Newsletter 13 - June 23, 2000
We're sorry to say that after June 2000,
because of changes in our service provider's operations and a host
of other circumstances, we were forced to discontinue publication of
what -- we thought -- was a information packed digest. We hope to be
able to resume sometime in the future
Contents
1. Pooh in NYC
2. Events
3. Cabaret & Jazz
4. Street Fairs & Feasts
5. Parades
6. Music & Dance
7. Broadway
1. Pooh in NYC
New York has many hidden treasures. The stuffed
toys that helped inspire the well-loved AA Milne creations Winnie
the Pooh and pals Tigger, Piglet, Kanga and Eeyore are among them.
Here's the story.
Born in 1920, Christopher Robin Milne was given
an 18"-high teddy bear on his first birthday. The bear, from
Harrods, was christened Edward the Bear. Inspired by the stuffed
bear and its stuffed friends AA Milne published When We Were Very
Young in 1924, illustrated by Ernest Shepard.
Also in 1924, Christopher Robin began a
fascination with an American black bear at the London Zoo. This
friendship was one of the other kernels that inspired Milne elder to
write the Pooh stories
The black bear came to London by way of Ontario
and Quebec, Canada. When war erupted on the Continent in August
1914, Lieutenant Harry Colebourn, a Canadian veterinary officer,
traveled by train from Winnipeg to Quebec. During a changeover at
White River Bend, Ontario, he bought an American black bear cub from
a trapper. Upon arrival in Quebec, the cub, newly named Winnie in
honor of Lieutenant Colebourn's hometown of Winnipeg, became the
mascot of his new unit, the 2nd Canadian Infantry Brigade
Winnie arrived at the London Zoo in December
1914 as the 2nd Brigade passed through London on the way to France.
The juvenile bear became a hit with children and, after the war,
Lieutenant Colebourn decided that the best course of action was to
leave Winnie in her 'temporary' home
Christopher Robin happened upon 'Winifred' the
Bear at the London Zoo during a visit in 1924. Christopher greatly
enjoyed feeding Winnie (condensed milk, not honey) and revisited
many times. In 1926, after the Milne family moved to Cotchford Farm
in Sussex, Edward the Bear requested a new and exciting name. Young
Christopher dubbed the stuffed toy Winnie-the-Pooh
Newly inspired the now excitingly named bear and
the surrounding Ashford Forest in Sussex, Milne and Shepard reworked
the original characters and published Winnie the Pooh in
1926. Additional stuffed toys quickly led to Now We Are Six
in 1927 and The House at Pooh Corner in 1928. Winnie, Tigger,
Piglet, Kanga, Roo and Eeyore have never been out of print
Why are Pooh and friends in New York City?
Elliott Macrae of EP Dutton, the Pooh's American
publishers, visited AA Milne in 1947 and convinced him to send Pooh
and his four surviving friends (Tigger, Piglet, Kanga and
Eeyore--Roo had been lost in the Sussex countryside) on a tour of
the United States. In 1956 they were put on permanent display at the
Company's New York City headquarters
Mr Elliott Graham applied for a position at
Dutton in the late 1940s because of Pooh and friends; he cared for
them for more than 40 years. Upon his death Dutton donated the
collection to the New York Public Library in 1987, where anybody can
visit them. The stuffed animals have been in the center of a couple
of brouhahas, most recently in 1998 when a British politician
demanded they should be returned to England. The tiff was amicably
settled and the five are still on view at the Central Children's
Room on the second floor of the Donnell Library Center
A hidden New York City treasure--and it's free!
