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In The Fall of 1999, I had a dream come
true (as good ones do) when I got in contact with Ken Forsse, a man
who I had admired since I was a small child. The inspiration for my
career choice and the person behind one of the brightest spots in my
childhood, Mr. Forsse was as gracious and kind as the characters he
created, and agreed to do this interview with the site. The
interview is very in-depth and a great read for any fan of
Teddy. I hope to conduct a further installment in
2008.
Here is the interview in it's
entirety.
JOSH:
When
were the Teddy Ruxpin stories first written and how did they evolve
as time went along?
KEN
FORSSE:
In 1958, while living with my parents in
Burbank, California, I worked with two men, Larry Jackson and Jan
Mitchell, who were producing a pilot for a children's television
series, using hand puppets. The pilot was entitled "The Adventures
of Sir Gazooks" and was written by Budd Bankson. Prior to that, Budd
had written a successful book about his experiences in the Army. It
was called "I Should Live So Long". My job on the pilot was to
sculpt and cast the latex puppet characters and build the settings.
The Gazooks pilot was never sold. Nor was a second pilot that the
same group produced. That live action production was entitled "The
Flying Dutchman". Budd Bankson had also written that science fiction
story and I did the production design and set construction. The
story centered around a submarine that could blast up out of the
ocean and become an aircraft and a spacecraft. I had gone to Burbank
High School with Ron Cobb, a very talented artist who did the
character designs for the Gazooks project. Ron has since become a
very successful production designer, working on films, such as:
Conan The Barbarian, Star Wars and The Last Starfighter. While these
early journeys into television pilots were unsuccessful, for me they
were good training. I lost track of the other people involved in the
pilots, but Budd Bankson and I became friends. We started talking
about creating a puppet show of our own design that could be
successful. That was the first suggestion of a property that would
later evolve into "The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin". The working
title for the early idea and the main character was "Simeon Greep"
The reason for the name was that at the time the United States was
orbiting monkeys into space. Budd's thought was that the character
would somehow be one of those monkeys. Obviously, the name of the
central character was changed before there was anything resembling
the Teddy Ruxpin property as it now exists. Efforts to work on this
embryo project were infrequent. (Years later I had given the name
Teddy Ruxpin to Princess Arusia's brother. But I liked the name so
much that I borrowed it from Prince Arin and gave it to Teddy.)
(During the early days with Worlds Of Wonder, their marketing people
wondered if Teddy's name and his tunic outfit should be changed. As
marketing experts sometimes like to do, they performed focus studies
with children and parents. A long list of alternative names and
outfits were suggested for the focus group to evaluate. The results
indicated that everyone loved the original name and outfit and no
changes were made.) In 1959, I was drafted and from 1959-1962 I was
in the Army. After I got out of the Army I met Bob Anselmo. We later
decided to try to do something with the project. Budd and I did
brainstorming sessions and I encourage him to write the story line
for the project. But he was having health problems and was never
able to commit to producing anything. So I took a stab at writing
the story myself. The main development of the property was in 1963
and 1964. Bob and I even went so far as to develop a prototype
puppet stage of Tweeg's Tower. One time we almost started a fire in
my kitchen making Tweeg's head out of hot-melt vinyl. For the most
part Teddy waited patiently while I had other things to do. There
were occasional attempts to do something with the property. But
nothing was ever successful. Until, in the early 1980s, I developed
the technology, which was the basis for animated talking toys. I
also formed Alchemy II at that time. By then I had the Teddy Ruxpin
property pretty much structured as it is today. I had written quite
a few story lines. So, it was a natural process to combine the
stories and characters with the technology. I believed that the
combination would be very successful. Alchemy II started in my
garage, with four other very dedicated Alchemists: Linda Piersen,
Mary Becker, Leon Hefflin and Larry Larsen. Darwin Thompson later
joined the company and with Larry Larsen did the original
engineering on the toy technology. While I worked on the designs for
the animation mechanism in the head, Larry and Darwin developed the
engineering and programming. By 1984 Alchemy had produced working
prototypes of the Teddy Ruxpin animated talking toy. The rest is
history. The development of the story lines were really more for
creating a television production than for children's books. So after
the technology was developed, the scripted story lines still worked
because of the ability of Teddy Ruxpin and other characters to act
out the stories. "The Airship" and "The Missing Princess" stories
were really the original story for a television production.
