A Bear-y Good Time of Year

Lipman’s Advertisement in the Capital Journal Newspaper 25 November 1954.

“And here’s the Cinnamon Bear!” a cheery voice announces over a merrily-bowed tune on a violin.  In this age of on-demand media binging, it may be hard to envision a family gathering around a radio every day (but Saturday!) between Thanksgiving and Christmas to catch serial episodes of the adventures of the Cinnamon Bear (Paddy O’Cinnamon) and his human friends Judy and Jimmy Barton.  After the silver star for their Christmas Tree turns up missing, twins Judy and Jimmy discover the four-inch high singing teddy bear with an Irish brough and a green bow around his neck in a trunk in the attic.  Adventures ensue as the trio quests for the missing star, encountering characters like the Crazy Quilt Dragon and even Santa Claus with an appropriate amount of sound effects and songs.

Even if you weren’t around for the original broadcast, the story of the Cinnamon Bear might still be familiar.  It has been a staple on Portland-area radio stations[1] nearly every year since its debut in 1937, becoming a bit of a local tradition.  You can even catch it this year on Benson High School’s AM 1450 KBPS.[2]

A nationally syndicated Hollywood production, the show probably would have gone the way of many of the early radio serials had it not been for the merchandising. The sticking power of the Cinnamon Bear in Oregon is due to some clever folks at the Lipman & Wolfe department store in Portland.  In addition to sponsoring the show, they created a live-action mascot of the Cinnamon Bear which appeared in the store during the holidays and handed out only slightly cannibalistic bear-shaped cinnamon cookies.

The cult of the Cinnamon Bear has long outlived its original sponsor.  Riding the wave of holiday nostalgia, the Portland Spirit has taken to offering an annual Cinnamon Bear cruise.[3]  In Salem, Paddy O’Cinnamon has made celebrity reappearances, including a 2003 tour at the behest of the Salem Downtown Association.[4]

The name may not have the same recognition today, but Lipman, Wolfe & Co. was an Oregon institution.  Started in 1850 as a dry goods store, they, along with Meier & Frank, became the Portland Department stores  — as synonymous with the city as Marshall Field’s was in Chicago or Bloomingdale’s was in New York.   Lipman & Wolfe’s had already celebrated their 100^th anniversary[5] before expansion brought them southwards to Salem.

Liberty Street at Chemeketa looking South. Lipman and Wolfe Department store stands to the right hand side of the image (on the SW corner of Liberty and Chemeketa Streets). WHC Collections 2006.002.0080.001

Lipman’s of Salem opened in September 1954, a stunning marble and granite clad[6] four-story department store on the southwest corner of Chemeketa and Liberty Streets.  The first glimpse inside was probably just as magical and fantastic as the Cinnamon Bear’s Maybeland was to Judy and Jimmy.   The store carried it all – furniture, ready to wear clothing, housewares, cosmetics, yardage and crafts.  Designers spent two years planning the interior décor, going on shopping sprees in New York antique shops for unique focal pieces.  Highlights included a hand-carved sled that had belonged to a duchess in the court of Marie Antoinette (destined to become a planter in the 2^nd floor fashion salon), a 200 year-old hand carved coat of arms belonging to a Dutch nobleman that adorned the men’s ware section and a large 17^th century bird cage which housed two pairs of parakeets.[7]  The Cherry Room, the store’s main restaurant on the top floor overlooking a terrace and the rooftops of Salem was outfitted in pinks, reds, and silver with “an unusual harlequin patterned wallpaper with matching draperies” and pink louvred shutters.  Guests could enjoy a $1.50 filet mignon and the clever marketers played up its “cheery red rug, striking white chairs and placemats…the subdued murmur of table conversation and the fragrance of lemon and cinnamon toast.”[8] The decadently named “Chocolate Bar” 12-seat lunch counter (for “busy shoppers who can’t take time for a leisurely luncheon in the Cherry Room”), featured New Orleans’s style wrought work.[9] A snowflake mobile stood as the centerpiece for the fashion salon, with “brass filigree that cast dancing lights and shadows upon the ceiling.”  This was paired with drapes “of fiberglass boucle with a gold overlay.”  In an interview the general manager said they were going for “’cosmopolitan’ but local, too.”[10]

