Cinnamon bear

The Cinnamon Bear is an old time radio program that first aired from 1937 to 1943 (historians are unsure of the exact year). In 26 episodes with runtimes of 12 minutes each, a classic story unfolded starring Judy and Jimmy Barton who must venture to Maybeland to recover their missing Silver Star that belongs on top of their Christmas tree. Helping on this quest for the missing star is The Cinnamon Bear, who is a stuffed bear with shoe button eyes and a green scarf. They meet other memorable characters on this quest, including the Crazy Quilt Dragon, the Wintergreen Witch, Fe Fo the Giant, and even Santa Claus. The episodes would air starting at Thanksgiving and would end at Christmas, with one episode airing each night. The show was created by a group of merchants as an advertising promotion, and was recorded in a hurry in just a few weeks. The voice of The Cinnamon Bear was done by Buddy Duncan, a little person, and several other famous voices lent their talents, including Verna Felton, Joseph Kearns, Howard McNear, Elvia Allman, Frank Nelson, Gale Gordon, and Slim Pickens. Asian-American actress Barbara Jean Wong played Judy, but the name of the child who played Jimmy is unknown and remains one of radio's great mysteries. The story and all the songs were written in six weeks time by Glan Heisch and aided by his wife. He was specifically directed to create something in the style of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland. The radio show proved to be so popular that it is said to be broadcast by a station somewhere in the world every year during the holidays, even today. In fact, many malls had a Cinnamon Bear that children would tell what they wanted for gifts instead of a Santa, and he would show up in Christmas parades. The Cinnamon Bear remained popular especially in the Northwest, with Portland, OR often cited as a "Cinnamon Bear hotspot." In 1987, upon the 50th anniversary of The Cinnamon Bear, a fan of the show started an annual newsletter called "Bear Facts" and put out by "The Cinnamon Bear Brigade," which ran for 5 years. You can download all 26 episodes of the from many places online in MP3 format. There is no copyright on the material as it has since passed into public domain.

Related Topics:
Old time radio - Santa Claus - Thanksgiving - Christmas - Buddy Duncan - Little person - Verna Felton - Joseph Kearns - Howard McNear - Elvia Allman - Frank Nelson - Gale Gordon - Slim Pickens - Barbara Jean Wong - The Wonderful Wizard of Oz - Alice in Wonderland

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~