Volume 2, No. 12. June 28, 2002
New Arrivals
It’s
an animatronic dinner theater!
The Black Bear Jamboree announces its arrival in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, May
22, 2002. Measurements: 730 seats, nine menu items, 125 service employees, 20
cast members, six musicians, and six animatronic bears. Delivered by Sally Corporation.
David
Fee had a tall order to fill. On March 1 he took possession of the Glasgow Theater
in Pigeon Forge, a venue that had laid dark in bankruptcy for two years, and
planned to have a dinner theater running by Memorial Day at the end of May.
“I had in my mind what we wanted to do, so we hit the ground running,”
he said.
His
biggest challenges: hiring good employees, “ones that will stay, ones that
know what they’re doing,” and signing up six bears who could act.
“We knew we wanted to do the bears, but we didn’t know who the supplier
would be. We didn’t come upon Sally’s name until March, but it became
obvious that Sally was the best in the industry. Our biggest thing was time.
‘We need this thing in three months, can you do this job?’”
Sally
said yes and custom built six animatronic bears ranging from four to nine feet
tall (one to three meters), three “good bears” and three “bad
bears” who live in the Smoky Mountains and interact with the live singing
and dancing performers. The bad bears do nothing more sinister than steal baseball
caps and campers’ coolers but they do so with a convincing growl, while
the good bears merely enjoy their natural environs and try to learn singing
from the rest of the cast. “We wanted bears that are believable,”
Fee said. “Not realistic; we didn’t want taxidermy bears, but we didn’t
want Chuckee Cheese, either.”
The bears have yet to enjoy a red carpet opening night. Upon opening his doors for his first show four days before Memorial Day weekend, Black Bear Jamboree was sold out, Fee said. “We had 1,400 people a day right off the bat,” he said of the twice-a-day shows, which will expand to three shows daily in July. Fee, a veteran of the Pigeon Forge entertainment scene, anticipates the load will lighten in August, allowing him time to do a proper premier. “Come the third week of August we will have a grand opening,” he said. “I’m not much for tuxedos anyway.”
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