Frank Tashlin's "The Bear That Wasn't" - cartoon by Chuck Jones, on YouTube!
leno...@yahoo.com
http://youtube.com/watch?v=cq0a5JTSGvU
I can't watch it right now, but I will soon!
>From "Stump the Bookseller" (I wrote everything starting from B182):
http://loganberrybooks.com/solved-b.html
This book was about a bear who went to sleep for the winter. When he
woke up in the spring a factory had been built over his den. No one in
the factory will believe he is a bear. They all say he is a guy in fur
coat. He talks to each manager as he talks to higher ranking managers
you can see in the picture that the next manager has one more phone on
his desk, one more trash can and on more secretary than the last
manager he talked to. Pre-1965.
Jörg Steiner, The bear who wanted to be a bear, 1977. "A huge factory
replaces the woodlands around a hibernating bear who, on awakening,
must prove he is indeed a bear and not a lazy worker."
Frank Tashlin, The bear that wasn't, 1962, 1995. "After hibernating
for the winter, a bear wakes up to discover that a huge factory has
been built over his cave and that nobody believes he is a bear."
The Bear That Wasn't. I had this on a record when I was a kid, but
it's actually not a book but a cartoon. The refrain they keep
repeating is,"You're a hairy man who needs a shave and wears a fur
coat." There may have been a book made from the cartoon, I suppose.
Some information on it is here.
B182: Have I got info for you! It's The Bear That Wasn't, 1946,
written and illustrated by Frank Tashlin, writer, animator, director
and producer. Also the author of the 1950 The Possum That Didn't
(smile, that is) and the 1951 The World That Isn't. He worked with
Bob Hope, the Marx Bros, Jerry Lewis and directed "The Girl Can't Help
It" with Jayne Mansfield and Little Richard. However, some feel that
The Bear That Wasn't, while very funny, is really more for adults
while slightly sad for kids - it's cynical, after all. Some think it's
a bit political, too! It was made into a 10-minute cartoon by Chuck
Jones in 1967. In 1976, Jorg Steiner and Jorg Muller wrote a slightly
different book version called The Bear Who Wanted to Be a Bear. Not
much humor in that one.
Additional note: Frank Tashlin wrote (in 1952?) The Turtle That
Couldn't. He was also the director of at least a dozen Porky Pig
cartoons, some Bugs and Daffy, and many more.
Lenona.
leno...@yahoo.com
I discovered a few "Electric Company" songs and sketches they didn't
bother to include on the DVD. The first things I jumped on were Tom
Lehrer's "L-Y" and Rita Moreno singing "Phantom of Love." (But who can
pass up seeing "Hey Diddle Diddle" again even though that IS on the
DVD? Or Lehrer's "Silent E"?****) E.C. songs were the best kids' songs
on TV in the 1970s. I had no idea Lehrer wrote more than 3 songs for
them!
Anyway, I wanted to say, please let me know if the Sesame Street first-
episode "Letter E" cartoon ever shows up - it doesn't seem to be there
right now. That's the semi-psychedelic one that goes as follows:
E...E...
See me
Eating a peach
Sitting on my eagle
Chasing a beagle
To the queen on her knees
Under a tree
By the sea
She was looking for her Easter egg
Having a dream about eating ice cream
In the Land of Steam
When a baby seal
Tickled her heel
She let out a squeal
And woke from her dream in time to see
The eagle and me
Flying away with the Easter egg
Over the evening sea
Hee hee hee
E...E.
Yes, I asked about it at the proper newsgroup, but traffic there is
VERY low.
Lenona.
****Note the Watergate reference when you watch it!