Babar's Fair

Loosely based on the book of the same name by Laurent De Brunhoff. Starring: 1) Cousin Brian Smith as Babar, the Elephant King, 2) Emma Raney as Kitty Emma, 3) Cousin Kristina Smith as Kristina the Lioness.

One day Babar has his trusted friends Emma and Kristina over for their weekly sketch. Babar says, "My dear friends, we shall soon be celebrating the anniversary of the founding of Celesteville, the animal's city. This year let's invite all the animals to take part in a big fair. We'll have booths from each region of the city, displaying beautiful and wonderful things. What do you think of the idea?"

"That's a terrific idea," roars Kristina. "We can decide right away how to organize our fair."

"I'm in," says Emma. "Where do I sign?"

A few days later a special edition of the Celesteville Daily News announces all the plans and preparations. The animals on their way to work and those who are doing their marketing talk of nothing else but the big fair. Children become so exited that they almost forget to go to school.

Airplanes fly around everywhere announcing the fair in skywriting. White smoke trails in large letters: "The Celesteville Fair! Big Exposition! King Babar invites you. Ask for details! Come One! Come All!"

The giraffe stretches her long neck to read the sky writing. The dog puts together a ruff flight plan to get to the fair. The little tiger licks his chops. The cow gets mooving on her preparations. The elephant packs his trunk. The moose sends his best pair of antlers to the dry cleaners. The pig is tickled pink.

Animals begin registering. King Babar studies a map of Celesteville with them, and they decide where each booth will be placed. Construction begins at once. Babar, Emma, and Kristina spend long hours helping to construct each booth. They punch through any holes that arise in the construction plans/schedules. 0 excuses and 0 slippages are allowed.

The big day arrives at last. An enormous throng parades down the streets of Celesteville. Among them are the animals who built the fair. Babar leads the parade on a shiny red bicycle. He is satisfied, but a little worried: Will the fair be a success?

Some animals come out on their doorsteps and others lean out of their open windows. They shout at the top of their lungs: "Long Live King Babar! Bravo Kristina! Hurrah for Emma! Success to the Celesteville Fair!"

Having arrived at the main gate, Babar steps off his bike. Turning to the crowd, he says: "My dear guests, my dear friends, it is with great emotion that I now open this exposition. This is the first time in our history that we are holding such a festival. We have never before had so many people in Celesteville. May we all get to know and like each other. My friends, I wish you all a wonderful time!" A thunder of applause follows his speech.

King Babar begins his official visit at the Farmer's Market Flower Booth. The booth is filled with wondrous flora: iris, lily, sunflower, purple, red, green, and white. The booth meister explains: "only the finest flowers are permitted in the booth. I scoured wild flower parks for these beauties. It really tired me out, but now you can haul a lot of these away at a special price.

Babar next visits the Fruit Booth. Emma gets carried away by all the delicious selections. The booth is constantly blanketed by an enthusiastic throng.

Next, Babar visits the Starbucks Booth. Babar orders the homeless people to move their shopping carts out of the way so that press photos can be taken. Unfortunately, Babar has a sneezing fit during the photo session, and his nose gets temporarily stuck to his forehead. Kristina samples the hot chocolate and remarks how rich and flavorful it is: "We can't get a $2.25 cocoa in the Sierra foothills."

Next, Babar, Kristina, and Emma swing into action at the Eleanor Park Booth. Babar tells the booth master, "You have a fabulous booth here, the sand is clean and the hardware has been well maintained." With the help of Uncle Steve, Babar executes one of his patented loop-de-loops on the swing - but this time it doesn't require stitches.

Emma listens with rapt attention to a dromedary and a camel in deep conversation in front of the swing. They are talking of their travels. Emma wonders whether it is more comfortable to sit between the two humps of the camel or to perch on the single hump of the dromedary. Then Emma contemplates the 5,000,000 dump trucks it will take to add a new runway at SFO. That's alot of shoveling.

The Eleanor Park Booth has a "free fall" zone. Everyone can experience zero gravity. All you have to do is get in line and then zoom down the massive 10 story tall orange corkscrew slide.

That rascal Babar has cut in line. He zooms down the slide, sticking his tongue out at the animals at the top of the slide.

The hippos especially enjoy the zero gravity effect. Oh, what a good time they are having on the slide! But, horrors! Just as a large hippo, Hippolew, slides down, Babar gets back onto the bottom of the slide. Hippolew completely squishes Babar. Poor little elephant! Has he been stunned? The rodents at the slide's bottom are frightened and run away in all directions. Luckily, Babar escapes with only a few scratches, though he is somewhat dazed.

Kristina helps to revive Babar and then suggests, "Let's all go to Noah's to calm our nerves." After some drinks and hula-bagels and sausages and eggs, everyone is feeling relaxed. They reflect on all the friends they've made while attending the fair. "All in all, I'd say it's been a fairly fair fair, and, as to these bagels, the fare for this fare is fair," says Babar.