The Berenstain Bears Play Ball
| The Berenstain Bears Play Ball | |
|---|---|
| Created by | Stan and Jan Berenstain |
| Written by | Stan and Jan Berenstain |
| Directed by |
Mordicai Gerstein Al Kouzel |
| Theme music composer | Elliot Lawrence |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Buzz Potamkin |
| Running time | 25 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Perpetual Motion Pictures The Joseph Cates Company |
| Distributor |
NBC Embassy Home Entertainment |
| Release | |
| Original network | NBC |
| Original release |
|
| Chronology | |
| Preceded by | The Berenstain Bears' Comic Valentine (1982) |
| Followed by | The Berenstain Bears Show (1985) |
The Berenstain Bears Play Ball is a baseball-themed animated television special based on the Berenstain Bears children's book series by Stan and Jan Berenstain. Produced by Buzz Potamkin and directed by Mordicai Gerstein and Al Kouzel, the program made its debut on NBC on May 6, 1983.
Stan and Jan Berenstain's first animated holiday special aired on NBC in December 1979. The Berenstain Bears' Christmas Tree was the first of five annual animated specials that would air on NBC, produced by Joe Cates and the Joseph Cates Production Company. The Berenstain Bears Meet Bigpaw was the second in this series.
The Berenstains utilized rhyming couplets in the script - for both the narrator and the character dialogue. This element had also been used in the Christmas Tree special and was familiar to audiences since a similar type of writing was used in the Berenstain Bears Beginner Books series.
The 25-minute special was created and written by Stan and Jan Berenstain and featured original music composed and conducted by Emmy-winning musician Elliot Lawrence, with lyrics provided by Stan Berenstain. The score included three original songs: ."
The special starred Ron McLarty, Gabriela Glatzer, Jonathan Lewis, and Pat Lysinger as Papa, Sister, Brother, and Mama Bear, respectively. McLarty also doubled as the show's narrator. All four actors were reprising their vocal roles from The Berenstain Bears' Christmas Tree. Bob Kaliban was the voice of Bigpaw.
It was the last of five Berenstain Bears animated specials that aired on NBC from 1979 to 1983. Some of the production staff would continue to work on the next adaptation: The Berenstain Bears Show. This includes Joe Cates and Buzz Potamkin. Elliott Lawrence continues to score music for the episodes which are based on his compositions from the five specials, although faster pace. While they no longer break out in song, the theme music (matching part of Stars and Stripes Forever) resembles the song lyrics from the specials. The program is now produced by Southern Star with new voice actors.
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