CINXE.COM

<HEAD><TITLE>Don Markstein's Toonopedia: The Three Bears </TITLE> <script language="JavaScript"></script> <META name = "author" content = "Donald D. Markstein"> <META name = "description" content = "Hypertext encyclopedia of comics and animation"> <META name = "subject" content = "Hypertext encyclopedia of comics and animation"> <META name = "keywords" content = "comic books animated cartoons animation comics comix syndicated comic strips"> <META name = "publisher" content = "Donald D. Markstein"> <META name = "format" content = "text/html"> <META name = "language" content = "EN"> </HEAD><BODY> <body onload="if (self!= top) top.location = self.location"></body> <BODY BGCOLOR="FFFFFF" TEXT="000000" LINK="0000EE" VLINK="551A8B"> <TABLE><TR><TD WIDTH=297 VALIGN="CENTER"><IMG GALLERYIMG="NO" ALIGN="LEFT" HEIGHT=212 WIDTH=287 ALT="L-r: Maw, Paw and Joonyer Bear." SRC="3bears.jpg"> <TD VALIGN="CENTER"> <H1>THE THREE BEARS</H1><FONT SIZE=4> <B>Medium:</B> Theatrical animation <BR><B>Produced by:</B> Warner Bros. <BR><B>First Appeared:</B> 1944 <BR><B>Creator:</B> Chuck Jones<FONT SIZE=3> <! BEGIN DONATION CODE> <HR><FONT SIZE=2 COLOR="993366"><CENTER> If this site is enjoyable or useful to you, <BR>Please contribute to its necessary financial support. <BR><A HREF="http://s1.amazon.com/exec/varzea/pay/T1237L0BCY25QA" TARGET="_blank">Amazon.com</A> or <A HREF="https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=don%40toonopedia.com&no_note=1&tax=0&currency_cod e=USD" TARGET="_blank">PayPal</A> </FONT></CENTER><HR> <! END DONATION CODE> <P><A NAME="cont"> While <A HREF="disney.htm">Disney</A> was busy creating sweet, relatively straightforward animated versions of such familiar tales as <I>The Grasshopper & the Ants</I> and <I><A HREF="pigs.htm">Three Little Pigs,</I></A> other cartoon studios  <P ALIGN="RIGHT"><A HREF="#cont"><FONT SIZE=2><I>continued below</A></FONT> </TABLE> <CENTER><! BEGIN ADSENSE "LEADERBOARD" CODE> <script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script> <! END ADSENSE CODE></CENTER> <P><TABLE><TR><TD VALIGN="TOP"> set about demolishing them. Demolitions of that sort at <A HREF="warner.htm">Warner Bros.</A> include such entries as <I>Pigs in a Polka</I> (1943, directed by Friz Freleng) and <I>Tortoise Beats Hare</I> (1941, directed by <A HREF="avery.htm">Tex Avery</A>). <P> <A HREF="cjones.htm">Chuck Jones's</A> 1944 Entry, <I><A HREF="bugs.htm">Bugs Bunny</A> & the Three Bears,</I> was definitely of that genre. In it, the Bear family (Paw, voiced by Billy Bletcher; Maw, voiced by Bea Benaderet; and Joonyer, first voiced by Kent Rogers and later by Stan Freberg) is hungry. Paw has an idea — re-enact the "Goldilocks" story; and when Goldilocks shows up, eat her. With no porridge in the house, Maw makes carrot soup, attracting Bugs instead of Goldie, with predictable results. <P> The Bears' family dynamics worked perfectly. Paw was a simmery little guy with a gruff voice (Bletcher's other roles include <A HREF="mickey.htm">Mickey Mouse's</A> foe, <A HREF="pete.htm">Pegleg Pete</A>) who openly resented the innocent and devoted (tho clumsy and stupid) Joonyer, but still loved the oaf; while Maw, devoted to both, went through life oblivious of the conflict. They worked so well together, the cartoon's sequel, <I>What's Brewin', Bruin?