|
|
Christopher Robin's
Green Door
|
|
|
|
|
There are some very
clever writers who say it is quite easy not to have an
er-h'r'm, but I don't agree with them.
I
think it is much easier not to have all the rest of the book.
-- A.A. Milne, Now We Are Six
(Introduction) |
|
|
 |
There are many Web sites relating to A.A. Milne, his
son Christopher (Robin) Milne, A.A.'s children's books and the characters in them, and the adaptations of these
books and characters by Walt Disney. Many of these (I note with considerable awe) are very rich in graphics, information
and activities and are laid out with great care. I often end up asking myself what you may be asking yourself:
What sets this Web site apart from all the others?
Well, this site (despite its small size) is something
other than just a fan site. You see, the character Christopher Robin was more than just a childhood interest; he
was my childhood alter ego (more so in his Disney incarnation than in the original Milne/Shepard
incarnation on the left). I sensed that he and I were very much alike, and that the original boy behind the original Christopher
Robin and I were also very much alike. (In fact, I often felt that I
was Christopher
Robin in a sense -- Christopher Robin as he should have been.) As an adult, I encountered the autobiographical
trilogy of A.A. Milne's son, Christopher Milne, and learned just how accurate my perception was. (It was interesting
to learn -- for example -- that Christopher Milne, like myself, was largely Scottish by descent. There are many
more parallels between us, however.)
But more than that, Christopher Robin as a character was the inspiration for much of my own childhood role-playing.
That role-playing was rarely if ever in A.A. Milne's original setting. Let me tell you
where that led...be patient, the connection with the Pooh Books will
become clear. |
|
|
 |
As a boy, I had one of the largest collections of plastic
play figurines I have ever seen in the hands of a child. Among them were several Poohs, Owl, Eeyore and my favorite,
Christopher Robin. My best friend Tim Meyers had Kanga, one or two more Poohs, and I think Rabbit as well. All
of these were obtained as "prizes" in a cereal that Nabisco used to make (with Pooh himself as its inspiration),
Nabisco Winnie-the-Pooh Great Honey Crunchers. Our role-playing was incredibly syncretic, mixing these characters and many others in a
complex science fiction/fantasy universe of our own creation. My adaptation of Christopher Robin played a major
role in this universe, proving to be a considerably tougher character than either A.A. Milne's or Disney's version
of the original (if no less helpful, sensitive and intelligent). |
|
|
 |
As I grew and changed, so did my fictional universe,
and my adaptation of Christopher Robin grew and changed with it. In fact, Christopher Robin opened the door in
high school to a creative collaboration. After telling a new friend, David Cunningham (you may
find him personally at
Knightowl's
Page and
professionally at DMC
Training), about my love of the character,
he told me, "Well, you look
like Christopher Robin." (At the moment, I did: blond hair, brown
eyes, skinny frame, shorts and all.) I then shyly told him about the
science-fiction universe that Tim and I had created. David, in
delighted astonishment (or was it astonished delight?), told me of
his own efforts in science fiction and fantasy -- and we spent the
rest of the night and many days and nights thereafter sharing ideas.
Without that feedback, I doubt if my ideas would have grown as far
as they did.
In due time, "Christopher Robin" was replaced
with "Chris Alan Ralston" (I always liked the name "Ralston", thanks to the company
Ralston Purina). Finally, after several mutations of
his name (and countless mutations of his speculative-fictional universe), I have
decided to put him into print as "Chris Alan Starbright". He is featured in the
developing
online novel
Realmwalker: Amethyst, with (God
willing and my health allowing)
additional novels to follow in his A Ring of Stars
universe. You may learn something about my plans on this
supplement page.
If Chris Alan (by whatever last name) shares many traits with
Christopher Robin, it's partly because I deliberately
made him "Christopher Robin grown up". (You may notice that
Chris Alan is named after Christopher
Robin Milne and his father Alan Alexander Milne,
intending to evoke some of the strengths
and sensitivities of both.) But it's also because both Christopher Robin and Chris Alan reflect a great deal of me,
even now. (In fact, Chris Alan as an
INFJ is
not exactly comparable to either A.A. Milne as an
ISFP or
to
Christopher Milne as an
ISTP --
nor to myself as an
INTJ, for
that matter --
but you'll learn more about what all that means later.)
So in tribute to the part Christopher Robin has played in my life, and to add to the fund of knowledge on the Web
concerning A.A. Milne and his creations, I open "Christopher Robin's Green Door" to you, the reader...
John Wheeler (יוחנן
רכב) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
As long as you're here, why not sign
my guestbook?
 
|
|
And now, a word from our sponsor...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The backgrounds used on these pages were created by
the Webmaster, using Paint Shop Pro 7.0 and Adobe PhotoDeluxe BE 1.0. The photograph of the original "Poohsticks
Bridge" used in the background on this page is taken from the cover of the book
The Enchanted Places by Christopher Milne (Methuen, 1974). Other photos used in the backgrounds come from Christopher
Milne's The Path Through the Trees (Methuen, 1979) and
The Hollow on the Hill
(Methuen, 1982); from A.A. Milne's
The
World of Pooh (Dutton, 1957); and from
the Web site
Achim-the-Pooh's Home Page,
which provided a beautiful colorized portrait of Christopher Robin and Pooh and an excellent photo of Poohsticks
Bridge. The original uncolored line drawing used as the basis for one background comes from
Disney's The New Adventures of Winnie-the-Pooh: A Deluxe Coloring
Book (Golden Books, 1991). It was colorized
by this author using Adobe PhotoDeluxe BE 1.0.
I owe many of the illustrations used on this site to a number of Web sites devoted to A.A. Milne and his works.
Many others were digitally manipulated by myself, with the end of presenting images of the highest graphic quality
possible. No infringement of copyright, either pertaining to the original works by Milne and Shepard and their
adaptations by Walt Disney, the creator of any other media presentation of these works, Methuen or any other book
publisher of A.A.'s or Christopher's works or literary reviews of those works, or any photographer working in connection
with any of the above works, is intended. No commercial gain is intended on the part of the author of this Web
site. |
|
|
|
The MIDI files and the graphics used on this
site come from:
|
|
|
|
All of the MIDI
files used on this Web site have been retuned to "just tuning"
using the following freeware... |
|
 |
Scala
is a powerful software tool for experimentation with
musical tunings, such as just intonation scales, equal and
historical temperaments, microtonal and macrotonal scales, and
non-Western scales. It supports scale creation, editing,
comparison, analysis, storage, tuning of electronic instruments,
and MIDI file generation and tuning conversion. All this is
integrated into a single application with a wide variety of
mathematical routines and scale creation methods. Scala is ideal
for the exploration of tunings and becoming familiar with the
concepts involved. In addition, a very large library of scales
is freely available for Scala and can be used for analysis or
music creation.
|
|
|
|
"HEY, CHRISTOPHER ALAN III" BY JOHN WHEELER |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Updated November 05, 2008
|
|
|
