THE BEAR THAT WASN’T

About

The Bear knew that when geese fly south, and leaves begin to fall from trees, it was a sign that winter was coming and soon the forest would be covered in snow. It was time to hibernate. However, when he wakes up a few months later, the Bear will not have the forest waiting for him, but a huge factory that was built there during in his sleep. Where was the forest? Where was the grass? Where were the trees? Where were the flowers? What place was that? The Bear feels lost in this strange place, but he’ll feel more lost when everyone at the factory tells him that it is not a bear, but a silly man who needs a shave and wears a fur coat. Will the Bear be able to convince them otherwise? Published in 1946, this hilarious text by Frank Tashlin contains all the hallmarks of a timeless masterpiece. An indispensable book for bears and humans of all ages.

Details

BROWSE

AUTHORS

Frank Tashlin (1913-1972) was born in New Jersey and raised in Queens, New York. In his adolescence he starts working in animation in several pioneer studios that started to appear in New York. In 1933 he moves to Hollywood, where he writes and performs animated shorts for MGM, Warner Bros. and Disney. In the mid-40s he decides to withdraw from animation to start writing for the Marx Brothers, Lucille Ball, among others, and to work in cinema as a screenwriter. He works with Jerry Lewis, Bob Hope and Red Skelton, with his films still echoing elements of his career in animation. In 1946 Tashlin writes The Bear That Wasn’t, a book that he always described as being very special to him. The book would know many foreign editions and an animated version in 1967. It would be followed by two more: "The Possum That Didn’t" (1950) and "The World That Isn’t" (1951). Tashlin would publish two more books: "How the Circus Learned to Smile" in 1949, recorded by Spike Jones, and "How to Create Cartoons" in 1952.