The Ballad of Smokey the Bear



The Ballad of Smokey the Bear is a television special that first aired on November 24, 1966 on NBC as part of the General Electric Full Color Fantasy Hour's Thanksgiving programming. Narrated by James Cagney, it told the story of US Forest Service safety mascot Smokey Bear. NBC named the day "Smokey Bear Day on NBC", and a Smokey Bear giant helium balloon would appear that same day in the Macy's 40th annual Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Written by Joseph Schrank. Music and Lyrics by Johnny Marks.

Full Synopsis
Big Bear, played by James Cagney, and his two cubs awaken from their slumber on a beautiful morning. After noticing a fire breaking out and witnessing Big Bear's younger brother, the legendary Smokey the Bear, often known to the public as simply "Smokey Bear", putting out the fire, he and the cubs sit down as Cagney tells the tale of how his brother became a household name, including a Rankin/Bass style credits intro ("The Ballad of Smokey the Bear").

Big Bear tells of Smokey's younger years, except his name wasn't Smokey then - it was Sonny. Big Bear's Mother lets Big Bear and Sonny, played by Barry Pearl, out to explore the forest one day. She asks Big Bear to be little Sonny's protector and teacher, as the world is filled with many dangers, but also many lessons. The two come upon a Turtle, played by William Marine, who Sonny mistakes for a stone. Wanting to play with Mr. Turtle, Sonny throws him down a hill. Mr. Turtle remarks on what a turtle's real purpose in life is ("Tell it to a Turtle"). Sonny then finds a honey tree, and without heeding his brother's warning to leave it alone, steals some honey, and as a consequence, gets stung by a swarm of angry bees. After that, the two head back to their cave, but Sonny finds himself occupied and distracted once again by his little girlfriend, Delilah, who leads him astray to the river, where a Beaver couple, played by Herb Duncan and Rose Marie Jun, are building a dam. Mr. "Joe" Beaver is building the dam while his wife is distracted, procrastinating perhaps. He remarks how they should never wait until tomorrow when something can be done today. Sonny and Delilah run along, about to jump into the water, when Mr. Beaver stops them. Thinking he is a Kill-joy, Delilah scoffs, and tries to convince Sonny not to listen to him. Sonny tells Delilah that he believes she might be getting him into a lot of trouble, a thing that he just might enjoy ("Delilah").

Sonny and Delilah jump into the river, ruining the Beavers' dam. Angry at this misconduct, the Beavers throw things at the two bears, who run away. After more Delilah distraction, the forest begins to fill with smoke, and many animals rush to find safety and shelter. Sonny finds himself caught in the middle of it, so, remembering what his mother always told him about avoiding danger, he climbs to the top of a tree and holds on for his life. Big Bear is sent out to find Smokey, but when he gets too close, he ducks under a rock and waits until the fire is over. Then he goes out looking for Sonny, who he finds shaking in fear at the top of the tree. After retrieving Sonny, who is in a PTSD state with his fur singed from the fire, Big Bear tries to lighten the mood with humor, telling his brother that since he smells "all smokey" that in the future he should be called that. Eventually, offscreen, the joke simply turns into an endearing name in the eyes of Big Bear, so Sonny's name does become Smokey. Dealing with PTSD and a loss of the Bears' mother, an older Smokey the Bear does not talk much anymore, especially to the other forest animals. He is terrified of many things, especially fire. After the forest grows back, the bears go out for a walk and find large tracks in the ground. They discuss it with Mr. Turtle, who caught a glimpse of something big, black, and smelly who must be making them. They hear a scream, and run to the home of the beavers, who have once again had their dam destroyed. They all find the same tracks on the ground there, and after hearing another scream off in the distance, they rush to it. The Beavers stay behind for a second, as Mr. Beaver suggests they should wait to see what happens before going towards the danger. But Mrs. Beaver reminds him of his philosophy ("Don't Wait").

Mr. Fox, played by George Petrie, also had a run-in with this creature. As the group keeps on, they find destruction all over the place. Big Bear remarks that the forest has been overrun by something evil. They find an old hunting shack in which they believe the creature has inhabited. Big Bear smells smoke coming from the hut, and it triggers something within Smokey, who climbs up the nearest tree again. Once Big Bear gets him down, they spot the culprit of all the mess, a Gorilla that has previously escaped from the zoo. It partakes in unclean deeds, like polluting the water of the river with garbage and smoking a cigarette.

