I had been working with the Henson team for some time when the opportunity to work on the Country Bears film came about. Disney had contacted The Jim Henson Company to create the bears for the film and the suit performers were selected and brought in for measurements and body casting.

To clarify, a suit performer is the person who gets inside the costume and performs the body movements of the animal. Today they do this mostly with a computer and performance capture, but that involves a big grid and the performer wearing a bodysuit with a bunch of dots all over it.

What I love about having the performer in the actual suit is the teamwork that is needed between suit performer and puppeteer. It’s a lot like a dance and needs to be rehearsed to ensure that the team is in sync with each other.

A cast is taken of the performer to ensure a good costume fit.

The Jim Henson Company needed to cast and bring in the suit performers in order to do the build of the characters. Onlyd when the character are near completion, it was time to bring in the puppeteers.

To do this Disney asked the company to select puppeteers they felt would be good for the project, then we were asked to audition.

In most cases puppeteer is often used to voice the character as well, but this is rarely the case with Disney. Disney suffers from the delusion that puppeteers cannot do professional voices, so they reserve this for professional voice artist or celebrities.

Celebrities do attract market share and help get people into seats at the movie theater I must admit.

Although it’s a hit to ones ego to be told you won’t be considered for the voice of your character, for a woman, this can be a plus.

Why?

Because many films involving puppets, female roles are very limited. This was the case with the Country Bears. So if we were to perform using our voices, I would only been given the chance to audition for Trixie, as she was the only female bear in the film. Because this was not the case it allowed me the opportunity for me to audition for any character I wanted to. The voices would be dubbed in later. Six puppeteers were chosen. We were each given a script and told to choose two characters we wanted to audition for and be prepared to do so.

Off to the Disney Studios we went.

I was near the last person to go in. I went into a large room with 3 folks in it. One of them I knew as DBH from the Henson Creature Shop and the other two I soon learned were the Director and a Disney Executive. They asked me to have a seat and they just talked to me. I was all ramped up to do a little performing and they simply chatted with me.

They asked me which of the bears I wanted to try out for.

“Big Al and Trixie.” They seemed surprised. I waited.
“Big Al and Trixie? Are you serious?”

After I said yes, they shook their heads. They reminded me that neither of these were lead characters. I told them I didn’t want to play a lead character I wanted to play Big Al. If I couldn’t get Big Al, then my second choice was Trixie.

The director then informed me that the rest of my colleagues wanted to play either Henry or Barry. These were the leads.

DBH laughed. “This is why we chose Terri. She loves the sidekicks.”

You all know why I chose how I did. Not everyone is as savvy as you my friends.

This group nodded and then I was dismissed. That was it. I heard nothing more.

I remember thinking that a movie based on a ride at Disneyland might not be a good idea. I did love the Country Bears and hoped to be cast in the film.

A few days later I got a call from DBH. I wasn’t going to be working on the Country Bears film. Seems that Disney wanted Henson to cut one puppeteer and I was it.

Well at least I knew I was in the top 10. Number 6 to be exact. My heart sank.

I cried. I was very surprised that I cried, as I didn’t think it was that important to me.

It was. My heart was broken. I cried a little more.

Months went by as I continued to work on other projects.

Then, just before CHRISTMAS, I got a call. (No lie, the call really came. This is not a cheesy way to tie it into our Christmas discussions.) It was from Disney legal.

“Is this Terri Hardin?”
“Yes,”
“We need your address to send the Country Bears contract over for you to sign.
“Contract?! Are you sure you have the right Terri Hardin? I was told I was not on that project.”
“Well you’re on it now, I have a contract I’m finishing up for Terri Hardin.”
“What character am I to play?”
“Big Al and Trixie.”

My heart jumped. I wondered if it could really be true. Then I asked him if he could send the contract over right now so that I could sign it before anyone changed their minds. It was the best Christmas present ever!

Part 2 of the Country Bears tale is now available HERE.

UPDATE

Wow! I just cannot believe that it’s already December. November seems to have disappeared. Whoosh!

I hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving. I know the classic idea behind Thanksgiving is a Norman Rockwell portrait of family around the table smiling and getting along enjoying the day and giving thanks. I hope that was yours.

