THE CRAZY QUILT DRAGON - Cinnamon Bear

I want to share with you one of my fondest memories. Something from the late '40s and early '50s. As the leaves turned color, the rains turned cold and almost a month after Halloween. As evening darkness crept closer to my walk home from school and with Thanksgiving not far away, I knew we would go into town the following day to see the "Fairytale Parade.". Then that afternoon I would listen to what my cousin and I called “Crazy Quilt Dragon.”  And every afternoon thereafter until Christmas Eve we would be by the radio at 4:15 listening as Judy and Jimmy chased the “Crazy Quilt Dragon” trying to recover the silver star for their Christmas tree.

In later years I discovered the real title of the program was and still is “The Cinnamon Bear.” Listening to it now it may sound a bit corny to your post-modern ear, but I should remind us all, that it is from a more innocent era. From a time when we didn’t lock our doors at night. A time when “please” and “thank you” came naturally to all. When leaving the evening table you would asked to be excused and thanked your mother for the meal before you stood up.

And a time when imagination was the best screen with no need for a test pattern. As one writer put it, " 'The Cinnamon Bear' is, arguably, the best holiday series ever developed for radio. Containing all of the elements of a classic children's fantasy, combined with radio's unique ability to create vivid mental images in the minds of its listeners, it continues to delight both young and old."

I offer it now to all my family and friends. The Cinnamon Bear. But better known to me as…
The Crazy Quilt Dragon.

Episode One: Surprised by the Cinnamon Bear
In their attic while looking for Christmas decorations, the Barton twins Judy and Jimmy meet the Cinnamon Bear. They learn that the Crazy Quilt dragon has stolen their tree-topper, a gleaming silver star. Paddy O'Cinnamon ("The Cinnamon Bear") invites them to go after Crazy Quilt. First broadcast Friday, November 26, 1937 

(Click to play)