JOSH:
How did you come up with such
brilliant co-stars in Grubby, Leota, Wooly, Gimmick, etc. Were the
characters based on any 'real-life' people you knew, and how did the
character of Tweeg first form in your mind? Several Tweeg fanatics
have asked me to ask you that one.
KEN FORSSE:
Long after they had become recognizable characters to
me, I started to analyze the relationships of the characters. Teddy
and Grubby fit what is probably an age-old tradition of the good guy
and his loyal side kick, each having distinct personalities and
abilities. The Lone Ranger & Tonto; Batman & Robin; Beany
& Cecil; Mel Gibson & Danny Glover are among countless
examples of this tradition, which allows for lots of story
opportunities. The third leg of the stool provides balance and might
be a character with an off-beat personality. Newton Gimmick fit the
role perfectly. With attributes that the other two didn't have,
Gimmick actually helped to define and establish the characters of
Teddy and Grubby. Gimmick also became the Bumbling Professor type,
who sometimes gets it just right. It seemed important to have the
bad guys. Again the structure for them seemed pretty traditional,
with the main bad guy being the boss and having an assistant and a
group of henchmen. Of course L.B is much brighter than Tweeg, but
without the ambition and single-mindedness of his boss. Budd
provided the name Little Bounders, based on my drawings of the
bouncy guys without arms. L.B. became the Lead Bounder. So Tweeg and
L.B. rounded out the main five characters. The arrangement goes way
back to when Budd Bankson and I first started talking about the
project. The objective was not to have Tweeg be really bad. It was
funnier to have him be inept and greedy. . . and for L.B. to be his
main critic. Tweeg's outfit was partly designed to allow him, as a
hand puppet, to be able to move about on the floor of his tower,
with two puppeteers under the floor. The hand of one puppeteer would
be the head of Tweeg. The other would use rod mechanisms to operate
Tweegs arms and hands. The robe he wore covered rods and the
flexible seam in the floor. But, the character of Tweeg emerged
fully when Will Ryan gave him a voice. The real bad guys, like
Quellor showed up for the television series, at the advice of the
television decision makers. I was never convinced that the formula
was necessary, but we tried to keep those characters as slap stick
as possible. The original setting for the World of Teddy Ruxpin was
a fantasy environment. be unique, but somehow familiar. It's usually
hard to recall the initial origin of a character. The truth is there
isn't always a single point of origin. Teddy has the clearest
history of development. As an Illiop, his nose and jaw used to be
larger. They were modified in order to allow for the mechanical
animation. That change also made him look even more like a Bear. I
don't believe I ever had anyone specific in mind in creating the
characters. However, some people like to identify me in the
characters, especially Newton Gimmick. But I see. . uh. . absolutely
no. . uh. . resemblance. Prince Arin, Princess Aruzia, the Woolly
What's-It, the Grunges the Wizard, the Gutangs and the Mudblups were
in the original story. The Fobs and Leota were added in 1984. Other
characters such as Karen (Grubby's girl friend), the Bug characters,
Snozos, Nothings and Anythings were added for the story book
expansion and the TV series. The stories were expanded through
TV-series story sessions with Phil Baron, Lenny Levitt and myself.
Lenny had played the Woolly What's-It in the ABC costume special.
