'Berenstain Bears' go back to the basics
By John Kiesewetter
Cincinnati Enquirer
 |
| Gannett News Service |
They won't see Weasel McGreed, or any gangs of bears gone bad.
The new 15-minute cartoons will be drawn strictly from the 230 "The Berenstain Bears" books, written and illustrated by Stan and Jan Berenstain for more than 40 years.
"The Messy Room," "Visit the Dentist," "Go to the Doctor," "Mama's New Job" and many other titles have been adapted into 80 15-minute cartoons premiering at 1:30 p.m. today on PBS.
Kids (and parents) will even see the Berenstains' "Too Much TV" on public television. CBS refused to let them do that story about TV addiction when the Berenstains had a Saturday-morning series in 1985-87.
"They told us: 'You can't put that on (CBS), knocking television!" recalls Stan Berenstain, who writes the books with his wife. Both are 79.
When they met with PBS about this series, programming executive John Wilson insisted they do the TV addiction episode. And then he asked them to autograph some of "The Berenstain Bears" books he had read to his children.
The Berenstains knew they finally had found a TV home.
"We wanted to get away from commercial television," says Berenstain by phone from his home in Bucks County, Pa., a Philadelphia suburb.
"CBS made us all kinds of promises. CBS wanted harem scare 'em comedy shows, and we wanted to do shows based on our books. We ended up having to write (new stories for) an awful lot of the shows — and it was a huge headache," he says.
The children's book series illustrates simple, universal topics: manners, managing money, messy rooms, Mom's career, eating junk food and sibling rivalry. Many are based on the Berenstains' parenting experiences.
"The books are about normal, everyday events. They're about real experiences that kids have — even though they're bears," Berenstain says.
The Berenstains were drawing magazine cartoons when they approached Random House in 1962 about doing a children's book, "The Big Honey Hunt."
Berenstain credits Theodor Geisel — better known as Dr. Seuss — editor of Random House's Beginner Books series with making several crucial decisions that contributed to their success.
First, he shortened the authors' first names from Stanley and Janet to "Stan and Jan," so they would rhyme. And when they wrote a second book, he put their last name on a big label on the cover announcing: "Another adventure of the Berenstain Bears!"
The writers were puzzled. They had never made the connection.
"We were the Berenstains — and the bears were the bears. He kind of put us on the map," Berenstain says.
"The Berenstain Bears," which have sold more than 260 million copies worldwide, continue to be a family enterprise. Their son Leo writes some of the stories, while son Michael illustrates them. And it looks good for a third generation.
"One of our granddaughters can draw pretty good bears," Berenstain boasts. "But she's only 11."
