thing. He
took took the bear up, and he didn't know what to do with him.
And there he was on the train station the platform, talking with these
guys and they said, oh my god, you're kidding. Well, you
want to sell them, and he said, you sell the bear, you
would you would buy a bear, you know, because they get big.
Apparently they grow up and you know you've you've I'm sure you're familiar with that.
Lions do that too. It's really weird. Anyway, So they said
short and they mustered up twenty dollars, which had to be a lot of
money back then. Now they're off off to the army with their mascot bear
and they got on they got on the boat from Canada to England and they
smuggled the bear on the boat. Don't I don't know how that could have
been, but they did it. And next thing you know, they're reporting
to base and they smuggled the bear on to the base. So a lot
of smuggling. Uh, there's some connection to Honda knocking. It's coming to
me, but but you know, it's just kind of incredible. And they're
shipped off to war, I mean, and they said, well, now
what we cannot take this. We're not taking him off to war. And
they said, oh, you know what, the London Zoo perfect, let's
go to the zoo. They go to the zoo. Would you like a
free cute as hell baby bear, and the answer would understandably yes. Well,
a little time went by and he became quite an attraction. A few
months went by, and he was so friendly because all he knew were people
anyway, and people come by and Gucci, Gucci, gu and he'd kind
of do it right back to them. And he's sitting up and he's walking,
he's and he's being as cute as you can be and being a little
bear. And one day this fellow decided, well, you know, I've
read about him in the newspaper and the London Dispatch and this let's let's let's
go see this little bear. And so they go down and he walks up
to the cage, waits till everybody's gone, and the bear looks at the
little boy. He's about three years old, and the little boy looks at
the bear, and the two of them kind of bond. They strike up
a relationship right there on the spot. There's a kinship. And you know,
to make a long story less long, the man's name was A.
A. Milne and the little boy's name was Christopher Robin. We can go
ahead of everybody. That's a start. The guy, Yeah, show done,
so yeah, your next incredible, isn't it. Yeah, And if
you have goosebumps, goosebumps are invited. They called the bear Winnie because it
was from Winnipeg, right is that why? Oh that's right? Yes,
oh, well, yes, win a peg. And but there's something about
the Pooh though, huh. Of course you know Winnie. You know he's
played an incredible role in not just your life, but all of our lives.
Everyone listening at home now becoming what I believe to be one of Disney's
biggest icons. However, well I do too. None of that would have
been possible without the perfect man behind the wheel, being yourself. Of course.
So since this is the first episode of Tuned Him for Jim Cummings,
we think it's only natural that we go all the way back to the late
eighties, when the opportunity to audition for the winning the Pooh role first became
a reality. Take us there, Where where did you see yourself professionally?
At that point? You know you've already done some voice work for Dumbo,
Circus Transformers. I saw he'd done some work there, Visionaries, Knights of
the Magical Light. But what was life like as a voice actor pre Pooh
Like? For Jim Cummings. Oh bother, I'll tell her to remember I'm
a better of very little brain, you're know. But yeah, it's it
was fine. You know, it was very good to see you. At
the time, I should say that Whenny the Pooh wasn't as big as as
you know, as he is now take the whole gang and they because it
had been winned the Poo in a Day for yor, winned the Poo and
Tiger two, and winned the Pooh and the honey Tree. I believe there
were the three. They were twenty minute shorts and they put them all together
back in I guess the sixties, and they won an Academy Award by putting
those three shorts together and turned it into a full length movie. Pretty spot
Yeah it was. But then twenty years later and they still hadn't done anything
with it. So they just finally got back around to the New Adventures of
Winnie the Pooh. It was what it was called. And so they sent
out auditions and there were auditions for the whole crew and and Gopher as well.