How many of you actually got to experience Thanksgiving like that? It seems to me that there is always a little craziness that goes along with family get-togethers.

Mine was no different. I consider Thanksgiving a win if no one gets in a fight or argument. I’m thankful that this year our Thanksgiving feast was a win. Whew! On to Christmas, Yea!

I mentioned last time that to really feel the joy of Christmas for me is to give back.

On Saturday, Nov. 22 I was a celebrity guest at ‘Combat Radio Christmas Benefit Concert And Toy Drive’ in Valencia. It was a huge success. I got to donate toys and create a couple of events for the silent auction. Bob Gurr also donated for the auction.

This Saturday I get to go and distribute the toys donated to the children. This is Christmas to me and I’m so excited.

December also brings Disneyland’s Candlelight event (happening this weekend only). Truly something not to be missed. I’ll be there Sunday Dec. 7. Do come and say hello if you happen to be there as well.

Candlelight allows me to see a lot of fans and friends who come from all over the world for this event. I just love seeing all of you in the best setting in the world.

I also worked on Modern Family recently. I played a Beach patron in Venice Beach, and besides getting paid to hang out at the beach for most of the day, which was decadent enough, I got to meet Jacob.

In the photo above, the people on roller skates and helmets are cast members of Modern Family. They’re rehearsing in this picture.

In the photo below is a photo of Jacob and I. Jacob was the highlight of working on the show as he just got back from Principal Filming of Star Wars. This was a divine occurrence for yours truly.

I mentioned that I’d seen the trailer and thought that J. J. Abrams had big shoes to fill. He said the movie is amazing. But that was all he would say. Oh, and I mentioned that I thought a light-saber hilt making the light-saber look like a sword was stupid . . . he told me to just wait. I’m still not sure about that, but I will wait.

Last but not least, I went to a special screening of Into The Woods at the Disney Studios. It’s fun, lavish and a tad long. However, I highly recommend it. It’s great fun. After all, what’s not to love about Stephen Sondheim? PLUS, in true Disney fashion, we received these beautiful Programs.

I’d love for us to continue our discussion on Christmas and all the joys it brings and to keep sharing ideas and comments on just about whatever you wish to share.

This time I decided to talk about my work on The Country Bears. This was a festive time for me and thejonesman among others have waited patiently for me to share this story. Consider this a little Christmas Gift.

Before I go for this week, let me share a little discovery I learned this last Thanksgiving. I’ve often experienced the turkey being late for Thanksgiving dinner, but has anyone ever heard of it being done too early?

I was in charge of cooking the turkey this year. I hadn’t cooked one in some time and this one was a biggy. One of the things about me is that if something weird and different is going to happen, no matter what it is or where, it happens to me.

My turkey was early. Yes, by a full hour. I must admit I got a little spooked as my relatives just won’t accept a dry bird.

What was I to do? You know that scene in the movie Jaws when the room sort of stretches when Roy Schieder sees the shark attack? That’s how I felt.

However, I believe that everything happens for a reason,  so I took it as a chance to learn something. My husband Googled my question and found the answer. I love Google, don’t you?

Anyway, the answer is, if you ever have an Early Bird, simply adjust your oven temp down to 200 degrees and let the turkey stay in your oven nice and cozy warm until your guests arrive. But how do you keep the white meat moist you say? Simply place a shallow tray with water on the bottom inside you oven under the turkey. This helps to keep the meat from drying out. IT WORKS.

In fact, it works so well that my family said it was the juiciest turkey they ever had. I have to say it was due to the fact that I added the pan of water. That and I stuffed the cavity of the turkey with juicy lemons and oranges.

Try it the next time you cook a turkey for your family. You won’t be disappointed.

FEEDBACK

Again, thank you so much to all of you who have shared with me here at MiceChat.

To thejonesman: I know you’re happy that I’ve finally relayed my Country Bears story. Glad to be of service.

In response to some of the other comments, I love photo books. I made one for Guillermo Del Toro to document a project I worked on for him.

They make such a great gift. I love to make them and receive them. I also loved the advent calendar idea.

And I had a question, Can you use advent calendars over and over, or must you create or buy a new one every year?

Keep up the wonderful comments, I look forward to reading them as I learn so much from all of you!

Enjoy these special days leading up to Christmas folks. I’ll see you again very soon!