Monday, December 21, 2009
Bear symphony not making music this year
Tom Angleberger
The New River Valley-based reporter answers your questions Mondays in his column, What's on Your Mind?
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Strange reports still are coming in regarding those real, stuffed reindeer from Crossroads Mall. This week, however, we're going to find out all about another famous Roanoke mall Christmas attraction: Leonard Bearstein and his all-bear symphony.
The maestro and his bear pack are not at Valley View this year. In fact, I'm not even sure where they've gone. (Hibernating at Jellystone, perhaps?)
But what I wanted to know was -- where did they come from? Who on earth had the wild idea to create a robotic bear orchestra?
You might suppose that something like this would be cooked up in Japan, but it turns out that Leonard's roots are much closer to home. He is the creation of Paul Lawrence of Media Advertising & Design in Charlotte, N.C.
MAD makes big, eye-popping displays for shopping centers and office buildings -- penguins, Eskimos, bunnies (for Easter), castles and gigantic Christmas trees. More than 30 years ago, Lawrence wanted to make something more than just eye candy. He wanted the displays to entertain.
"We started in 1975 with a pair of talking reindeer," Lawrence recalled. "From there we went to a trio of bears and then a quartet. We chose a bear because it is universal. A bear is cuddly and all that sort."
You folks do remember Valley View's singing bears, right? Some people might have thought that was enough. But Lawrence was thinking bigger.
"The orchestra was nothing more than an outgrowth of a vision," he said.
But it took a lot to make that vision come true. Lawrence wanted vocalists, woodwinds, brass, strings, drums and a conductor in snazzy attire. And they wouldn't just wiggle endlessly back and forth -- they would move in sync with a pre-recorded musical program -- Christmas music for the holiday season and "That's Entertainment" for the rest of the year.
Leonard had the bears' mechanical innards made by a company in Connecticut.
"Leonard is the most complicated," explained Lawrence. "He has nine functions -- all pneumatic. The symphony has 72 functions, plus 19 light cue settings."
Once the music has been recorded, each bear is programmed to play along.
"The programming takes hours and hours. Every function is laid down as you listen to the music."
You probably saw the results for yourself at the mall in recent years. And so have people as far away as Thailand.
"We have about a dozen in operation," Lawrence said. "Mostly on the East Coast. I don't like to get too far away from home. That being said, we have a set in Bangkok and one in Singapore."
Believe it or not, Lawrence envisioned something even bigger: a TV show with a 40-bear orchestra that would perform with a real human symphony. Leonard and the human conductor would teach youngsters about music. The cost of that vision turned out to be too high, but Leonard has had a chance to conduct North Carolina's Durham Symphony.
If you miss seeing Leonard at Valley View this Christmas, you may want to let the mall know.
Meanwhile, you can try the home version: a CD sound- track and a Leonard Bearstein hand puppet, available at www.leonardbearstein.com.
Got a question? Got an answer? Call Tom Angleberger at 777-6476 or send an e-mail to woym@roanoke.com. Don't forget to provide your full name, its proper spelling and your hometown. Look for Tom Angleberger's column on Mondays.