Michele Baron also submitted story lines and concepts. "The Sign of
a Friend" about a deaf elf is a good example. Michele, who is Phil's
wife, had worked in deaf education, so she brought that wonderful
story line to Alchemy. Larry Larsen, was my sidekick and was always
ready to work all night on projects to meet deadlines, like
programming the mechanical animation for Teddy and Grubby. Larry was
a puppeteer that I had known since the days when we had both worked
for Sid and Marty Krofft. He and Mary Becker were very involved in
establishing and maintaining the integrity of the property. Linda
Piersen designed and supervised the construction of the life-sized
costume figures for the Teddy Ruxpin ABC Special. She also designed
and produced the original outfits for the talking toy. There is a
wonderful quality that Phil Baron brought to the voice of Teddy
Ruxpin. Teddy would never have meant as much without Phil's
depiction of the Illiop. In a very real sense, Phil Baron is Teddy
Ruxpin. Will Ryan was equally important in bringing Grubby and Tweeg
to life. And, Tony Pope was brilliant as L.B. and Gimmick. The
amazing artists at Alchemy produced all of the stories, storybooks,
illustrations, music and audio production. Don Riedel was director
of audio production. The brilliant music of George Wilkins was a
major part of the success of Teddy Ruxpin. So it was not just a
group of characters who were balanced. It was also a wonderful group
of people dedicated to making Teddy a friend to children of all
ages. At a future date, I would like to mention other Alchemists who
helped make Teddy Ruxpin a success. Alchemy employed over 200 people
at its peak. It was like a big family. During the busiest days of
1985-1988, I was President of Alchemy and my door was always open. I
awoke early about 4:00 a.m. each morning and wrote stories and song
lyrics for several hours and then went into the office for a full
day. Much of the work became administrative. I enjoyed the creative
process. But, administration was not as much fun as guiding the
exciting development of Teddy Ruxpin.
JOSH:
How did the first
Teddy Ruxpin television production, the 1986 animatronic movie, come
to life?
KEN FORSSE:
Teddy Ruxpin was really conceived as a concept for a
puppet show. It was my intention to create mechanical effects that
would make the characters look like complete figures, instead of
partial figures behind scenic elements. I had also envisioned
characters standing or sitting on apparently solid surfaces. I
maintained that basic concept as the way to do Teddy Ruxpin, until
1982. At that time I had developed an animated head for a
walk-around bear costume. It was ideal for television production and
I realized it could provide an alternative to puppets for a Teddy
Ruxpin production, if one were ever undertaken. The Disney Channel
saw the bear head and wanted to give me the contract to develop
costumes for their upcoming production of "Welcome to Pooh ". At
that time Alchemy was just a brand new company. So, I had to quickly
locate people to help produce the Welcome to Pooh Corner costumes.
Just as I was trying to figure out who to call, I received a call
from Leon Hefflin. I had worked with Leon at Disney's WED (Walter
Elias Disney) Enterprises and at the Entertainment Company of Sid
and Marty Krofft. Leon had also worked on Universal Studio's Florida
project. Among his other talents, Leon was a superb model builder.
To my surprise he was looking for work. So Leon Hefflin became an
Alchemist. I got the name of Linda Pierson from the personnel
director at WED Enterprises. Linda had done costume design and
fabrication for ballet companies, as well as for animated theme-park
characters. I also learned about Mary Becker from the same person at
WED. Mary had done soft sculpture and crafts projects. At Alchemy,
Mary worked on costuming, and helped with administrative chores. She
later managed the scripting of Teddy materials and eventually became
Alchemy�s President. The fifth Alchemist was Larry Larsen. I had
worked with Larry at Krofft Entertainment. When I called him he was
working at the MGM carpenter shop. But he was excited about joining
Alchemy. I was able to hand over to Larry many tasks, like managing
the engineering efforts needed to make the talking-toy technology
work and overseeing the programing that kept Teddy and Grubby in
sync. Leon, Linda, Mary, Larry and I formed the original nucleus of
Alchemy II. The work on the Winnie the Pooh project overflowed out
of my garage in Granada Hills, CA and into the game room. We covered
my pool table with plywood to do costume fabrication. That table
became known as the �Pooh Table�. But we still needed more
space, so we moved into a facility in Chatsworth, CA. After the
initial success of the talking toy, we were able to sell a one-hour
special to ABC. At that point, the costume animation technology was
our preferred choice for a Teddy Ruxpin Television production. The
Alchemy staff, which had grown to 200 people at that point, did an
amazing job in producing the series. The settings, props and
miniatures were works of art. The audio tracks were created first,
as with cell animation. Animation programing signals were recorded
on separate tracks and transmitted to each character costume. Each
night the programing was done for the following days shooting. There
were duplicates of each costume because of the hard use they
received. Many of the actors inside the costumes were little people.