</I> (1948), was devoted just to the Bears, without a "name" co-star. <P> The Bears starred in three more Jones-directed cartoons, two of which came out in 1949 and one in '51, for a total of five. Also, Maw had a bit part in Jones's <I>The Scarlet Pumpernickel</I> (1952), which played <A HREF="daffy.htm">Daffy Duck</A> against an all-star cast. They didn't make a transition to any other media. But they did have an impact beyond those five appearances. <A HREF="famous.htm">Famous Studios</A> directly copied the Bears' family situation in their <A HREF="babyhuey.htm">Baby Huey</A> series, which became a long-running comic book at <A HREF="harvey.htm">Harvey Comics</A> — although the imitation is a pale one. It's also said to have influenced producer Norman Lear when he created the live-action sitcom <I>All in the Family.</I> <P> In more recent years, the Bears, like many minor characters from the classic years of theatrical animation, have been seen occasionally on TV. For example, they guest-starred with <A HREF="elmyra.htm">Elmyra Duff</A> in "Teddy Bears' Picnic", which appeared as a <I><A HREF="tinytoon.htm">Tiny Toon Adventures</A></I> segment in 1991. Mostly, tho, they're like <A HREF="sniffles.htm">Sniffles,</A> <A HREF="henery.htm">Henery Hawk</A> and the rest of the non-superstar Warner Bros. characters — reappearing endlessly in Looney Tunes TV reruns, but seldom seen elsewhere. <P ALIGN = "RIGHT">— DDM <P><A HREF="index.htm">BACK</A> to <I>Don Markstein's Toonopedia</I> Home Page <BR><A HREF="today.htm">Today in Toons:</A> Every day's an anniversary! <P><! BEGIN ADSENSE BANNER CODE><CENTER> <script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script> </CENTER><! END ADSENSE CODE> <TD WIDTH=10><TD WIDTH=180 VALIGN="TOP"> <! BEGIN ADLINKS CODE><script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script><! END ADLINKS CODE> <P><! BEGIN ADSENSE REFERRAL CODE><script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script><! END ADSENSE REFERRAL CODE> <P> <form method="get" action="http://www.google.com/custom" target="google_window"> <table border="0" bgcolor="#cccccc"> <tr><td nowrap="nowrap" valign="top" align="left" height="32"> <a href="http://www.google.com/"> <img src="http://www.google.com/logos/Logo_25gry.gif" border="0" alt="Google"></img></a> <br/> <input type="hidden" name="domains" value="www.toonopedia.com"></input> <input type="text" name="q" size="23" maxlength="255" value=""></input> </td></tr> <tr> <td nowrap="nowrap"> <table> <tr> <td> <input type="radio" name="sitesearch" value=""></input> <font size="-1" color="#000000">Web</font> </td> <td> <input type="radio" name="sitesearch" value="www.toonopedia.com" checked="checked"></input> <font size="-1" color="#000000">www.toonopedia.com</font> </td> </tr> </table> <input type="submit" name="sa" value="Search"></input> <input type="hidden" name="client" value="pub-1498877845272586"></input> <input type="hidden" name="forid" value="1"></input> <input type="hidden" name="ie" value="ISO-8859-1"></input> <input type="hidden" name="oe" value="ISO-8859-1"></input> <input type="hidden" name="cof" value="GALT:#008000;GL:1;DIV:#336699;VLC:663399;AH:center;BGC:FFFFFF;LBGC:336699;ALC:0000FF;LC:0000FF;T:000000;GFNT:0000FF;GIMP:0000FF;FORID:1;"></input> <input type="hidden" name="hl" value="en"></input> </td></tr></table> </form>  <FONT SIZE=2><P> <A HREF="http://store.yahoo.com/cgi-bin/clink?wickedcoolstuff+e2VdY2+looneytunes.html+" TARGET="_blank">Purchase Warner Bros. Cartoon Merchandise Online</A> <P></FONT></TABLE> <HR><FONT SIZE=2><I>Text ©2000-06 Donald D. Markstein. Art © Warner Bros.</I> </BODY></HTML>