Care Bears
The Care Bears are a set of characters created by American Greetings in 1981 for use on greeting cards. The original artwork for the cards was painted by artist Elena Kucharik. In 1983, Kenner turned the Care Bears into plush teddy bears.
Each Care Bear comes in a different color and has a specialized insignia on its belly that represents its duty and personality. This insignia is known as their "tummy symbol". The latest movie, Oopsy Does It!(2007), however, controversially is going to rename them "belly badges". A spin-off of the family, the "Care Bear Cousins," features a lion, a monkey, a penguin, a rabbit, and other such animals in the same style as the teddy bears.
Fun Facts
Code name: Care Bears
The Care Bears characters were created in 1981 at American Greetings, but weren't sold as toys and other products until 1983. To keep the character program secret until it was ready to be advertised, it was called Project II by American Greetings and the company's partners. They were called this because Care Bears was the second group of characters American Greetings and these partners created—the first being the well-known and hugely successful Strawberry Shortcake characters.
Care Bears Name Game
It's never easy to get a group of people to agree on what something should be called. Before the final name is selected, most products or characters have numerous names called working names. What was the working name for Care Bears? Well, actually, it was…drum roll please… Care Bears! Everybody seemed to love this name right from the start!
A Colorful Care Bears Switcheroo
If you really, really know your Care Bears, you might be able to answer this question: what two Care Bears characters actually swapped their colors? When the first Care Bears teddy bears were being made, someone made a goof and Bedtime Bear, who is blue, got his color switched with Wish Bear, who is aqua. The mistake was discovered and the bears were switched back to their appropriate hues. No one thought anyone would notice, but the kids did. A special Care Bears story was written to explain how, on an important caring mission, Wish Bear needed to change to Bedtime Bear's blue to get into the land of dreams. If you know someone with an aqua Bedtime Bear or a Blue Wish Bear, you should let them know they have a very magical bear indeed!
Care Bears and the Stars
The Care Bears Movie, the characters' first feature length animated film, was a box office hit in 1985. The voices behind the bears and the human characters in the film included the famous actor, Mickey Rooney, who played the part of Nicholas, the story's narrator and a key character. The actress behind one Care Bear's voice in the film was Georgia Engels, who played Georgette on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. The movie's theme song, Care-a-lot was penned and performed by singer/songwriter Carole King. One of the favorite songs from the flick was Nobody Cares Like a Bear, written and sung by John Sebastian, formerly of the 60s pop group The Loving Spoonful, which produced such hits as Summer in the City and Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind. Sebastian also wrote and performed the theme song for the 70s sitcom, Welcome Back Kotter.
It Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got That Heart
Each Care Bear has a special mark of authenticity on it. Do you know what it is? It's a heart button labeled "Care Bears" that only appears on the bear's right hip. So that's the simple test—a true-blue Care Bear has its heart in the right place. But if yours has a heartless right hip, then you've got a bogus bear on your hands.
Care-a-lot/Camelot?
One point of inspiration in the Care Bears story was the legend of King Arthur. The name Care-a-lot was a play on Camelot, King Arthur's wonderful castle. The Bears all met in Care-a-lot castle around—not a round table as in the Arthur legends—but a heart-shaped table. Like the Knights of the Round Table, the Care Bears set off from their castle into the world on missions of caring representing the powers of good. Even Love-a-lot Bear owes a lot about her name to the old tales. Her name is based on Sir Lancelot's—one of the Knights of the Round Table.
Name: Bedtime Bear
Gender: Male
Tummy Symbol: 
Info: Bedtime Bear likes to stay up all night. He's the special bear who helps people get a good night's sleep and makes sure they have sweet dreams. There's no better bear for a goodnight hug.
Name: Birthday Bear
Gender: Male
Tummy Symbol:
Info: Have a birthday coming up? Well Birthday Bear is just the care bear to get the party started. Birthday Bear is quite the party bear!
Name: Cheer Bear
Gender: Female
Tummy Symbol:
Info: Cheer Bear is a very happy Care Bear who likes to help others see the bright side of life. She will sometimes even do a cheer to help make someone happier.
Name: Friend Bear
Gender: Female
Tummy Symbol:
Info: Need a good friend? Friend Bear would love to be your best buddy bear. She's the perfect example of a friend, too. She's caring, likes to play with you and she's fun to be with.
Name: Funshine Bear
Gender: Male
Tummy Symbol:
Info: Funshine Bear is the Care Bear's class clown. This playful bear really knows how to be funny and to have fun. Funshine Bear works hard to make sure that people have a good time.
Name: Good Luck Bear
Gender: Male
Tummy Symbol:
Info: Good Luck Bear is loaded with luck and he loves to share it with anyone who can use a little more good fortune. You'll almost always find this bear with a big smile on his face.
Name: Grumpy Bear
Gender: Male
Tummy Symbol:
Info: Grumpy Bear frowns a lot—that's his way to show us how silly we look when we frown too much. He also shows that it's okay to be grumpy sometimes.
Name: Love-a-Lot Bear
Gender: Female
Tummy Symbol:
Info: Love-a-lot Bear believes in the power of love, but is not afraid to help it along. She's a pretty and perky bear who loves everything about love and tries to make it grow wherever she goes.
Name: Tenderheart Bear
Gender: Male
Tummy Symbol:
Info: Tenderheart is a loving and lovable bear who knows lots about helping others share their feelings. By helping people show they care, Tenderheart Bear helps spread love and make it grow.
Name: Wish Bear
Gender: Female
Tummy Symbol:
Info: Wish Bear loves making wishes and believes that everybody should make a wish even though it might not come true. Sometimes though Wish Bear can magically make a wish come true, but not always. It's still fun to make a wish even though it might not come true.
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