Not just a store, Lipman’s was a gathering place.  A 100 seat auditorium could be reserved by local clubs for meetings and other gatherings, free of charge.[11]  A 10-foot tall antenna on top of the store brought in both Portland and Eugene Stations to the Hi-Fi Department, where the management invited the public to “come in, sit down, be comfortable and watch TV while waiting for shopping friends.”[12]

Despite the “Lipman Wolfe management [repeatedly stressing] that the Salem store [was] not to be merely a pale carbon of the Portland store,” there were many similarities  One fortuitous one was the transfer of the Cinnamon Bear who appeared that first holiday, advertisements assured, wanting to “shake hands with each one of you [and] to give you some of his delicious Cinnamon Bear cookies.”[13]

Being a Cinnamon Bear was not a very glamorous job.  One Salem bear, Cecil Roth, recalled the furry costume as heavy and hot, and needing to take off the detachable head a couple of times an hour to get some fresh air.  Not everybody recognized him for what he was either.  He was often mistaken for other famous bears like Smokey and Yogi.[14]

The Cinnamon Bear continued to appear in downtown Salem, even after Lipman’s became a Frederick and Nelson in 1979.[15]  His regular holiday appearances ended with the abrupt closure of Frederick and Nelson in 1986.[16]

If you are in the need for a little nostalgia and don’t have the patience to wait for the broadcast, the original 1937 Cinnamon Bear recording can be found with a quick search on YouTube.

This article was researched and written by Kylie Pine.  It appeared in the Statesman Journal newspaper in December 2020.  It is posted here with citations for reference purposes.

Citations

[1] We didn’t check every year, but the program does appear on the Salem-based KSLM station on 22 Nov 1939  (see Radio Program. Capital Journal. 22 Nov 1939 pg 7.  Another advertisement for 1939 shows that the Salem broadcast was sponsored by Miller’s Department Store.  Capital Journal 23 Nov 1939 pg 5.

[2] https://www.pps.net/Page/5380

[3] See more information at https://www.portlandspirit.com/portlandspirit.php.

[4] “Cinnamon Bear forages for fun.”  Statesman Journal 19 December 2003 pg 21.

[5] “Lipman’s Founded during ‘50s Gold Rush.” Oregon Statesman 08 Sept 1954 pg 26.

[6] “Salem Contractors Help Build $3,000,000 plant.”  Oregon Statesman 08 Sept 1954 pg 27.  George White Cheokee (maybe misprint?) marble and polished Bonacard granite.

[7] Local Girls to Model Lipman’s Latest Styles.” Oregon Statesman. 08 Sept 1954 pg 28

[8] Tea for Two.  Oregon Statesman 08 Setp 1954 pg 27

[9] Chocolate Bar for Busy Buyers. Oregon Statesman 08 Sept 1954 pg 24

[10] “General Manager is Man with Energy, Yen for Pen, Cameras.” Oregon Statesman  08 Sept 1954 pg 24.

[11] “Clubs May use auditorium.”  Oregon Statesman 08 Sept 1954, pg 28.

[12] “Engineer has charge of TV Hi-Fi Section.”  Oregon Statesman 08 Sept 1954 pg 27.

[13] Advertisement.  Capital Journal. 25 Nov 1954 pg 11.

[14] McKay, Floyd.  “Cinnamon Bear Man Finds Job Plenty Hot.” Oregon Statesman 22 Dec 1963 Section 1pg 5.

[15] “City Gets Good News”  Statesman Journal 25 Mar 1987 pg 9.

[16] “City Gets Good News.”  Statesman Journal . 25 Mar 1987 pg 9.