Ken Forsse,
the creator of Teddy Ruxpin, Husband, Father, former Disney
Imagineer and Animator, Dreamer, and Friend -
passed away peacefully on March 19, 2014 at his home in
Southern California at age 77. He had been in ill health for a
short time following a diagnosis of Congestive Heart Failure.
I was lucky enough to know Ken for the final 15 years of his life,
and we developed a unique and remarkable friendship. I have
posted my remembrance of Ken below. This website is dedicated to his
memory and his ideas and ideals, which will live on.
Grainy
VHS
footage exists of the moment my friendship with Ken Forsse began – over
a
decade before he’d know my name or I could pronounce his. I usually give it a spin
every Christmas.
It’s good for a chuckle at the expense of the 1986 adults of the family
(the
hair and the clothes) but otherwise I don’t really need it to time
travel the
way I do with other home movies. My
first encounter with Teddy Ruxpin is an indelible memory.
Like most other almost three year olds during Reagan’s second term, I
had Teddy
at the #1 spot on my Christmas list.
The
commercials advertised the technological advances this toy featured,
and that
would’ve been marketing enough – but there was something appealing about
Teddy’s aura, an innocence and wonder, visible even in thirty second
advertisements, that made him the thing I couldn’t live without.
Santa Clause – donning the same glasses and NAVY tattoo as my Grandpa –
delivered. In the
middle of a pile of
gifts waiting to be unwrapped, Teddy’s eyes glowed magically with
Christmas
light reflection as he asked if we could be friends.
The man or woman who came up with Teddy’s
slogan – A Friend for Life Comes To Life
– described that moment aptly.
Over the next several years, as promised at the beginning of The Airship story – Teddy and I had lots
of good times together. In
what was at
times a difficult childhood, Teddy allowed me to escape to a world of
happiness
and adventure. The characters Ken created were altruistic and loyal friends, had
passion and
held convictions, cared for one another, and genuinely fell in love.
There were bad guys, too - but you could see them for what they were,
and good always prevailed. Ken gave Teddy a world to live in like
one he wished he could live in himself. Other than my family and
spiritual beliefs,
there is no greater influence on my life, how I view the world, and how
I wish
it could be – than his creations.
From a young age I wanted to be a part of something as meaningful to
others as
Teddy was to me, and Ken became my hero. I knew very little about him
and as
the years rolled by into the age of the Internet, I began trying to
find out
more information about Ken and Teddy’s history.
In the summer of 1998, I taught myself enough coding
skills to make a
passable website and what is now called Teddy
Ruxpin Online was created in hopes of finding out more
information and
meeting fellow fans.
Teddy’s theme song talks about good dreams coming true, and mine
certainly
did. About a year
into the production of
the website, I was contacted by Mr. & Mrs. Forsse and began a correspondence
that lasted three
years. When we were
able to meet in
person in 2002, I found that my friendship with Ken had really begun
when I was
befriended by Teddy. Teddy’s
virtues
were described by the six crystals that were the centerpiece of his
story. Imagination,
Trust, Bravery, Honesty,
Friendship and Freedom. These
were all
qualities Ken manifested, some even more so than his fictional
creations. The
transition from acquaintanceship to
friendship was seamless because the first time we sat down together and
talked,
Ken seemed like an old friend. In
a
situation rivaled only by a couple others I can think of – Steve
Whitmire
writing a fan letter to Jim Henson and then becoming the voice of
Kermit the
Frog, for instance – I found the person I believed in for all these
years also
believed in me. Ken
encouraged me with a
doubtless spirit and esteem much higher than I held for myself. I’ve yet to accomplish
anything worth the
faith Ken had in me, but I know if I’m ever able to I will owe much of
it to
him. His life, the
way he lived it and
it’s accomplishments made my own infinitely better.
I tried for years to aptly tell Ken this – and one of the moments I’ll
always
cherish most from our friendship was the time I was finally able to. In 2011 while sitting
across from him at a
BBQ restaurant,
I told him how much Teddy meant to me, how
much his friendship meant to me, and how I wouldn’t be the same person
without
him. He humbly
responded that it
validated his life’s work to know that was true.
Teddy
became a sensation because Ken was an
innovator. He
became a friend for life
because of Ken’s creativity, heart, leadership and eye for choosing
other
talented people of the same spirit to help him dream his dream. Ken will forever
be my friend and hero
because he honestly lived the golden rule, and held to the values of
Freedom,
Imagination, Trust, Bravery, Honesty and Friendship not only in fiction
but
also in reality. He
lived his passions,
dreamed, created, loved and allowed himself to be loved in return – and
found a
partner of tantamount treasure in his wife and partner Jan. I can only dream my life
will be half as well
lived.
Josh Isaacson
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Just some of Ken's career accomplishments:
* Creator of Teddy Ruxpin & President of AlchemyII, Inc.
* Disney Animator (Sleeping Beauty)
* Disney Imagineer (credits too numerous to mention)
* Longtime Associate with Sid & Marty Krofft
Entertainment
* Songwriter
* Television Writer & Producer
* Inventor, holder of numerous patents.
There was nothing Ken couldn't create given the time and inspiration.
He was constantly thinking of new creations to make the world
a better place. He is now doing the same in other worlds, no doubt.
Ken made a cameo in
The Adventures of
Teddy Ruxpin
A lot of people saw much of Ken within
Newton Gimmick, but Ken claimed he saw "uh, eh.. absolutely
no resemblance." :)
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