Lenny Levitt at well over 6 feet was the tallest. The Special
allowed us to build many of the costumes and settings that could
have also been used on a series. However, the production proved to
be too expensive to be sustained as a syndicated series. So, when
the 65-episode series was being proposed, it became more expedient
to do cell animation. It was difficult for Alchemy to maintain the
kind of hands on involvement with the series that we would have
wished. But, we were able to maintain story supervision on the
series and to utilize the key voice people who had worked on the
talking toy as well as George Wilkins' music supervision. A critical
aspect of both the costume special and the cell-animation series was
the production design. Years earlier, I had designed Gimmick's
House, the Airship, Tweeg's Tower and other elements. But the
wonderful environments and background designs for the books were
created by David High. David had worked at Hanna Barbera, Filmation
and other animation studios, so the book designs translated really
well into live-action sets and cartoon backgrounds. Today David
works with animation studios and operates his own silk-screen
business. His favorite subjects today are classic cars. Russell
Hicks worked with my original character designs and turned them into
wonderful cartoon images for both the books and the television
series. As the head of the Art Department, Russell oversaw the
production of the Teddy Ruxpin and Talking Mother Goose books. At
one point, the Alchemy staff was producing one new book each week.
JOSH:
Were there ever episodes or book and tape series
created that were never aired or sold?
KEN
FORSSE:
We
developed a workout tape and preliminary content for a book &
tape called "Teddy's Workout". The program would have had the child
doing easy exercises and helping Teddy exercise by moving his arms
and legs. The software was never released because of concerns by
Worlds of Wonder about liability and insurance issues. In 1987
Alchemy II was creating story concepts and graphics for a Teddy
Ruxpin theatrical feature. The film was to use a combination of
computer graphics for the backgrounds and cell animation for the
characters. It was something of a unique concept at that time and we
went so far as to create test footage for the project. But, problems
at Worlds of Wonder were growing more serious and the film project
had to be abandoned. In 1990 when Worlds of Wonder II (in
reorganization under bankruptcy law) had the Teddy license, I
developed a story for Alchemy about Teddy Ruxpin and a number of
forest animals. The story also introduced Teddy's girlfriend. Again,
that software was not released because of survival problems at
Worlds of Wonder.
JOSH:
What was it like knowing that your
creation, Teddy Ruxpin would no longer be produced after Worlds of
Wonder went out of business?
KEN FORSSE:
It was most disappointing to have to reduce the staff
at Alchemy II after we had gathered such an amazing group of people.
Alchemy could dream up and produce virtually anything for the toy
and entertainment industries. Worlds Of Wonder never really
appreciated the gift they had been given. It's obvious, even now
that Teddy Ruxpin had become a good friend to children and would
have sustained for a long time if handled more wisely. So, it was
disappointing when the adventure ended so quickly. The fact that
you, Josh, the Octopede, and many others still remember Teddy so
fondly indicates that there is a good chance that Teddy can come
back.
JOSH:
How was the theme song of the Adventures of Teddy
Ruxpin created? And how did you go about writing the lyrics to the
wonderful songs that the show featured?
