▁the ▁original ▁book , ▁and ▁was ▁reported ly ▁cont empl ated ▁by ▁Disney ▁when ▁he ▁first ▁read ▁the ▁book . ▁Following ▁the ▁mixed ▁reception ▁of ▁Alice ▁in ▁Wonder land ▁( 1 9 5 1 ), ▁he ▁turned ▁the ▁project ▁over ▁to ▁staff ▁members ▁who ▁were ▁non ch al ant ▁with ▁the ▁original ▁stories . ▁He ▁selected ▁Wolfgang ▁Re ith erman ▁to ▁direct ▁the ▁project ▁in ▁hopes ▁of ▁American izing ▁the ▁characters ▁and ▁including ▁more ▁humor . ▁Re ith erman ▁cast ▁his ▁son , ▁Bruce , ▁to ▁voice ▁Christopher ▁Robin ▁and ▁the ▁character ▁of ▁G opher , ▁who ▁does ▁not ▁appear ▁in ▁the ▁original ▁stories , ▁was ▁added ▁to ▁the ▁cast . ▁Because ▁other ▁" N ine ▁Old ▁Men " ▁anim ators ▁were ▁working ▁on ▁The ▁Jung le ▁Book ▁( 1 9 6 7 ), ▁only ▁Eric ▁Lar son ▁and ▁John ▁L oun s ber y ▁were ▁assigned ▁to ▁animate ▁the ▁characters . ▁Other ▁character ▁anim ators ▁such ▁as ▁Hal ▁King , ▁John ▁S ible y , ▁and ▁Eric ▁Cle worth ▁were ▁brought ▁onto ▁the ▁project . ▁ ▁Music ▁ ▁All ▁songs ▁were ▁written ▁by ▁Robert ▁and ▁Richard ▁Sh erman , ▁who ▁wrote ▁most ▁of ▁the ▁music ▁for ▁the ▁W inn ie - the - Po oh ▁franch ise ▁over ▁the ▁years , ▁subsequently ▁incorpor ated ▁into ▁the ▁ 1 9 7 7 ▁musical ▁film , ▁The ▁Many ▁Advent ures ▁of ▁W inn ie ▁the ▁Po oh ▁which ▁is ▁an ▁am alg am ation ▁of ▁the ▁three ▁previous ▁W inn ie - the -