So I auditioned for Gopher, I auditioned for Eyo, for Tiger and
Pooh and I'm pretty sure owl. I didn't audition for Kanga or Real,
so yeah, I didn't want to take a clean sweep here. And I
came home and I was feeling really good about OR. I thought, oh,
man, if I don't get yo. About a week or two went
by and I called my agent called me. She's okay, I have some
news. And I said, yeah, okay, good, Well what what's
what's the poop? And she said her name was Sandy SNAr And and I
said, she said, well, I have good news and I have some
not so good news. And I went, oh really. She goes,
yeah, all right, give me the bad news. She goes, you're
not going to do eor And I said you're kidding. I thought, thanks
for notice, and me damn passable? Right? Are you sure you don't
eel? But yeah, you know, but uh you know, And I
said, well who got it? And said, well Peter Cullen. And
Peter Cullen's amazing, he's optimist, prime, he's uh yeah, he's or
among tons of other things. And I said, you know, you lose
a job to him. You can't can't be too upset and and I said,
so what did I end up? She goes, well, you're Tigger
and Winnie the Pooh. I said, I'm Tigger and Winnie the Pooh,
And I, well, the hell with or he or Schmi or who Who's
who is he? Again? I can't remember? And uh and we were
off to the races. So when he went into that audition, was that
what was the role you wanted the most or did it not matter to you?
Well, you know, I would have loved Tigger. Yep, that's
for sure. And I really thought I was a pretty good eyor. And
when did the pool you know, I you know, it was weird.
I mean, Sterling Holloway got rest a soul he was he was still with
us then, as it turned out, he was quite old, you know,
he was. He was a very older, much older man. And
Paul Winchell was still there. But interestingly enough, I was only Tigger maybe
in the first thirteen shows. I might have been tiggering five or six of
them because back then a long time ago, but there was an incredible famine
in Africa and people were dying by the thousands, thousands of starvation. And
so he went over there and I'll try to make this short, and he
developed a little mud skipper, uh, the little critter that lives in the
banks. It's half I don't know what it is, half fish, half
frog, you know, just not the prettiest looking thing in the world.
But apparently they're nutritious and you can raise them in mud. That's where they
live. So he developed a thing and he was going back and forth with
the good Ship Hope to teach them how to raise them. And it wasn't
fine cuisine, but it was cuisine, yes. And so when he was
gone, I was Tigger and then I'd do like two shows, then he'd
come back for three. Then I'd do one or two more three shows,
then he'd come back for four. And that's how we got the first season
of the New Adventures of Winning the Pood Done. I was I was.
I used to joke around that I was Tigger light and and other people said
they couldn't tell the difference. But a boy, it just jumped off the
screen at me. So, Jim, I understand that your your brother was
a huge Winnie the poof and and he used to entertain slash maybe tease him
using your your Winnie the poof Woods as a youngster. One of the who
the first person you may be called was when you when you got the good
news? Maybe it was him, and maybe you did it in the poo
voice. I mean, who did you call when you got the good when
you realize that you'd landed these uh these amazing roles? Sure, well,
I called my mom, you know, god resta assul, you know what,
called my mom? And nan Grandma, you gotta you gotta call me?
Yeah, yeah, and uh but um but yeah. We would be
playing Monopoly or something and he'd be he'd be sitting there, have his little
poop bear or whatever, and I say, you know, poo's know their
name for poop Dutch, you know, Yeah, I don't know if you
knew that, but so you like, we need are poop, We need
their poop. And like, twenty five thirty years later, that was a
real funny joke. Okay, who do you play again? We need a
Who the what? So? I said, yeah, okay, fine,
okay, yeah, okay, good guilty. And you were you were married
at the time that you got that role here, Yeah, I was,
Yes, I was. What did your wife have to say? Well,
yeah, her name was need A and she she was she was almost medium
whelmed. She wasn't overwhelmed. She was a little bit underwhelmed. There wasn't
a lot of whelming that bath in the sixties. What are you talking about?
Okay, so you're what now you Winnie the Pooh. Okay, now
they're gonna pay you, right, But how are you going to make a
living? I said, no, no, no, this is I've been
doing it for a while. Now, you know, I had Dumbo Circus
in the can and and uh and it goes yeah, but I mean,
but what how it hasn't Bear hasn't been around for like thirty years? And
I go, no, twenty, so there and uh and uh, you
know she she's okay with it now, by the way, she's still alive
and kicking. She's absolutely fine. So that was a good one, Chris.