KEN FORSSE:
Mary Becker introduced me to George Wilkins who did a
lot of music production for Walt Disney. We thought his style of
music was perfect for Teddy Ruxpin. But we didn't know who would
write the lyrics. Then Russell Brower, a musician and artist working
at Alchemy said to me. "Why don't you write the lyrics?" I had never
written any songs before. But he said
"Hey, its just like
writing a poem" So I wrote my first song, Come Dream With Me
Tonight. Then George composed the music and produced the music track
and we had Teddy Ruxpin's theme song. That bit of confidence convinced me
that I could write more songs. So now I've written over 80 songs for
Teddy
Ruxpin and Mother Goose, twenty songs for Branson Bear and a song
catalog of another 50 unpublished songs. Other Alchemists wrote many
songs as well, including Phil and Michelle Baron, Will Ryan, Mary
Becker, Margaret Hughes, Don Reidel and others. I guess my approach
to writing songs was to tell a story or create an image of some
kind. The ability of George Wilkins to turn my lyrics into very
moving songs is still miraculous to me. An interesting variation on
that process was when George had written a theme melody for the
Woolly Whats It and I later wrote the lyrics for the song. For the
underscoring of the ABC Prime-Time Special George conducted a 40
piece orchestra. Its wonderful music. George wrote more than 100
hours of underscoring for the cartoon series.
JOSH:
After the series ended (episode #65) it seemed as
if it should have gone on. It ended the way many episodes did,
leaving lots of room for a continuing plot. Were more episodes of
the show ever created? Were there plans for more?
KEN FORSSE:
The entire series was structured as a
daily show with 5 episodes airing Monday through Friday. Because of
that format the 65-episode series would run 13 weeks or one quarter
of a year. The daily episodes had to stand on their own, as mini
stories. The five episodes from each Monday through Friday also
formed complete stories. The intention behind this was to allow the
compilation of weekly stories into longer videos. There was no
deliberate attempt to conclude the series. Other than when Teddy met
his father and they returned to Rillonia. But Teddy still has lots
of things to do. And as I said before, he may be back.
JOSH:
What was it like being the creator of the most
popular toy in 1985?
KEN FORSSE:
Well, it is definitely a feeling that everyone should have. Seeing
something that I had created become as successful as Teddy Ruxpin
was incredible. There is a long list of wonderful memories: watching
so many talented people at Alchemy working on and adding to my
creation; realizing that companies in Silicon Valley, Canada and
many Asian countries were building a toy I had designed; witnessing
the birth of a new toy category, (Electronic Plush); watching
television commercials and segments on news broadcasts describing
Teddy Ruxpin. The most humbling experience was reading the many
letters describing the reaction of children in all parts of the
country to Teddy Ruxpin. There was a letter about a child who lapsed
in and out of a coma and could only be awakened when Teddy Ruxpin
sang to her. Another letter described a little girl who knew she was
dying of cancer. Teddy was her best friend and she wanted a specific
Teddy Ruxpin Lullaby to be played at her funeral: Will you go
to sleep before I do? Will you close your eyes real tight? Will you
go to sleep before I do and slumber all through the night? And the
thrill remains when I see that many children of 1985, like you Josh,
still have fond memories of their experiences with Teddy Ruxpin.
Your desire to be a childrens writer is the greatest respect I could
have ever gained.
JOSH: Have you always wanted to create
childrens stories? And how did you first get started in the
business? What advice would you give to aspiring writers who want to
write for Children?
