Country Bear Jamboree
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The Country Bear Jamboree is a former attraction at Disneyland in Anaheim, California and a current attraction in the Magic Kingdom theme park at Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, Florida and at the Tokyo Disneyland theme park at Tokyo Disney Resort in Chiba, Japan. All versions of the attraction are similar.
The attraction is a stage show, with audio-animatronic figures. Most of the on-stage characters are bears, who perform Country music. Characters rise up to the stage on platforms, descend from the ceiling, and appear from behind curtains. The audience includes audio-animatronic animal heads mounted on the walls who interact with the characters on stage.
Due to overwhelming popularity, The Country Bear Jamboree was given two "spin-off" shows which appeared during the summer and winter seasons at Disneyland. They were called The Country Bear Christmas Special in 1984 and The Country Bear Vacation Hoedown in 1986.
History
The Country Bear Jamboree was originally intended by Walt to be placed in a ski resort he was trying to build in the mid 1960s. Walt knew he wanted some sort of show to provide entertainment to the guests at the resort, and he knew he wanted the show to feature some sort of bear band. He assigned the project to imagineer Marc Davis.Davis, together with Al Bertino came up with many bear groups, including bear marching bands, bear mariachi bands, and Dixieland bears. Walt enjoyed them all, but unfortunately he died before he could make any real decisions regarding the show.
After Walt's death, plans for the show still carried on. The bears would be featured in the resort's Bear Band Restaurant Show, and it was decided that they would have a country twang. But while plans for the show progressed, plans for the ski resort did not. Instead, the imagineers working on the project decided to place the show in Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom in time for its grand opening in 1971. Imagineer X Atencio and musical director George Bruns created songs for the bears to sing.
On October 1, 1971, The Country Bear Jamboree opened its doors in the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World. It received so much good feedback that imagineers immediately planned to make a replica of the show to be placed in Disneyland. The addition of the show in Disneyland inspired a brand new land appropriately titled Bear Country. In Disneyland, the bears were twice as popular than in the Magic Kingdom because two 306-seat auditoriums were constructed with two exact duplicates of the stage show.
The show was removed from Disneyland on September 9, 2001 to make way for The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.
Characters
Bears
Henry- The "ringmaster" of the show, Henry is a welcoming and friendly brown bear. He wears a black top hat and is voiced by Pete Renaday. It is implied that he and Teddi have some sort of backstage romance.
Liver Lips McGrowl- Liver Lips is perhaps the funniest-looking bear. He gets his name from his very large lips. He is a brown bear and plays the guitar. He is voiced by Van Stoneman.
Wendell- Wendell is a brown bear who plays the mandolin. He wears a blue bandanna around his neck and a light brown hat. He also has a massive overbite and buck teeth. He is voiced by Bill Cole.
Teddi Barra- Teddi Barra is a unique bear because she never appears onstage. Instead she descends from a hole in the ceiling on her swing, which is decorated with pink roses. She is a brown bear and wears a blue hat with a pink feather as well as a long pink boa around her neck. She is voiced by Patsy Stoneman.
Ernest- Ernest is a brown bear who plays the fiddle. He wears a derby and a red polka-dot bowtie around his neck. He was voiced by Van Stoneman from October 1971 until July 1975, when his vocals were rerecorded by Randy Sparks. Stoneman's recording can still be heard on the 1971 record and 2003 CD.
Terrence (aka Shaker)- A tall bear with tan fur (in the Disneyland version his fur was grey), Terrence wears a miner's cap and plays the guitar. He is voiced by Van Stoneman.
Trixie- Trixie is a very large brown bear who wears a blue bow on her head, a blue tutu around her waist, and holds a blue hankerchief in her left hand. She also has a slight crush on Henry. She is voiced by Cheryl Poole.
Big Al- Big Al is the fattest bear. He is grey with a light grey belly and wears a miner's cap and a red hunter's vest. He plays the guitar and is voiced by Tex Ritter.
The Sun Bonnet Trio
- Bunny- Bunny stands in the center of the stage. She is voiced by Jackie Ward. Because she and her sisters are triplets, they all have brown fur and wear matching blue bonnets and dresses.
- Bubbles- Bubbles stands to the audience's right next to Gomer between her sisters and is voiced by Loulie Jean Norman.
- Beulah- Beulah stands to the audience's right and is voiced by Peggy Clark.
The Five Bear Rugs
- Zeke- Considered the leader of The Five Bear Rugs, Zeke plays a banjo and taps on the dishpan with "a real ol' country beat". He is a grey bear with glasses who wears a grey top hat. He was voiced by Dallas McKennon from October 1971 until July 1975, when Randy Sparks rerecorded his vocals. McKennon's recording as Zeke can still be heard on the 1971 record and the 2003 CD.
- Zeb- Zeb is brown bear with a light brown stomach. He plays the fiddle as well as wears a bandana around his neck and a miner's hat. He is voiced by a member of the Stoneman family.
- Ted- Ted is a tall, skinny bear who blows on the cornjug and plays the washboard. His fur is brown, and he wears a vest with a brown hat.
