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Greetings family and friends! I crossed paths with today's memorable character, Dr. Bearwell thirty years ago here in Fremont. Here's more to the story...........Bill
Memorable Character
CLAY PIMENTEL - AKA, DR. BEARWELL
The hottest toy in the country in the mid 1980’s was developed and produced by two former employees of Atari, the pioneer video game company founded Nolan Bushnell and remembered primarily for creating “Pong”. Don Kingsborough and Mark Goldberg split from Atari and founded Worlds of Wonder and established headquarters on Technology Drive in Fremont’s Warm Springs District. The pair created an animatronic toy bear that told stories with synchronized mouth and eye movement from from a selection of cassette tapes. Teddy Ruxpin, even at the steep price of $80, became the industries first megahit toy and ultimately selling millions of units. Teddy was joined in conversation and song with his buddies Grubby, Mickey Mouse and Goofy, Mother Goose and Hector the Ugly Duckling.
Seeking to Capitalize on the success of Teddy Ruxpin, Worlds of Wonder expanded their electronic toy line to include Rockin Boppers, Hide “N” Seek, Hop, Skip and Jump, Skip Stik, Splatter Up, and The Jaminator. Unfortunately the new WOW toys didn’t catch on and combined with a police shooting of a young man brandishing a Worlds of Wonder Laser Tag gun, the companies sales and value plummeted. By 1990 the Fremont toy company that for a short time was the toy industries epicenter of innovation.... was gone.
Recognizing an opportunity, General Motors retiree and former Worlds of Wonder Customer Service employee Clay Pimentel purchased the bankrupt company’s assets and existing inventory of products and opened a retail store “Toy Faire” located in the Gateway Plaza Shopping Center on Paseo Padre Parkway in Fremont. Dubbed Dr. Bearwell, Pimentel established “The Worlds only Teddy Ruxpin Hospital” with a small part time staff to repair complex malfunctioning toys that were mailed from all over the country from worried children and upset parents. I crossed paths with Dr. Bearwell when purchasing an animatronic Mickey Mouse, a couple Disney cassette stories and several bottled “worms” from his shrinking and unreplaceable inventory of World of Wonder products.
Later versions of the Teddy Ruxpin character were brought out by Playskool while Laser Tag was taken over by Hasbro. Atari founder Nolan Bushnell, who started it all, continued to operate his Chucky E franchise business...but that’s a chees’y story for another time. -Bill 8/23
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