Thursday, October 16, 2025

Eeyore & Pooh, August 1981

We all like to dress up like giant fuzzy cartoon characters (for "reasons"), but other people - the smart people - get paid to do it! I don't know if Disneyland was the first amusement park to have walk-around characters to meet and hug - probably not. But the Disney characters are iconic and beloved.

Who doesn't love Eeyore? Autocorrect wants to call him "eyesore", but he's not that bad. The tack holding his tail in has always been a source of unease for me, but maybe it helps me understand Eyesore's mournful demeanor. I think that kids have a natural desire to let Eyesore know that they love him. 


And then there's Pooh! He doesn't have any emotional issues, in fact he's generally pretty cheerful, especially when wearing a jar of hunny on his head (wouldn't you be?). I believe that the 1980s were the beginning of "peak Pooh", when the bear's popularity grew and grew, until some people worried that he had eclipsed Mickey Mouse himself. 

Or was this photo supposed to feature the lady with the mint-green pants?


 

3 comments:

Nanook said...

Major-
"Eyesore", huh-? (I wonder if AI will finally put a stop to these annoyances caused by autocorrect-?)

As for Miss. mint-green pants - 'Sylvia' even strikes the perfect pose with her one, bent knee. (I wonder if she's between cigarettes-??) She reminds me of Alice Pearce - the 1st Gladys Kravitz on Bewitched.

Thanks, Major.

JB said...

From this front view close-up, I can't tell what Eyesore's expression is. Woeful? Bashful? Or just kinda goofy. Those stitch marks (he IS a plushie after all) makes it look like he got ran over by a mountain bike.

Pooh looks especially happy here. (Maybe it's the end of his shift and he's looking forward to going home.) Did the CM look out of pooh's 'hunny' pot? I can't tell if mint-green lady is just amused, seeing Pooh, or if she's posing hammily (that's a word, right?) for the camera.

Character photos are always fun, and welcome. Thanks, Major.

TokyoMagic! said...

It's interesting that even though these are dated August 1981, the 25th Anniversary banners are up in both photos. I'm pretty sure those all came down for the 1980 Christmas season, and never returned. I wonder if the photographer could have possibly waited 10 months or more, before developing his/her film?

JB, yes....the person in the Droopy Pooh costume would look out through the "Hunny" pot. The letters were cut out and filled in with screen material. Fun fact.....the "Hunny" pot was open on top, with just a single cross bar for mounting the bee on top. So guests could throw trash and other items into the pot, and it would end up on the head of the cast member inside.