KEN FORSSE:
I
was not good in school and I had never imagined being a writer. But,
from a very young age, I loved to draw, paint and build things. I
later learned to sculpt and cast figures, props and art objects in
fiberglass, latex and other materials. I also liked to dream up
characters and the stories about them. With the Teddy Ruxpin
Project, I was initially more interested in designing and building
the characters than in writing the stories. I began writing only
when I had no other choice. Once I started to write, I loved it. But
I was also a little insecure about writing, because I had no formal
training. So, any advise I have about anyone becoming a writer will
not be from any level of formal knowledge or training. As I look
back at the writing I�ve done, I now see it as only one of the
many needs in devising or inventing a project of some kind. Just as
important to me are the needs of designing a project, presenting it
through a visual method, such as illustrations, or prototypes,
making it unique in a technical way or figuring out a method of
marketing it and getting it into the world. If I had to describe
what I do in a single word, it would be Invention. Whether inventing
the text of a story, inventing the look of a character or inventing
a patented technology, the process is very much the same. This
approach is rewarding, because the various disciplines assist in and
feed the inspiration of writing. The broad exposure may also allow a
writer to focus on a specific area of writing. The idea of seeing
writing as only one of many needs for arriving at an objective is
different than simply declaring, "I want to be a writer!" That
declaration must sooner or later be accompanied by another
statement, "The thing I like to do best is. . . ." Write about what
you love most of all and you'll become good at it. . . and you will
establish your own style. The journey is to devise something which
is new and which may be needed by someone. The vehicle is creative
imagination. A list of advice for aspiring writers could be endless.
Things that I would add to that list would include:
Write
every day. Write letters, write emails, write poetry, just write,
write, write. Correspond with other people. Establish an audience.
Give your work to anyone who will read it, especially those who will
comment honestly on what you have written, whether or not they have
the credentials to do so.
Keep a detailed journal. It's
something I regret not doing.
Our limited alphabet makes it
difficult for everyone to be a good speller, unless they're good at
memorization. Use a good spell checker. The more you write the
better speller you will become.
Find a good editor.
Spend lots of time thinking and observing. If you see
something in the world that is not working the way you think it
could, then reinvent it. Write about how you think it should be.
Keep what you write and keep going over it and rewriting
until it's perfect. Yet, don't lose the spontaneity of your original
thought.
Use your own experiences and write about what you
know. But also use your imagination to expand your world. My wife
quotes the psychologist Carl Rogers as saying, When we talk about
those things that are most personal, we talk about those things that
are most universal. If you write about things which are the most
meaningful to you, then you can create an adventure that will be
meaningful to others. Most importantly, don't follow
the fads. . . .Instead, Create them. I usually find that I
have not left myself enough time to read. It seems that I've always
loaded my plate with too many other things to do. In a strange way,
this may provide something of a hidden benefit. I don't ever want to
ever feel that I have borrowed an idea from somewhere else. I always
want my work to be as unique as possible. The sacrifice of not being
a constant reader may not work for everyone. But, it has worked well
for me, mostly because of my wife Jan. Jan is a teacher and the
researcher in the family. We laughingly say that she is the "R" and
I am the "D" in research and development. Jan teaches teachers at
the masters degree level at a University. She loves children's
literature and loves to read the classics. She has a two inch thick
book called "Children's Books and Their Creators", edited by Anita
Silvey, Houghton Mifflin, 1995. Some of her favorite childrens
authors are: Laura Ingalls Wilder, Maurice Sendak, Ezra Jack Keats,
E.B. White, Steven Kellogg, Allen Say, Laurence Yep, Taro Yashima,
Mark Twain, Rudyard Kipling, Jean Fritz, Leo Politi, Beatrix Potter,
Carl Sandburg for his Rutabaga Stories, C.S. Lewis and Shel
Silverstein among others. So, if you like to read children's
literature then read the classics. Read the very best and most
beautiful literature for children that you can find. If you write
for children, then respect them, don't talk down to them. Write
things that are uplifting and might in some way make a difference.
The most rewarding part of writing is discovering that something
you've created has had a positive effect on the life of a child. Jan
and I have many filing cabinets, filled with projects in various
stages of development. So, writer's block is something I've never
experienced. Whether a story, a poem, a song, a game, the
description of a technology, or how the world might be a better
place, there is always something to write about. Every day that
passes, I create two more days of work to be done. . . so, I will
never be finished.
The
contents of this interview are (C) 1999-2008 Teddy Ruxpin Online/
Josh Isaacson / Ken Forsse. No reproduction may be made without
expressed written consent of Teddy Ruxpin Online. Thank You.
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