BEAR MINERALS MAKE UP

Walt Disney World
The Magic Kingdom
Frontierland

Looks best viewed large

“The Country Bear Jamboree was originally intended by Walt to be placed at Disney's Mineral King Ski Resort which 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. The project was assigned 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. One day Davis was working on drawings of the characters in his office. Walt Disney walked in and saw the drawings and laughed because he loved the characters. On Disney's way out he turned to Marc Davis and said "Good Bye", which he was known never to say. A few days later he died on December 15, 1966. It was the last time Davis saw Disney.

After his 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 to the show in Disneyland, it inspired a brand new land appropriately titled Bear Country. Because of the tremendous popularity of the show in Walt Disney World, excess capacity was added to the March 4, 1972 Disneyland incarnation in the form of two identical theaters, each housing a copy of the show in its entirety.”
~source Wikipedia (and I think this one is true :))

While we don’t visit the Country Bear Jamboree every trip, we appreciate it as a cornerstone attraction of the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World. What I really love about it is the glimpse into yesteryear when everyone had thicker skins and didn’t take offense to every potential “politically incorrect” joke out there. It reminds me of the classic Tom & Jerry, Looney Tunes, and Tex Avery Cartoons with it's humor. .. it’s when funny was allowed to be funny in public.

How can you not crack a smile at songs like:
My Woman Ain’t Pretty (But She Don’t Swear None)
Mama, Don’t Whip Little Buford
Tears Will be the Chaser For Your Wine
All the Guys that Turn Me On Turn Me Down
and of course the ever popular Blood on the Saddle by Big Al (voiced by Tex Ritter)

Even though the audio in the show needs to be rehabbed (if possible as those master tapes are so old by this point, the recordings may be in the best shape now they will ever be in), I hope Disney keeps this one around for the duration.

Baby Bear's mom was abandoned, locked in a house with her puppies, starving and eating the carpet. A neighbor broke in to rescue the family. Before the mom and pups were handed off to a kill shelter, the Noah's Bark rescue intervened.

When I adopted my pup (in front of the local Petco!), he'd suffered a fractured skull and other impacts from the early deprivation. He looks like he grew up with rickets. He slept and slept as a new family member, earning the moniker "Baby Bear." Mentored by my beloved Libby (another adoptee) before she died of cancer, my Baby Bear became the gentle "old soul" who always befriends all he meets (human, canine, feline, avian and other species). He plays equally with much larger dogs (his friend Nicky) and tiny dogs (his friend Bella). Baby Bear is my partner, my friend, my heart. For us, he's a "little" dog at only 65ish pounds. He likes to cuddle, he wants to be near a person, he sleeps on the bed. He's the glue stick pup.

When suddenly Baby Bear exhibited an injury, we had to meet his needs for surgical repair of a torn ACL. For six months, I slept on the floor with Baby Bear during his recovery. We worked to build the muscles and now he can make it back to the second floor. He still occasionally strains the muscles, we have to be sooooo carefull! Bear misses the play dates. We now are working to give him play time with an assortment of toys. He gets special meds and a mix of vitamins and minerals to help with his joints. Thanks to Petco, I can get what I need on-line, delivered directly to the house.

More than anything, I wish I could assure this animal of a pain-free existence. We've been told he will likely require more surgery in the future. Regardless, Baby Bear will get as much of a life of joy, friendship, play and overall goodness as I can provide.

Baby Bear is one of many adoptions for our family. The truth is, I can't imagine what quality of life I would experience without the joy he brings me. Providing for a creature that needs our help is one of the most human acts we can engage in. Visit your adoption center--there are plenty of other "babies" out there waiting for their forever home.