Yeah, but you know we ain't gonna do hey, Jesus had to
leave town to make it. Pick an actor's life as a ten pestuous one,
shall we say? I mean, there is yeah ocean full of actors
for a tea cupful of roles. I mean, you seem like a fairly
confident and oh, thank you very much coined that one myself. You seem
like a fairly confident kind of chap fairy, secure in your in your skills,
and did you ever have any moments of self doubt? I mean as
as an actors, like should I maybe selling vacuum cleaners door to door or
something like that. I mean, clearly you shouldn't have, because you know
the world would be lesser with that. But did you have any sort of
moments of self doubt? And if if you did, how'd you working way
through all? Oh? Sure, yeah, absolutely, I mean, um,
I mean what it's a very old story, but it's um I was,
don't you guys might not even remember this. This is it's kind of
old. And it was from an American TV commercial of all things. And
it was for the California Raisins and they were a singing group, which it
wasn't really a group. We just got together myself, Dorian Harewood, Cam
Clark, Um and uh Brian. Oh anyway, there was four of us
and uh we were the California Raisins and um. And there was some doubt
in there because these are all motown songs. Now, when I was a
kid, I was always the white kid in the band. You know,
I played drums and I sang, you know, around town back in the
astunt Ohoe, I was a fantastic parrel and a sweet soul spice, So
how about that? And um, and so they I got the job,
but it was speaking of doubt. I got the job, and they said,
okay, good now, um, let's you know, let's get these
guys over here, and uh and Jim is this, and Brian is that,
and Dorian's that, and Kim's he's what he's white? Jim's white.
Jim Cummings is white. And I said, uh, yeah, miss wow,
We're gonna have to think about that. So they put the others out
all over again. This time. You weren't allowed to say your name.
You couldn't say your name on the audition. You had a number. Yeah,
okay, and so um, I can tell you what I did from
my audition, and it wasn't grape vine. There was a song by the
Temptations called I Can't Next to You Get next to You, in which each
one of the temptations comes out and I can turn a gray sky blue a
good bigod ring whenever I wanted to, and every single temptation comes out and
sings, And so I did them all. I did all five of the
Temptations parts. I couldn't do harmonies, but they were all, well,
let's let's get this guy. Who is it? And then I show up
and they go, oh, Christ, it's him again, the white guy,
white guy in how many times I told you not to be white?
And so? But I guess they were able to tolerate me after all.
So, well, that's fantastic, and I think that was nice of them.
That was Maddie white of them. That's a funny job. The legendary
Sterling Holloway, you touched on him earlier. You No, he was a
bit too old when I was starting new eventus of Winning the Pooh still a
legend, obviously, it was the original voice of Winnie the Pooh. How
long did it take you to master Sterling's betrayal, because you've said that you
wanted to replicate what he had already done. How long did it take you
to replicate that to your satisfaction? Well, you know, I didn't like
it when I first started doing it, but the fact is that, you
know, i'd be playing Monopoly or something, you know, just sitting around
with my family as a young kid. You know, I was in high
school or whatever, and I would say, well, I believe I shall
buy a park place, and they'd say, okay, Winnie the Pooh,
buy park place. And then I'd go, I take him in a bounce
rowing over there and cut myself a hotel. Okay, tigger and that's real
good. Yeah, thinks he's digger, you know. And uh it was.
I was like the kid that you'd pat on the head. It's gonna
be fine, don't you worry. Just him at the child, Yes,
just to him at the child. And so, I mean, I had
no idea that it would work out that way. I was just grateful to
be working in the business. And then the poor auditions rolled around, and
I, like I said, the rest is mystery. How supportive were your
family of your talents? Obviously if you're doing that from a young age and
obviously voice acting was your thing. Oh yeah, well they liked it.
My dad wasn't too crazy about the fact he had to drive me over to
the Youngstown Playhouse when I was in grade school, back and forth. I
couldn't drive in fifth grade, and uh, but he had to get off
work and then shuttle my little butt on over there to rehearse and then to
be in the plays and everything, So he was He could have been a
little happier about the drive, but he was very supportive. My family was
They were all for it. And then that comes segues into the yeah,
but what are you going to do for a living? Well, just you'll
see kind of like when people say to me, what do you do for
a living? Oh? Do some podcasts? Never seriously, what do you
actually do for a living? Yeah, that's exactly. But can you remember
the process of how you found Sterling's voice or what steps did you go through?