Donnell Library Center | 20 W 53rd Street
| Midtown West | Manhattan | 212-621-0618
Central Children's Room hours Mon 12:00N
to 6:00P | Tue 10:00A to 6:00P | Wed 12:00N to 6:00P | Thu 12:00N to
8:00P | Fri 12:00N to 6:00P | Sat 12:00N to 5:00P
2. Events
Starting Jun 21st and continuing
thru Jul 16th Shakespeare
in the Park presents The Winter's Tale as the New York
Shakespeare Festival's first offering this season
Celebrate
Brooklyn! hits the Prospect Park Bandshell Jun 22nd thru Aug
19th for a summer of music, dance, film and more
The folks in the Coney Island
Mermaid Parade strut their stuff along the Boardwalk on Jun 24th
On Jun 26th you can discover a Taste
of Times Square, an outdoor food and entertainment festival
Eric Idle Exploits Monty
Python for two nights, Jun 27th & 28th, at Carnegie Hall
Starting Jun 28th you can dance
under the stars during Midsummer
Night Swing on the Plaza at Lincoln Center
For details and more events and to
see what's coming up in the months ahead, go to our New
York City Events Guide
3. Cabaret & Jazz
This Week:
Steve Lacy with The Mal
Waldron Trio at Iridium | Elvin Jones Jazz Machine at the
Blue Note | Jane Iran Bloom Quartet at Sweet Basil | Melvin
Butler, Myron Walden, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Dave Easley, John
Cowherd & Christopher Thomas at the Village Vanguard
Not so little Julie Budd If
You Could See Me Now in the Oak room at the Algonquin | See B
B King at his new B B King Blues Club & Grill | Andy
Summers at Birdland
Next Week:
Little Richard at B B King
Blues Club & Grill | Amanda McBroom at Joe's Pub | George
Coleman at Iridium | Kenney Drew Jr at the Village
Vanguard
Jean Michel-Pilc Trio at
Sweet Basil | Holly Hoffman Quartet with special guest Ray
Brown at Birdland
For details and more go to our New
York City Events Guide
4. Street Fairs & Feasts
Find details of all of your favorite street
fairs, feast, festivals and carnivals at our Street
Fair & Feast Guide. Here's a sampling of this week's fairs:
In The Bronx:
San Juan Bautista Festival,
Crotona Parkway btw E 175th Street & Fairmont Place | E 175th
Street btw Southern Boulevard & Crotona Parkway
In Queens:
San Antonio Abate Society of Castrofilippo
Feast, Ditmars Boulevard btw 35th Street & 38th Street | Central
Astoria Local Development Corporation Street Festival, Steinway
Street btw 28th Avenue & 34th Avenue | College Point Board of
Trade Street Fair, College Point Boulevard btw 14th Avenue &
20th Avenue
In Manhattan:
Village Independent Democrats Street
Fair, Greenwich Avenue btw 6th Avenue & 7th Avenue | Washington
Square Tenants Association Street Fair, LaGuardia Place btw W
4th Street & Houston Street | Festival Dominicano, Amsterdam
Avenue btw 190th Street & 193rd Street | Heritage of Pride
Street Festival, Greenwich Street & Washington Street btw
Christopher Street & Spring Street | Barrow Street, Morton
Street, Leroy Street, Clarkson Street btw West Street & Hudson
Street | Lexington East Twenties Society Street Fair,
Lexington Avenue btw 23rd & 34th Street
In Brooklyn:
Brownstone Republican Club Street Fair,
Court Street btw Montague Street & Atlantic Avenue | Fort
Hamilton Board of Trade Festival, Fort Hamilton Parkway btw 66th
Street & 73rd Street | Coney Island Sports Foundation
Street Fair, W 17th Street btw Mermaid Avenue & Reigleman
Boardwalk | Smith Street Fun Day Festival, Smith Street btw
Union Street & Bergen Street
Get all the times and details for your
favorite street fairs, feast, festivals and carnivals at our Street
Fair & Feast Guide
5. Parades
One of the year's big ones, the Gay Pride
Parade marches along 5th Avenue south from 52nd Street to
Greenwich Street
For more details and to preview upcoming marches
check out our New York City
Parade Guide
6. Music & Dance
Thru the 25th PHILADANCO
celebrate's it's 30th Anniversary at the Joyce with performances of On
the Shoulders of Our Ancestors
The
New York City Ballet completes it's season this weekend with
repertory performances of The Chairman Dances, Todo Buenos Aires,
Chaconne, Summerspace, Vienna Waltzes, Fearful Symmetries and
new ballets by Mahdaviani and Martins
This weekend the American
Ballet Theater begins La Bayadere. You can catch
performances by Susan Jaffe, Vladimir Malakhov, Irina Dvorovenko,
Julie Kent, Julio Bocca, Sandra Brown, Amanda McKerrow, Jose Manuel
Carreño, Paloma Herrera, Ashley Tuttle, Angel Corella and others
Our Music
and Dance Guide has all the details
7. Broadway
If you haven't caught up on the 2000
Tony Awards now is the time to do it.
Kelsey Grammar's first Broadway run is
very limited. His version of Bill Shakespeare's Macbeth
opened to scathing reviews Jun 15th and will close Jun 25th
More Closings:
A
Moon for the Misbegotten closes Jul 2nd
Dame
Edna: The Royal Tour takes a royal tour of the States after
the show closes Jul 2nd
Footloose
muddled thru 737 performances. It finally closes Jul 2nd
Ride
Down Mount Morgan's limited run ends Jul 23rd
Broadway babe Nathan Lane is back on
stage in The
Man Who Came to Dinner with Jean Smart. The show
starts previews at the newly renovated American Airlines Theater
(nee Selwyn) Jun 30th for a Jul 27th opening
Find details for all Broadway show at our Broadway
Theater Guide
See you next week!
Susie and Jim
|
