The R. John Wright Company is releasing The Cowardly Lion stuffed animal figure. It’s made in an exclusive partnership with TM & Turner Entertainment.
The Cowardly Lion stuffed figure is based on the movie character from the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz. The character was played by Bert Lahr and it has been one of the top favorites for decades.
Now, for the first time ever, this version of the Cowardly Lion gets an as close as possible stuffed toy. “In essence we were making the ‘actor’ as a fully-articulated felt doll and then sitting him in the makeup chair for his transformation before dressing him in his costume. To our knowledge, this is the first time this approach has been attempted in one-quarter scale!”, says R. John Wright in an official statement.
The Cowardly Lion was one of the most challenging Oz characters to remake like a stuffed animal. The Wright’s studied photos of the original costume and videos of the restoration which was done on it prior to being sold, the company adds. The costume set a world record when it was auctioned in 2014 for over 3 million dollars.
The main challenge was to keep the bulky mohair suit from overwhelming the doll. It was important for R. John Wright to maintain the impression that there was a man under the costume. R. John Wright is currently partnered with Warner Brothers to produce limited edition dolls of all of the Wizard of Oz film characters which can be found on their website.
An agreement has also been inked with Frederick Warne & Co. to produce the Beatrix Potter animal characters. It was released earlier this year that the Wrights will produce in a partnership with Warner Bros. Entertainment, collector dolls from the classic book “Where the Wild Things Are”. The RJW characters are shipped worldwide and are available on the company’s website as well as through a network of authorized retailers.
This is not the first time RJW has partnered with global licensors to make high-end collector versions of famous characters. The company has already made limited editions of Paddington Bear, Winnie-the-Pooh, The Little Prince, Raggedy Ann and many, many others over its 40-year history. R. John Wright’s award-winning designs have become synonymous in the industry with the finest, most definitive renditions of classic childhood favorites. All work is performed on-site at the company’s facility in Vermont. Visit rjohnwright.com for further details.