Was it just practicing over and over again from a family or what was
the process? And No, I don't know that I practiced it so much.
It's just I just kind of spat it out, you know, literally
it was doing it was playing Monopoly, yeah, and board games like that,
And like I say, I can only imagine how annoying I am,
and chrys Wall testify that I'm still annoying as an adult, So that's I
got that going for me. But it really was just that simple. It
was the things and I've said this thousand times, it's a thing that used
to get me kicked out of class. Yeah the dolphins sound right? Yeah,
Yeah, the nuns wouldn't all of a sudden they weren't so upset with
me when I did a lot of contribution to the school afterwards. If you're
enjoying everything we do, hear it tuned in and want access to even more
Gym Cummings podcasts, you can support the show today on Patreon. Here you'll
not only get early and add free access to the show, but you'll also
get access to our exclusive Q and A podcasts prize draws, our exclusive Facebook
and Discord communities, as well as that Cummings Commentaries where Jim goes back and
records audio commentaries for all those classic Disney Afternoons cartoons and in character. Well
kick things off this month with a revisit of an episode of Dark wind Duck.
So go ahead and support Jim by becoming a member of the tuned in
family today at patreon dot com. Slash Jim Cummings podcast link isn't the description
of this show. We're here to pay tribute to Jim Cummings, but we
would be remiss if we didn't throw a bit of a shout out to the
great Sterling Halloway, as we've been talking about him. Absolutely he metaphorically sort
of passed the torch to your jim, but you never actually sort of got
a chance to shake hands or really sort of discuss anything like that. But
you didn't meet once or sort of meat once. Is that right? Yeah?
Yeah, true enough. This is many years ago, and I wasn't
even in the business. It hadn't I was thinking about it, but I
hadn't made my first stem up tape. And my wife an hour done and
Laguna Beach, California, which is where he lived, and we were sitting
there thinking that we're in this little diner, thinking we're all alone. And
the waitress walks over and says to a corner booth, couldn't see it was
in there. Well have we decided yet what we're going to have? And
I heard this little voice going, yes, I believe I shall have the
choulder, And I looked at her and I went way, you know,
and as I very stealthily got up and walked across the restaurant and grabbed the
salt and pepper off the table, and I looked over there and there was
Sterling and he's sitting there and he's got this gigantic tuft of bright white hair
and he was all dressed in white, and you know, it was it
was surreal, I mean, because I'd seen him on camera. He did
some he was always a character actor anyway, And and he was there,
and he gave me a big smile, you know, and I gave him
a big smile, you know, idiot smile of mind. And then I
went back and I went I'd spitting about oh all the way she said Winnie
who Yeah, he know, she'd better not have said that. Now everybody
knew, but um, and that was it. And and of course I'd
I'd give a lot to go back and relive that moment. I'd say thank
you for all the then, you know, but he was alone. He
didn't, you know, he didn't didn't look like he felt like being fanned
fan boyd, which is what I would have done. What things do you
think if you had the chance that both of you would have him had comments
to sort of laugh about now about both voicing the character of Winnie the Pooh,
if you had have met him after becoming Winnie the Pooh, gosh,
uh boy, I don't know. I mean, first of all, I
would have thanked him for coming up at the sound of that character's voice.
And he was also Car the Snake, and he was also the cheshire Cat
from Alice in Wonderland, but three very similar voices. But you know,
still that defined character as well. Yeah, yeah, well I always think
that the Car the Snake is evil Pooh, you know, and the cheshire
Cat is Pooh on acid. And I think I stole that one from Christopher.
