Bear Necessities: A Journey Through the Vibrant History of Country Bears Jamboree

Today, January 26, 2024, is the last day to experience the original Country Bears Jamboree at Walt Disney World!   Here is a look at the attraction’s history.

What do Mineral King, X Atencio, Winnie the Pooh, Marc Davis, and A Vacation Hoedown all have in common?      Discover the History of the Country Bears Jamboree.   Well, The story goes something like this.

In 1965, with Disneyland celebrating its 10th anniversary, the 1964-65 New York World’s Fair a success – creating four attractions that would soon be relocated to Disneyland – and the land acquisition for the Florida Project secretly underway, you would think Walt had his hands full, right?  Wrong.  When the Sequoia National Forest invited proposals for a ski resort in California’s Mineral King Valley, Walt Disney Productions, including Walt Disney himself, envisioned an “American Alpine Wonderland”.  A ski resort that would include a five-story hotel with over a thousand rooms, a movie theater, a general store, pools, ice rinks, tennis courts, and golf courses, not to mention the actual ski complex, which would include 22 lifts and gondolas with ski runs four miles long.  The complex would also feature 10 restaurants.

The Disney proposal was one of six submitted for the project, and in December of 1965, the Forest Service announced that Disney had won the bid and planning could continue.  Walt’s ideas for the resort included entertainment; he enlisted one of his famed nine old men, animator turned Imagineer Marc Davis.  Walt wasn’t exactly sure what he wanted; Imagineer Wathel Rogers recalled a conversation with Walt.

“Walt had an idea for entertainment after people had been skiing, Walt said… we are going to have a bear band and have them perform two of three programs…  We’ll say the bears had come out of the sequoias and we trained them to be entertainers”

Marc, with others, came up with multiple bear bands, a Marching band, a Mariachi band, a Circus band, a Dixieland band, and even one bear band.  Walt loved the concepts and the characters, sadly those early concept sketches where among the last attraction concepts Walt would see.  Marc reflected on that last interaction with Walt in a 1998 interview.

“The drawings that Walt saw had all kinds of bears, not just a country band but a jazz band, a circus band. A lot of choices. I had a one-bear band in a red outfit with all these instruments he was playing,”

Walt passed away in December 1966, just a year after the Disney company was awarded the project.  Marc and the team continued to work on the Bear Band Restaurant Show, character design, backstory, and music, including the Bear Band Serenade Demo.  Walt’s passing, along with a long, seemingly endless controversy surrounding the project, ultimately canceled it.

But… if you follow Disney’s History, you know that no good idea dies.

When Walt’s older brother, Roy, came out of retirement in 1967 to oversee The Florida Project, it was all hands on deck within the company with one mission open Walt Disney World in 1971.  Marc’s sketches and storyline were quickly revived to be incorporated into Walt Disney World’s Frontierland, lacking activities with only the Shootin Arcade, Mike Fink Keel Boats, and Dimond Horseshoe Revue planned.  Imagineer X Atencio, along with Mac Davis, enlisted director George Bruns to help in creating the songs and outline the show.  While there is some original content, Bear Band Serenade… and Come Again.  The bulk of the show is covers of Country and Folk songs.

My Woman Ain’t Pretty,  Mama Don’t Whip Little Buford, Tears will be the chaser for your wine,  Blood on the Saddle, and Ole Slew Foot.

The Country Bear Jamboree was finished and opened with Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom on October 1, 1971.  It was so successful that Imagineers created a replica of the show for Disneyland, the first attraction to be replicated from Florida in California.  The addition inspired a new land in Disneyland and the Country Bear Jamboree became the feature attraction in the new Bear Country.  Disneyland’s version opened in March 1972 and included two identical theaters providing double the capacity of Walt Disney World.  A more modern version with updated animatronics was added to Tokyo Disneyland in 1983.

In 1984 a Country Bear Christmas Special temporarily replaced the original show during the holiday season, marking the first Disney attraction “Holiday Overlay”.  In 1986 the original show was replaced with the Country Bear Vacation Hoedown.  The Vacation hoedown lasted until the Magic Kingdom’s 20^th anniversary in 1992 when it was returned to the original show rotating with the Christmas Show until 2012.  In August of that year, the Walt Disney World version was closed for a two-month-long refurbishment, getting upgrades to all of the characters including new Skin, Fur, and costumes.  The show itself was slightly re-worked removing a few songs and dialog shortening the attraction by 4-5 minutes.

At Disneyland the attraction closed in September 2001 to be replaced by The Many Adventure of Winnie the Pooh, next time you ride Winnie the Pooh in Disneyland be sure to look for Melvin, Buff, and Max – they will be behind you in the many adventures of Winnie the pooh.

Original Country Bear character backstories.

Henry—Henry, master of ceremonies at the Country Bear Jamboree, stands six feet tall in his stocking paws. He is another famous football player who entered show business. Henry was formerly with the Goose Creek Bruins. One day, they tried a hidden ball play, and Henry hid the ball so well he couldn’t find it. This hastened his music transfer. For a while, he had trouble finding a melody, too. But Henry is likable, and audiences go for him like he goes for honey. For a finale, Henry sings Ballad of Davy Crockett with Sammy, his live raccoon hat. Henry is glad he turned in his football gear for a starched shirt and Sammy. “After all,” he explains, “I never knew a football helmet that could sing like Sammy.”

