The Bear family

The Bear family are a family unit of characters on Sesame Street, based on The Story of the Three Bears, plus a younger sibling.

Family description

Curly Bear, Mama Bear, and Papa Bear have never appeared on the show without Baby Bear. The Bear Family Dance, as demonstrated in a "Hero Guy" segment, is a step forward, a step backward, a step forward, a step backward, a shimmy, and stepping from side-to-side. In Elmo's World: Happy Holidays, it is revealed that the Bear family is Jewish.

Family members

Baby Bear

Baby Bear is an important character from the Bear family on Sesame Street, and is best friends with Telly Monster. Baby Bear has always been the most frequently appearing character from the Bears, as he is the age of many viewers of the show. He has a speech impediment, pronouncing his "R"s like "W"s. For example, he pronounces "super hero" as "supo hewo". Baby Bear is performed by David Rudman.^[1]

"Hero Guy" is a character that Baby Bear creates on a piece of paper; he comes to life and has adventures with Baby Bear.

Papa Bear

Papa Bear is the Bear family father. He generally wears a bowler derby. Before Curly Bear's season 34 birth, Papa Bear was the second most frequently appearing member of the Bear family, but that position has since been taken over by Curly. He is performed by Joey Mazzarino.

Mama Bear

Mama Bear is the Bear family mother. She is a recycled version of Flo Bear and the same puppet has been used for normal bears.

She was performed by Camille Bonora from 1993 to 1996, Alice Dinnean from 1996 to 2002, and Jennifer Barnhart since 2003.

Curly Bear

Curly Bear is the Bear family daughter, Baby Bear's sister, and the youngest of the family. Since season 34, Curly has been the second most frequently-appearing of the Bears, after Baby Bear. Curly also makes an appearance in Elmo's Potty Time.

In episode 4059, Baby Bear is horrified to learn Curly doesn't like porridge. Alan explains to Baby Bear that it's okay if family or even best friends have different tastes, and their differences can even be a special part of Curly and Baby Bear's relationship.

She is performed by Stephanie D'Abruzzo.

Curly Bear's puppet was designed by Ed Christie and built by Rollie Krewson.

Relatives

The Bear family has different relatives:

• Cousin Bear (performed by Joey Mazzarino) - Cousin Bear Baby Bear's cousin who appears in Episode 3927 and Episode 3987.
• Grampy Bear (performed by Joey Mazzarino) - Grampy Bear is the grandfather of Baby Bear. He appears in Episode 4417 where he attends Sesame Street's grandfather celebration. He is not good with the electronic gadgets that his wife keeps buying him. His puppet is actually a redressed version of Papa Bear.
• Grandmama Bear (performed by Stephanie D'Abruzzo) - Grandmama Bear is the grandmother of Baby Bear and Curly Bear who lives far away in the woods. She appeared in Episode 3893 where she hasn't seen Baby Bear in a long time. In Episode 4186, Grandmama Bear was supposed to babysit Baby Bear and Curly Bear until she came down with the flu and Gabi was called in to cover for her.
• Oliver Bear - Oliver Bear is Baby Bear's younger cousin who appears in Episode 3709 and Episode 3816.

References