I could be wrong. It was, yeah, well he's like on
acid. I go, yeah, when you landed we need the Pooh,
did your brain immediately go, well, I've landed Car as well, right,
and I've landed all the other sterling roles. If you can perfect that
role, then surely you've got the other ones, right, Yeah, but
they don't work that much. You know, it's not up to me if
hey listen, they do each have their own show if it was up to
me. So maybe we can start a campaign, Chris make a note must
get new campaign. You know, I read a lovely quote, Jim that
you described Stirling Holloway's voice as a gentle breeze blowing through cat toils. I
think that is just lovely, so evocative. I mean, thanking how you'd
like your voice to be described? I mean personally, I'm thinking of like
a nice last glass of like eighty proof bourbon with a nice dollop of honey,
warm honey in there. That's what that's what bring you bring to mind
for me? Well, thank you. I I think a bit more of
a claxon horn going off in church. But yeah, you know, oh
wait, no that No, that's not me, that's someone else that No,
I don't think you know, I don't know. I like yours.
I like that one. But one thing that stands out when watching when watching
you voice these characters is that you seem to become them as you voice them.
Has this always been something that you've done or was something that you sort
of learned along the way to help you find tune a role sort of becoming
the character. No, it's not. I never knew that I did it.
I remember, in fact, the first time I knew that I found
out that I did it was um they were they were doing some behind the
scenes footage for the very first Winning the Pooh series, The New Adventures of
Winning Poop. I guess it was for et or Entertainment Tonight or one of
those shows. And well, here's Jim Cummings he's the newest voice of Way
Boo. And when I was standing and I was doing poo lines, and
I'm standing there and my shoulders are kind of slumped back and I'm standing sort
of like this, and my belly is pushed out, and I would have
never known that I did this, and they're they're playing it, and oh,
by the way, Jim has another character on the show. And then
I'm tiggering. Now I'm standing there like this, and I got my hands
I got you can't see it, but I've got my hands on my hips,
you know, standing there, and I got my chest out and I'm
ready to pounce like, you know, bounce around the room. And I
saw. I guess body language informs the character. So yeah, I'm sure
everyone appreciate you taking your pants off to play Pooh as well. Yes,
yes, absolutely, that's a biggie. That's a must. That's why ma
I got married you. Yeah, oh yeah, yeah, oh yeah?
Or not? Is the poo voice physically hard to maintain? What are the
tricks of the trade to maintain the Jim Cummings with nea the Pooh voice?
Yeah, well, I've never smoked. I've had all the cigarettes I've ever
smoked in my life in my hand right now, So that that I know
as a plus. And and you know, I think my own voice itself
is kind of in the middle. It's not particularly high, but it's not
it's not really all the deep. So it gives me an even a good
starting point. You know, I'm on the fifty yard line, so I
only have fifty yards to make a touchdown in either direction instead of a hundred.
So um. But I don't really have a regiment, Like I say,
I don't yell. And you know, salt water is your friend,
your gargle. So he's saying, Chris has never made you angry. Ever,
what a good son? Yeah, yeah, so far as they're good.
How many times have you ever lost your voice? And if you did,
was it terrified? Lost? Yeah? Twice, yep, yeah,
twice in my life. It was the scariest thing in the world. And
once I was just very sick, and once I think I think it might
have been nerves. It was actually, believe it or not, was my
fortieth birthday a long time ago. But I had this great party and I
was nervous about it, you know, and I hired this incredible band of
musicians called the Jones Boys and and it was just I don't know, I
guess it was stress. And I had it in an old theater in North
Hollywood. Gosh, I'm forgetting the name of the theater. This is terrible,
but I kind of brought it back and I brought it back to life.
It was in Lower Burbank, but it had been closed for like twenty
five years, and so I said, well, can I have it here?
Because I knew what it looked like on the inside, and it had
a nineteen twenties freeze in the background of a street scene and apparently it was
the street right outside the theater. And I just thought that was amazing.
So I had them clean it up and I had them get the all the
concessius stands and everything. Of course, I had a catered and invited like
a million people and we just had an absolute ball because you're it's a you
know, it's a big party in a movie theater with a band on the
stage instead of a movie and everybody's dancing in the aisles, they're dancing on
the seats. It was. It was really cool. Fortieth birthday And Helen,
did you lose your voice? Fall? About two or three days.