Gomer—Gomer is a piano player, but he didn’t always play country and Western music. His training was classical. He began pawing the ivories while a cub and practiced days and nights for many years. Finally, he went to New York, much to the relief of his neighbors. There, he studied Bearlioz, and his favorite composition was “Night on Bear Mountain.” When he heard himself referred to as the “lard of Juilliard,” he quit the concert stage and went home to the hills. The other musicians highly regard him because he can play in a key other than C.

Five Bear Rugs—The Five Bear Rugs began playing music together in first grade. Fifteen years later, they were still playing—in fourth grade! Zeke plays the banjo and wears glasses—he’s the only one who can read music. Fred plays the mouth harp and carries the tune (his wife says Fred is lazy, and a tune is the only thing he carries). Ted blows the white lightning jug, and Tennessee plays the one-stringed thing (he hopes one day to add more strings). Zeb plays fiddle, and Zeb’s son Oscar accompanies his father on concert tours because Zeb’s wife works (she models fur coats—always the same one—at a nearby boutique).

Wendell (mandolin)—Wendell is a frustrated basketball player. He quit the game when, in the team photograph, he discovered he had come up to the other players’ knees. He then turned to baseball, but three people stepped on him (they thought he was second base). He went from baseball to football until two quarterbacks threw him for touchdowns. It was after his gridiron career that he latched onto Henry. When Wendell and Henry get together—well, nobody dares mistake Wendell for anything but what he is: a small, singing bear.

Liver-Lips—Liver-Lips McGrowl is a homebody who is never home. His career has spanned entertainment, and he is equally famous in radio, TV, nightclubs, and the circus. His throaty growl captivated audiences everywhere, and he had played return engagements in such famous towns as Paris (Kentucky), Rome (Tennessee), Berlin (Wisconsin), Athens (Georgia), Cairo (Illinois), and Stuttgart (Arkansas). But his heart is always at home, where the Miami Serenader can guzzle home cookin’ and catch up on his whittlin’. He has whittled a rain barrel, a bathtub, a pig trough, and a sump pump.

Trixie—Trixie is an old trouper, a veteran performer. There is nary a sourdough or grubstaker who doesn’t recall her singing and dancing in the rip-roaring music halls of the western frontier. She has been known variously as The Calgary Charmer, Alaska Allurer, Vancouver Vamp, Bewitcher of British Columbia, and Tacoma Temptress. As did so many folks with good sense, she visited Florida and decided to stay. She is now known as The Tampa Temptation. She spends her spare hours thumbing through the pages of her scrapbook and plans to write a book, I Bearly Remember.

Terrence—Terrence is better known as the “Vibrating Wreck from Nashville Tech.” His stay at Nashville was short—the roar of the greasepaint called to him, and he became an actor. He performed often with the Bearrymores. He was known throughout the Ozarks and as far north as Joplin for his tent-show rendition of Cyrano de Beargerac (he was one of the few actors who could play the role without a false nose). A fall from the balcony in Romeo and Juliet literally brought down the house. It ended his acting career (and the stage) and he turned in his tights for a guitar.

The Sun Bonnets—The Sun Bonnets (Bunny, Bubbles, and Beulah) are the babies of the Country Bear Jamboree. They began singing in Public School 821 in Clint, Texas, in Miss Grizzly’s class. From there they appeared five weeks running on Major Bear’s Amateur Hour and were booked into Walt Disney World. Backstage they study their lessons (all the cast helps them with their homework, but they get good grades anyway). In their spare time, they are all knitting a scarf for Big Albert, which they hope to have finished for Christmas—three years from now!

Ernest (fiddle)—Ernest the Dude is a modern Beau Brummell, the well-dressed bear-about-town. He carries his wardrobe with him wherever he goes, which is difficult (not many motorists will pick up a bear hitchhiker with 17 trunks of clothes). He has 30 coats and 40 slacks (some of which fit), 60 shirts, 47 shoes, 20 hats, and a pair and a half of underwear. Each year, when the Ten Best Dressed are announced, Ernest the Dude is there (wondering why he isn’t on the list).

Teddi Barra—Teddi Barra was discovered sitting on a soda fountain stool in an ice cream parlor three miles from Gentry, Arkansas. From there, her rise in show biz was meteoric, and the ravishing beauty is known as The Jewel of the Dakotas. Though she has always wanted to perform serious drama, her fans have never let her forget her feather boa and her parasol, both of which have been promised to the Daughters of Benton County Western Museum when they wear out. In Grizzly Hall she performs her famous “Heart, We Did All We Could” while descending from the ceiling on a swing. She has been called The Last of the Big Time Swingers.

Big Albert—Big Albert says, “I was born in a cave near the Princess Theater in Pocatello, Idaho”. There was music in his blood, and he’s been playing his guitar since he was a child. It’s become more difficult—Big Al has grown, and the guitar hasn’t. He loves to sit in front of his cave and sing. He was the first to practice ecology; he didn’t litter his cave with tin cans and paper cartons—he ate ‘em. He was resident bard and balladeer in the swamp before Walt Disney World was built (and three badgers and an alligator have expressed great joy that he is now singing for people). This is Big Albert’s 10th farewell appearance.