- Fred- The biggest of the five bears, Fred ironically plays the smallest instrument: the mouthharp. He is a brown bear and wears blue jeans held up with suspenders as well as a striped red and white tie.
- Tennessee- Tennessee Bear plays the thang, which has only one string. He is brown and wears a blue bandanna (red in the Walt Disney World version) around his neck. He is voiced by a member of the Stoneman family.
Rufus- Rufus is not a performer, but instead runs the projections and lights. He is never seen, but can be heard from time to time running backstage, constantly out of breath.
Other Animals
Buff- Buff is considered the leader of the animal heads and is also the largest. He is the head portion of a buffalo and is voiced by Disney legend Thurl Ravenscroft.Max- Max is the head portion of a stag and is voiced by Peter Renaday.
Melvin- Melvin, a moose head, is the Dopey of the animal head trio. He often makes good-natured jokes and is voiced by Bill Lee.
Sammy- Sammy is Henry's raccoon pal who cuddles around Henry's top hat. He acts like a coonskin cap for Henry. He is voiced by Bill Cole.
The Show
The show is basically a continuous string of short country songs sung by the various bears. As each bear sings their song, a curtain opens to reveal them, except in the case of Wendell (who rises from the stage), Teddi Barra (who descends from the ceiling), Gomer (who ascends from the stage), and The Sun Bonnets (who also rise from the stage itself).The show begins with Max, Buff, and Melvin telling Henry to get on with the show. Henry then asks Gomer to give him a "little intro", and then the jamboree begins!
The Songs
- "Pianjo"- Gomer and Henry
- "Bear Band Serenade" - The Five Bear Rugs, Gomer and Henry
- "Fractured Folk Song" - Henry and Wendell
- "My Woman Ain't Pretty (But She Don't Sware None)"- Liver Lips McGrowl
- "Mama, Don't Whip Little Buford" -
- "Tears Will Be the Chaser For My Wine" - Trixie
- "Pretty Little Devilish Mary"- The Five Bear Rugs
- "How Long Will My Baby Be Gone"-
- "All the Guys That Turn Me On Turn Me Down"- The Sun Bonnets and Gomer
- "If Ya Can't Bite, Don't Growl" - Ernest
- "Heart, We Did All That We Could"- Teddi Barra
- "Blood on the Saddle"- Big Al
- "The Ballad of Davy Crockett"- Henry and Sammy
- "Ole Slew Foot"- All of the Bears (minus Ernest and Trixie), Sammy, Max, Buff, and Melvin
- "Come Again"- Henry, Sammy, Max, Buff, and Melvin
Attraction facts
Disneyland
- Grand opening: March 4, 1972
- Closure date: September 9, 2001
- Designer: WED Enterprises
- Audio-Animatronics: 20
- Sponsors:
- * Pepsi Cola
- * Wonder Bread
- Show length: 15:55
- Future attraction: The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
- Required ticket: "E"
- Ride system: Audio-Animatronic theater presentation
Magic Kingdom
- Grand opening: October 1, 1971 (Opened with Magic Kingdom)
- Designer: WED Enterprises
- Audio-Animatronics: 20
- Show length: 15:55
- Required ticket: "E"
- Ride system: Audio-Animatronic theater presentation
Trivia
- The Country Bears is a movie that was loosely based on The Country Bear Jamboree in which the bears have to save Country Bear Hall from demolition by a benefit concert. Ironically, the Disneyland version closed shortly before the movie came out.
- The animal heads (Max, Buff and Melvin) can be seen hidden in The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.
- This attraction was originally sponsored by Pepsi-Cola and Frito-Lay for a few years. Not only did the show mention their sponsorships, but at the beginning, Henry even mentions part of Pepsi's old slogan at the time ("You've Got a Lot To Live; Pepsi's Got a Lot To Give!") by saying, "Just refrain from hibernatin' and we'll all enjoy the show, 'cause we've got a lot to give." When Pepsi's sponsorship of the attraction was dropped, only the mention by Henry of its sponsorship was dropped, but such was not the case for his introduction that included part of the slogan. It's still part of the attraction even today.
- The exact same Audio Animatronic structure used for Big Al was reused to make up the structure of the Oogie Boogie Audio Animatronic in the Haunted Mansion Holiday attraction at Disneyland until 2005.
- This attraction was originally being designed for the Disney's Mineral King Ski Resort, which was never built due to enviromental concerns.
- It was one of the last attractions that Walt Disney saw on the drawing board. at the time The Country Bear Jamboree project was assigned to Imagineer Marc Davis. One day Davis was working on drawings of the the characters in his office. Walt Disney walked in and saw the drawings and laughed because he loved the characters. On Walt's way out he turned to Marc Davis and said "Good Bye" which he was known never to say. a few days later he passed away on December 15, 1966.
External links
- [Disney World Country Bear Page]
- [All Ears Net Country Bear Page]
- [Yesterland Country Bear page]
- [WDWHistory Country Bear Page]
- [DONEINTHEDARK.com] - Includes video and audio clips from the attraction
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