I think it was stress. I just imagine that the terror that must be
going through your mind at that point. Yes, yes, it's the bread,
the butter, and dare I say the honey? Oh yes, yes,
you dare say? And you know they wanted me to sing a song
with them and I couldn't do it. So I had just r now do
it, and he killed it. Let's talk about the reaction from fans when
they meet you in person at a comic column or some sort of event and
they hear the voice, the wind voice, for the first time. How
did they react to They close their eyes you told me. Some people have
just broke down crying. Yeah, it's interesting. There's kind of like two
two or three categories. Some are just you know, the fans are going,
oh that's great. Oh so you sound just like him. That's my
favorite thing. Just like him? Wowd you do? Well, it's it
is me. So there's that. And then there are some that are just
in love and they just can't a lot of ladies, a lot a lot
of women, and and I'll say, well, hello there, my dear,
it's so lovely that you came today understanding wo you know, and it's
just and you go, oh, it's gonna be all right. I don't
worry. It's gonna get to do a little about dinner and and I just
get that all the time. Yeah. And then there are some I could
tell you this. There was a story of a very very sweet I used
to do a lot for the Make a Wish Foundation there and I've got a
lot of these stories, but I'll give you a really sweet one here.
Uh. I had occasion to I was contacted a mother engaged to Make a
Wish Foundation because her little daughter two and three years old, uh was a
huge, huge Winnie the Poohan and uh, she wanted to talk to Winnie
the Pooh. And they wanted it to happen sooner than later because she had
got lesser terminal cancer. So that was a tough one. And uh,
and I got up and I got her on the phone, and the mother
says, okay, are you ready, because she's just right here. She's
right here. And I won't use her name, we'll call her, you
know, sal girl, Yeah, a little punkin And uh and I said,
well, hello, honey, it's me Winnie the Pooh, and and
she and all she can and she said, oh, I love you,
Winny pooh, I love you. I love mommy, I love winning the
pool. And she's just sat and sat there for like forty some seconds,
going on and on, and I said, and I love you too,
oh your sweetest honey, and she just and you know, and the mother
gets on the phone. The mother gets on the phone and she says,
well, I just I don't know. I don't know what to say.
And I said, oh no, don't, don't say anything. It's fine.
She goes, no, no, no, Um, we haven't heard
her voice in a year and a half and she's three, you know.
Okay, now I gotta go call me anytime, you know. So,
Yeah, the emotional impact, having such a such a role in society must
be such a thing to carry on your shoulders, but also such an uplifting
thing to be able to be a part of as well, Like you able
to bring so much joy to everybody's lives. But the emotional side of things
it must just be draining for you as well. But not to the point
where it bothers you, because look at the joy you're bringing. Yeah,
yeah, not in a way that it bothers me, that's for sure.
Well, you know, I have a. I have a rule that UM
conventions are a good way to tell this. Everybody that comes up to the
table has to get one hundred percent of everything that they want because they're coming
there and they're spending X amount of money. And I mean I even had
this one girl who was prepared to spend I won't give you the whole story,
but thousands of dollars on voice recordings and apparently they was her sister.
They wanted to listen to them because she was going to leave the earth by
her own hand. And I said, Okay, we're gonna have to talk
about that. And we hugged and we hugged and we hugged, and I
feel I feel like, pooh, pooh, not me kind of gave her
a jump start. And I don't know how things are now. I can
I pray that they're beautiful. But the thing is, you just never know
what touches people. You don't know what touches people, what they're going through.
Yeah, yeah, but I can tell you that you know, Taz
doesn't get that, sure does. I think he's when you touch somebody at
a very early age, when you're preschool, it touches something inside of you.
And you hold onto it and you can hold onto it for your whole
life. And I'm blessed. I'm thankful, Jim, You're you're giving and
giving and giving as Winnie the Pooh. I mean both in the performance end
in these personal interactions. I mean, have there roo been in any times
when you've sort of had to, I don't know, take lessons from the
character for yourself when you've been feeling low or down. It's like, what
would Pooh do? Yeah? Yeah, you know, without getting into it
a lot, I had a court battle to bring custody in my little ones,
and I would go from the courthouse to recording Christopher rob in the movie,
and Pooh was a life raft for me. Without getting too deep into
the weeds, it was just nice. It's a nice place to land.
