When we learned that Winnie the Pooh and his friends from the A.A. Milne stories, as well as a couple of new characters, were about to appear in newspaper comic strip form, we hastened to ask Benson M. Srere, Vice-President and General Manager of King Features Syndicate, which will distribute this first Walt Disney strip to be introduced in many years, to tell us how it happened. Q. I realize that Winnie the Pooh's adventures in A.A. Milne's stories have been enjoyed by millions of readers for over fifty years. Would you tell our readers how he came to be the hero of his own comic strip this past June.
A. To begin with, the Disney organization has owned the rights to produce the Winnie the Pooh television specials for a number of years. Well, back in April of 1977, King Features President, Joe D'Angelo, and I were out on the west coast for the ANPA Convention, and during our visit we got together with Vincent Jefferds, who's in charge of all domestic and international merchandising for the studio. King, as you know, has always been
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