As a child, I loved the Winnie the Pooh stories. After polio, I was emotionally fragile, becoming very frightened over television programs such as The Three Stooges. I cringed as they hit, poked, and slapped each other, thinking they were actually inflicting pain. There was none of that violence in Winnie the Pooh. The loveable Pooh stories all had gentle story lines with warm messages.

On June 26, 2005, Paul Winchell, who was the voice of Tigger, died at age 82. Born in New York City on Dec. 21, 1922, Paul contracted polio at age six.

Did polio make us extra-sensitive to violence?

Those of us who had polio as children had to undergo long hospitalizations and painful medical treatments. Do you think those experiences made some of us extra sensitive to violence? I do. My favorite cartoons as a child were �Casper the Friendly Ghost� and �Winnie the Pooh.� Both were devoid of brutality and filled with warmth and loving kindness.

Perhaps Paul Winchell�s early polio experience added to his interpretation of the Tigger character as a gentle big lug with the wispy lispy voice. Winnie the Pooh could always depend on his loyal pal, the kind and gentle, Tigger. Winchell was a ventriloquist, inventor, and children's television host who brought dummies Jerry Mahoney and Knucklehead Smiff to life on television. He was also an inventor who held 30 patents, including one for an early artificial heart he built in 1963. But he was perhaps best known for his work as the voice of the lovable tiger in animated versions of A.A. Milne's "Winnie the Pooh" -- with his trademark T-I-double grrrr-R.

Winchell first voiced Tigger in 1968 for Disney's "Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day," which won an Academy Award for best animated short film, and continued to do so through 1999's "Winnie the Pooh: Seasons of Giving." Winchell voiced memorable characters in numerous animated features over the years for Disney and Hanna Barbera. He was Gargamel in "The Smurfs," and Boomer in "The Fox and the Hound."

Winchell said he always tried to look for characteristics and idiosyncrasies in the voices he created. For Tigger, he created a slight lisp and a laugh. He credited his wife for giving him the inspiration for Tigger's signature phrase: TTFN. TA-TA for now.

Polio connections can be found in countless news stories. Very little mention was made of Paul Winchell�s polio but I believe it manifested itself in his compassionate and tender portrayal of Winnie�s best friend, Tigger. TTFN.

Linda Wheeler Donahue
Professor Emeritus of Humanities
President, The Polio Outreach of Connecticut
The Polio Messenger

© 2006 JKH