After finding a family of deer, in which the children are sick because of drinking from the polluted water, Big Bear decides to put together a meeting of the forest creatures. At the meeting, the animals put together ideas to trap the Gorilla. They will all work together to fix their problem and set the forest free of the evil ("All Together"). Some of the animals, seeing Smokey on the sidelines, bully him, saying that he will not be able to help because all he will do is climb a tree. Feeling hurt, Smokey runs off into the forest. The animals all set traps to trap the Gorilla. The Foxes have a whole system built. The beavers have a tree 95% chewed into that with a simple pull, it is bound to fall. Mr. Turtle finds a rope, and tells Big Bear that he is counting on the well-known curiosity of the primate species for his plan to work ("Curiosity"). Every trap fails, and instead of trapping the gorilla, the animals simply trap themselves. Smokey finds Mr. Turtle wrapped up in a net and releases him out of it. Mr. turtle, realizing every plan has failed, tells Smokey that it's up to him to save them all. He remarks that the trees of the forest are living things and that they will talk to him. Spending a night in the forest, the trees talk to Smokey, which gives him motivation not to be afraid anymore.

Smokey runs to the cabin the next morning and knocks it down. However, the Gorilla has started a fire in the stove, and the wooden cabin starts of fire. Acting purely by instinct, Smokey leads the animals to put out the fire using the river water and a shovel. Smokey takes the Gorilla back to the zoo, the other animals sing his praises, saying that if you believe in yourself you can move a mountain ("Anyone Can Move a Mountain").

Big Bear's cubs ask how their Uncle Smokey got his hat and spade... "The foresters sent him that when they found out he had put out the fire." Big Bear remarks. They also made him chief animal forest ranger. Adult Smokey shows up, including numerous other characters previously mentioned in the story. Exploring in the forest, the cubs find a honey tree, and it seems the cycle of life repeats itself. Big Bear sings us out with a reprise of the title song ("The Ballad of Smokey the Bear: Reprise").

Cast

 * Big Bear (Narrator) - James Cagney
 * Smokey the Bear - Barry Pearl
 * Mama Bear - Bryna Raeburn
 * Mr. Turtle - William Marine
 * Mr. Beaver - Herb Duncan (Additional voices)
 * Mrs. Beaver - Rose Marie Jun (Additional voices)
 * Fox - George Petrie
 * Ruth Franklin
 * Francine Carol

Additional voices by Billie Richards, Paul Soles, Larry Mann, Carl Banas, Alfie Scopp, Pat Woodell, and Allen Swift

Songs

 * The Ballad of Smokey the Bear
 * Tell it to a Turtle
 * Delilah
 * Don't Wait
 * All Together
 * Curiosity
 * Anyone Can Move a Mountain
 * The Ballad of Smokey the Bear (Reprise)

Trivia

 * Rose Marie Jun and Herb Duncan, who voiced the Beaver couple in this film, did the voices for another more famous animated couple, Jane and George Jetson from the 1962 Hanna-Barbara cartoon series, The Jetsons.
 * The special was covered in the May 2023 edition of the podcast covering all Rankin/Bass specials and films, "Rankin on Bass", by Mike White, Chris Stachiw, and Richard Hatem.
 * The songs in the special are all written by Johnny Marks, who had previously written the songs (including the titular song prior to the days of Rankin/Bass) for Rankin/Bass' first Stop-motion animated Christmas special, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
 * This special was initially said to be a Thanksgiving special, as opposed to the other classic TV specials of the same company being mostly Christmas specials.
 * The Gorilla that serves as an antagonist in the special might have likely been inspired by King-Kong from the 1933 film of the same name.
 * This special also aired less than a few of weeks before Walt Disney passed away at the age of sixty-five, and before another holiday special by Warner Brothers legend Chuck Jones, How the Grinch stole Christmas, premiered on TV that same year.
 * Because of “The Ballad of Smokey the Bear’s” appearance on NBC Thanksgiving Day in 1966, General Electric contributed $26,000 to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade for there to be a giant Smokey Bear helium balloon in the parade, opposed to the 1952+ costumed version that sat in a car.
 * With the debut of the Smokey Bear balloon on the Parade telecast in the morning, and the debut of Ballad in the evening, NBC billed Thanksgiving 1966 as “Smokey Bear Day on NBC.”