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TEDDY RUXPIN FUN FACTS
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TRIVIA |
Teddy Ruxpin
has been part of the pop culture universe for 23 wonderful years now, (In
fact yours truly outdates Teddy by only 15 months!) I have compiled a list
of little known facts and trivia relating to Teddy & co and those
involved with his production. In most cases, this is knowledge I came apon
in research or from first-person contact with someone, so a courtesy email
if you decide to use any of these facts elsewhere would be appreciated, as
would a link.
* Before Teddy Ruxpin became a reality, creator
Ken Forsse worked for Walt Disney, including creating parts of many
classic Disneyland Rides such as Pirates of the Carribbean. He also worked
for Sid & Marty Krofft, who produced many classic shows in the 1970's
including but not limited to "Land of the Lost", "The Brady Bunch
Variety Hour", "The Donnie & Marie Show", and "HR Pufnstuff". In
the early 1980's, shortly before Teddy hit toy shelves, Ken and his
AlchemyII group created the animatronic costumes used in the popular
Disney children's television show Welcome To Pooh Corner in which
Phil Baron (Teddy's Voice) and Will Ryan (Grubby's Voice) voiced Piglet
(Baron) and Tigger (Ryan) respectivly.
* Phil Baron & Will
Ryan had an extensive working relationship together (and presumably a
friendship) before they became Teddy & Grubby. They both hail from
Ohio, and began their careers together there as Willio & Phillio, ding
radio spots. They also performed and wrote songs for Disney under the same
title of Willio & Phillio. I talked with a person who knew them in
their Ohio radio days and said both were very down to earth, fun to be
around, and that Phil Baron had one of the biggest "afro" hairdos he had
ever seen! They also reunited in Ohio in 2004 to do a radio show again as
Willio & Phillio. I have always thought, even before I knew this piece
of trivia, that Teddy and Grubby had a very strong chemistry, even from
just hearing their voices together. (Thanks to Ken Forsse, Andrue
of the Teddy Ruxpin In-Fur-Mation site, the IMDB, and my source from Ohio
for this one)
* Phil Baron, following the heyday of his
career as Teddy, became an executive with Rhino Records and later left
showbusiness to follow his passion of music as a Cantor. He attends Valley
Beth Shalom in the Los Angeles area.
* Phil Baron & Will Ryan
(as Teddy and Grubby) are the only two voice actors who reprised their
roles from the Teddy Ruxpin talking toy book & tape series in The
Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin Mostly Canadian voice actors assumed the
roles during the TV series, as it was produced in Ottawa, Canada, and the
previous voice actors were Los Angeles based. Most notably missing was
Tony Pope, who voiced Gimmick and L.B. in the audio tape series. He was
replaced by two men, John Stocker as Gimmick and Robert Bockstael as L.B.
The change in Gimmick's voice is less noticable than the change to L.B's.
* John Stocker, who became Gimmick and also voiced numerous other
minor characters in the television series, was a close personal friend of
the late legendary comic John Candy. They had worked
together on the canadian TV series "Coming Up Rosie"
* Les Lye,
who voiced Quellor in the series, is a former co-star and close friend of
singer Alanis Morisette
* In an episode of the
television series The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin (Episode Unknown)
artists were at a standstill do to production being halted in another
department, and to pass the time penciled in many "graphic" titles to
books in King Nogburt's library. When the other department picked up the
pace, the scenes had to be quickly finished, and the titles were never
erased. The production was finished (coloring, etc.) in a Asian country
which probably thought the titles were there for a reason and could not
understand them anyhow. According to the source, they can still be seen in
the episode, although according to my source they were on only a few
frames of animation, meaning you would probably need to pause your
video/dvd or take a screen-capture to see them. UPDATE: Supposedly
DiC had been notified of this in the early 90's and edited out the titles
for any future releases of the series)
* (I recently
discovered this watching old tapes of the series) In a later episode of
the series, during the credits, Teddy can be heard in voiceover promising
a "Brand new Teddy Ruxpin series next year!" and telling viewers thanks
for watching and stay tuned to further episodes for more information. This
pretty much confirms speculation that there was an additional series or
season planned. The episodes I have on tape are from first run
syndication, so I imagine the voice has been edited out of future airings
of the series. This is also the only episode I heard any information
regarding new series plans.
* The Adventures of Teddy
Ruxpin was last seen in United States Market in re-runs,(at least one
that reports these things anyway) in what would have been the 1991-92
television season, although TAOTR continues to air in other countries even
in current day 2006.
*Teddy Ruxpin the toy made several
appearances and was referenced several times in popular culture, movies,
television series, etc. Including making an appearance at a daycare in
"Home Improvement" in 1993 (Tim Allen even holds Teddy for a moment) A
refrence came in a 1987 episode of "Mama's Family" in which Mama, played
by Vicki Lawrence, is horrified as her neighbor Iola Boilen has her dead
cat stuffed and programmed to meow. Mama refers to the cat as "Kitty
Ruxpin". Apparently, Worlds of Wonder employed a PR service to get Teddy
and references to him into movies and television series. Worlds of Wonder
itself is mentioned briefly in the movie "Big" starring Tom Hanks. Teddy
also appeared many times in television programs when he was first
released, including an in depth exclusive on Teddy on "20/20" hosted by
Hugh Downs and Barbara Walters. Hugh Downs, who in my opinion seemed
absolutely captivated by Teddy in the segment, even brought Teddy into a
schoolroom full of children and talked with them about the illiop.
*President George H.W. Bush and wife Barbara were photographed in
an issue of Time Magazine playing with Teddy and their grandchildren at
the White House.
If you have any trivia to add, it would certainly
be welcomed. Contact Me
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