You know. Would you rather be in the hundred acre woods or in a
swamp? Well, I'll take the hundred acre woe and so, without elaborating
and making a big deal out of it, it's good. It's a therapeutic.
I'll take it. Do you think you've taken on any of the Pooh
characteristics as a person over the years. Do you think he's rubbed off on
you in any way. You've seen all the honey in my pantry, haven't
you? Uh well, I don't know or not just put any of your
characters. Do you think any of them rubbed off on you? Uh well,
I can tell you that the closest to my probably my personality would be
dark Wing Duck and Hondo Knacka. They're both kind of wise and high mrs.
You know, they're kind of both the irreverent in their own way.
I love your face when you're doing dark Wing. You know, you get
if you've become do I am the terror? Absolutely and just you always smile.
You're smiling as you're doing it always makes me tell it makes you so
happy that role? Yeah, oh yeah, yeah, absolutely, Well he
was very very very close to my heart. Yeah yeah, that's a good
one. But that's another show. Oh yes, that is indeed as his
Hondo. Yeah yeah, yes, as his Hondo. Jim. You mentioned
the movie Christopher Robin a little while ago. What I mean, who has
clearly been around for ages and oh yeah, you've been part of his life
for ages and vice versa. I mean, I've obviously encountered fans of different
ages, different generations. Are they different from generation to generation. I mean
people who have grown up with him and they had got a few more miles
on the met or do they react differently to say little kids or is poo
love just you know, the same, only in the sense that, you
know, the little ones are more rambunctious, they're they're more giddy, and
they're more But I gotta tell you, you know a lot of the mums,
they are right there with them, you know, the hundred acre I
always say that there's a new generation of Pooh fans rut every three and a
half four years, So there's an ongoing there's always a new version of there's
always a new new show coming yet, isn't there now they're always updating the
shows. And yeah, but it wouldn't just be the mums. I'm sure
there's met plenty of fathers out there and men that you've brought the tears with
the roles, right Oh yeah, yeah, absolutely, And you know,
and bless their heart, you know, I have so many people, so
many beautiful people on the spectrum that come up to shows and uh, you
know, and they're just bubbling over and they're just having the greatest time in
their life and they're going, well, you know, the dad's going he
really really likes Whin the Pooh. I mean he will watch watch them all,
like all day long. And I go, well, God bless you.
Then I tell them we'll keep buying the DVDs, and you know,
you and I you know, I try to lighten it up, but it's
it's I've said it before. It's an honor. You know what could I
tell you? Carry on this great tradition? Speaking of honor, it's one
more final thing here. If you had the honor to meet Winnie the Pooh,
what do you think you would say to him? I would say,
play your cards right and someday you'll be able to announce the King of England.
Yeah, let's let's actually were we go. Let's get into that.
So you know, it doesn't happen very often. They say, no,
one's a lifetime, but we're gonna have three two of my lifetime, because
you know, Prince Charles gotta love me. Wip you around or King Charles
just say whop around forever. But mister King Prince, I apologize. I
apologize, but he's the artist formerly known as Prince Yes, yes that's right,
So King Charles now He specifically requested that he wanted We Need the Pooh
to be a part of his coronation. Take us back, how did you
first find out about this? How did that all come about? What?
What? What? Where'd you record that from? Because obviously you went there
at Bucking Palace. We Need the Pooh was But had that process all happened?
Well? At first, I was like, I don't know, I'm
busy. I mean, it's not that important, is he really? It's
not. No, it's not that Can I wait till the next one?
Oh? All right? And the fact is I would have stood on my
head to do it, but I made him bay me anyway anyway, uh
No, but it was. It was incredible. They showed me, they
showed me the footage and it was sweetest can be. And I did not
know. Has everybody have you guys seen it? It's all fable online just
type, it's all on YouTube everything. Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay,
because I didn't. I didn't want to give away the ending, you
know, when tiger flies down and swoops away. Oh no, I've said
too much. That's the next That's the next king coronation, isn't it.
Yes, yes, it is, um but no. I honestly, I
was just so incredibly honored to be a part of that, you know,
and I'm just a little asked to risk. I don't even remember the question.
I'm starting to just the process of how it all came about. Yeah.
