Humphrey B. Bear is an
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n
children's television seriesChildren's television series, are commercial television programs designed for, and marketed to children, normally scheduled for broadcast during the morning and afternoon when children are awake. They can sometimes run in the early evening, for the children that go to school...
and its fictional character namesake is an icon of Australian children's
televisionTelevision is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
.
Humphrey B Bear was first broadcast on
Adelaide'sAdelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
NWS-9NWS is an Australian television station owned by the WIN Corporation which is based in Adelaide, Australia. The station's name, NWS is an acronym of The NeWs South Australia.-Origins:...
on Monday, 24 May 1965. The show became one of the most successful programs for pre-schoolers in Australia. The part of Humphrey was played by Edwin Duryea, an actor, singer and dancer whose human identity was never revealed.
The character of Humphrey is a tall, shaggy brown bear with a large, glossy nose, straw boater, tartan waist-coat and over-sized yellow bow-tie. His television show always features a companion who assists and narrates Humphrey's various adventures in the "magic forest" including his brightly coloured tree house. The show is shot on television studio set. In the early days the character was known as Bear Bear and was named Humphrey B Bear as the result of an on air competition.
Walt Disney StudiosThe name Walt Disney Studios may refer to:* The Walt Disney Company, especially its Studio Entertainment unit, which includes Disney's motion picture studios, music labels, theatrical production company, and distribution companies...
had a cartoon character named "Humphrey Bear".
Television show
The show has won
LogieThe TV Week Logie Awards are the Australian television industry awards, which have been presented annually since 1959. Renamed by Graham Kennedy in 1960 after he won the first 'Star Of The Year' award, the name 'Logie' awards honours John Logie Baird, a Scotsman who invented the television as a...
s for Best Children's Series and the character of Humphrey has received a number of National Awards and Commendations, including a special "Citizen of the Year" Award at the 1994
Australia DayAustralia Day is the official national day of Australia...
celebrations.
Humphrey B. Bear has viewers all over the world thanks to the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
version of his show shown on PBS in America and the
SpanishSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
version shown on
GalavisionGalavisión is a Miami, Florida based Spanish language cable network owned by Univision Communications, Inc. The station is unrelated to the Mexican channel of the same name, other than sharing the Televisa-produced programming.-History:...
.
Each episode of Humphrey is designed to entertain and educate its audience as they join in the fun with the character of Humphrey B. Bear. Humphrey enjoys exploring and pretending. He likes playing, singing, dancing and being with his friends.
The writers of
Humphrey including Anthony O'Donohue (also long time and favourite host of the show) attempt to set up each show as a new adventure for Humphrey that parallels the needs, fears and fun of the average four year old child. The character of Humphrey Bear explores life as they do, trying to reinforce their self esteem and showing them it's all right to make mistakes (after all everyone does). The series attempts to show that it is not always necessary to be the best at everything, but that it's more important to simply take part.
Humphrey still appears on Australian television during the Summer hiatus of
Kerri-Anne, and is a standard aspect of Australian culture.
On 14 February 2007 it was reported that the
Nine NetworkThe Nine Network , is an Australian television network with headquarters based in Willoughby, a suburb located on the North Shore of Sydney. For 50 years since television's inception in Australia, between 1956 and 2006, it was the most watched television network in Australia...
would record a new
Here's Humphrey series for the first time since 2003.
In April 2009, Banksia Productions, the company that owned the rights to the character, was wound up by the Supreme Court over a $50,000 debt.
Humphrey Theme Song (1970 - 1996)
What a funny old fellow is Humphrey,
He gets in all manner of strife,
He leads a very exciting life,
And honey's his favourite fare,
Which is hardly so very surprising,
He's a really amazing old bear,
What a funny old fellow is Humphrey,
Humphrey the fun loving bear!
Humphrey Theme Song (1996-2006)
Look over there, it's Humphrey bear,
He has best friends everywhere,
Children, trees, animals too,
He loves them all, especially you,
If you feel glum and you need your chum,
Good old Humphrey bear,
Humphrey, Humphrey, Humphrey bear,
You'll see him here and you'll see him there,
You'll hear his name down every street,
He's the very best friend you'll ever meet,
Hooray for Humphrey, good old Humphrey,
Hooray for Humphrey bear!