Broadway Cares/Equity Fights will hold their annual "Broadway Bears" charity event at 7 PM Feb. 15 at the Hudson Theatre (145 W. 44th St. In Manhattan). As usual, the auction will feature dozens of stuffed bears, each decked out in the fashion of a particular theatre production or personality, and signed by the artist the bear resembles. In the weeks leading up to the auction, Playbill On-Line will feature a different Broadway Bear each day. For information on the auction, call (212) 840 0770, ext. 268. *
"Will Rogers," from The Will Rogers Follies
Original Costume Designer: Willa Kim (Tony Award Winner)
Bear Costume Designer: Noel Noblitt at Parsons-Meares, Ltd., with the assistance of Rodney Gordon (hat), J. Jay and Robert Manning (hair)
Signed by Keith Carradine
Though he was the multi-talented, rich and famous star of the Ziegfeld Follies, Will Rogers never seemed to lose the common touch that made him so popular. The costume for our bear (like the one created for Broadway), has been adapted from one of Will's own. Made from the original materials used for the Broadway production, Will Bear wears a red silk-crepe Western-cut shirt and gold-check kerchief, gold denim jeans, and fringed buffalo leather chaps. Brown cowboy boots, a lariat, and a cowboy hat worn at Will's characteristically rakish angle on his floppy hair style complete the picture of the fella who "never met a man (or bear) he didn't like."
