June 25, 2007
For additional information or high resolution images:
Contact: Susan Trien, 585-410-6359, strien@museumofplay.org

Baby-Boom Cartoons of Stan and Jan Berenstain
Opens at Strong National Museum of Play®
July 20, 2007

Once upon a time, before the lovable, shaggy-haired Berenstain Bears clan came to live down a sunny dirt road in Bear Country, their creators—Stan and Jan Berenstain—were starting out in their artistic careers, drawing witty cartoons and magazine illustrations on the joys and foibles of parenting.

Beginning Friday, July 20, the Berenstains’ early work, inspired by their own experiences as parents in the post-war baby boom era, can be seen, savored, and chuckled at in a new exhibit Child’s Play on the Crabgrass Frontier: The Baby-Boom Cartoons of Stan and Jan Berenstain, produced by Strong National Museum of Play® in partnership with the Berenstain Family.

According to Mike Berenstain, Stan and Jan’s son and co-author of the famous Berenstain Bears books since the late 1980s, the exhibit was inspired by a visit by Strong staff to the Berenstain family studio in Pennsylvania. “Strong has picked and probed, blown away dust and brushed off cobwebs, unearthing hilarious pieces of comic art that we, ourselves, had forgotten. For myself, my brother, Leo, and my mother, Jan, this has been a nostalgia tour unmatched in vividness and poignancy. Every coonskin cap, every space blaster, every rabbit ear antenna, every Mickey Mouse cap that shows up in these cartoons and illustrations zaps us right back to our family’s happy, earliest days. We only wish that Stan (who passed away in 2005) were here to share it with us.”

Raising two of their own baby boomers in suburban Philadelphia, the artistic husband-and-wife team focused their work on the daily troubles and routine triumphs of a likeable suburban family—much like their own. On view are 86 original Berenstain drawings and Collier’s magazine covers from the 1950s and 1960s that evoke an era when the baby population exploded, American prosperity soared, and more and more families were escaping cities to live the suburban American dream. A summer picnic, the school play, summer camp, school recess—all were fodder for the artistic life of this witty young couple.

Notes Scott Eberle, Strong’s vice president for interpretation, “Calling the suburbs the ‘crabgrass frontier’ is a joke about the era when so many new homeowners were planting new lawns and battling weeds, but these baby boom parents were indeed pioneers of a sort. They moved by the millions to new suburban neighborhoods where they found life much different from the old city streets.”

The early Berenstain artwork is complemented by quotations about family life from popular books and magazines of the time, demographic statistics and facts about the baby boom era, and cases filled with such nostalgic items as Davy Crockett memorabilia, toy robots, space toys, lunch boxes, and other popular baby boomer favorites. Children will enjoy playing with cartoon-inspired puzzles, creating their own cartoons at a light table, and participating in an “I Spy” computer interactive game.

Strong National Museum of Play® is currently developing a second exhibit in cooperation with the Berenstain Family. Down a Sunny Dirt Road, scheduled to open in the spring of 2008, will invite kids to travel into the playful world found on the pages of the Berenstain Bears children’s book series including such familiar environments as Main Street, Bear Country School, Farmer Ben’s Farm, Club House in the Woods, and the Family Tree House.

Strong National Museum of Play®, located in downtown Rochester, New York, is the only museum in the world devoted to the study of play as it illuminates American popular culture.

Hours:
Monday–Thursday, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.; Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.;
Saturday, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.; Sunday, 12:00 noon to 5:00 p.m.
Admission Fees:
General Admission (does not include Dancing Wings Butterfly Garden™):
Adults $9.00; Seniors $8.00; Children (2–17) $7.00; Children younger than two free; Strong members free.
Admission to Dancing Wings Butterfly Garden™:
General Admission fee plus $3.00 per person for members and nonmembers; Children younger than two free.
Due to limited capacity, entry to Dancing Wings Butterfly Garden™ is by timed tickets only. Advance purchase is recommended. Please call 585-263-2700 to purchase timed tickets.