Yeah, Well they called up and they said, well, what can
you do this? Can you do that? And I said, oh my
gosh, sure, what am I gonna do? Wait till the next one?
Like I said, no, I said please, yeah, And I
just was flabbergasted. And I had no idea that the King of England was
a winning the poo fan. It's crazy, you know. There he's probably
been to play poo sticks on the bridge. I think every person is a
winning the poof fan, right, it's hard not to be. Yeah,
well what you said, Yeah, let's let's spread that you got that world?
Okay? That good la right? Lineup, show of hands? You
said you saw the animation? So did you Did they film the animation first
and then you recorded on top of that? So yes, okay, which
is it's very very rare, that's not that's just not how it's done.
But they had someone dummy the lines and so it was and you know,
and they had at this point. Everybody can pretty much get into the Pool
rhythm if you will. I'm assuming there was no improvising there. It was
just no King wants you to say this, you must say this. Yes,
And if you watch it again, you will notice that Pool does not
do a lot of on camera talking. He's not standing there going no,
no, no, He's just kind of you know, his majesty is you
know, and then he turns around and says it's true because you know.
Yes. So they were very clever. Yeah, it's definitely looked like a
different process because you were saying usually record first and an animated after. I
thought, voice isn't moving all that much? His mouth isn't moving that much?
Yeah right, yeah, yeah, that's still incredibly exciting. Yeah.
Oh, it was such an honor and I'm sure you'll be invited back.
It all went well, Oh, I have to be. There's enough doubt
about it standing invitation of the palace. Maybe the next king is going to
be a dark Wing Duck fan, though who knows what would what would dark
Wing Duck say the king's coronation? Do you think nice place? Pal I
don't know, you know, so you live here? Yeah? The funny
is my son. Here's four and the role that he's most excited for that
you voice is Tassy Devil of all the roles because he's a big Space Jam
fan. He's just you know, Taggy Devil. It has like well,
I always say, I'm, i'm we need to boo in the anti pool.
Yes. Do you know we're actually having a bit of a controversy down
here in Australia because we have our own version of football called Australian Rules Football,
and we have a state of Australia called Tasmania and Devils are from there
and they have just been given the go ahead to have their own Australian Rules
football team and they want to call them the Tasmanian Devils, but that copyright
is owned by Warner so it's a bit of like can we name tell them?
I'm in, but but I want tickets to the opening game, tickets
for like maybe or eight people. It'd be fuenty of people there if the
Taggy Devil is saying, I mean I'm bringing my own people, Chris,
Yeah, let's do that. That's cool. I'm in. Hey, Honestly,
I feel like if the real Taggy Devil endorsed it. Then you can
have many tickets as you want to that game. I'm sure it is.
That's what's gonna be. Oh well, I'll work for free sort of,
you know, you know, well, we'll do a barter system. I'm
sure you can make that happen. Yes, we'll make it happen. But
this has been incredibly fun just going back and talking about how you became Winning
the poo Obviously we're going to talk about more Winning the poohs in going on
in future episodes, because you know, this is your podcast. You can
talk about whatever you want to do. That's the next episode of the podcast.
We're going to be covering one of your favorites, one of my favorites.
It is Hondo and Arca. I'm sure you decided to delve into this
guy. I understand completely. It's gonna say, give us a bit of
a tease for next week, get Hondo to sort of plug next week's show.
Well, I would, but you see, I'm very busy, unless,
of course, you have some of the elusive spond shallow here. You're
know, I think that we can work something out. You and I now
and me your wallet. Now, speaking of wallets, if you want to
hear that episode. It is available right now early and add free on Jim's
Patreon channel, which you can find at Patreon dot com. Slash Jim Cummings
podcast link for that is in the script of this podcast. You also follow
the show on social media on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and
Facebook at Jim Cummings Pots. Make sure you follow us on there's for weekly
updates little clips from the show. But Jim, once again, it's been
absolute pleasure to talk to you about Winning the Pooh. Looking forward to delving
into next week's episode of Hondo and Narka. Thank you for producer Chris,
Thank you Guy Davis. We'll catch you guys all the next episode of Tuned
In with Jim Cummings. Thanks Jim Abersin m HM.