rex as "the Purple Dinosaur," charging $75 for half an hour. Calls have come from as far away as Lakeland.įay's shop rents out the faux T. Since then, Fako's fake Barney has been invited to half a dozen children's parties. She scoured area fabric stores to find the right shade of purple for the skin. She built the head by inflating an officially licensed Barney balloon and surrounding it with about eight pounds of papier-mache. So a couple of months ago, Fako made her own Barney costume. "There's a big need for kids to see him," Fako said. "If anybody can love a purple dinosaur," she explained, "then there is no racial barrier."įay and Fako know a lot of children would be thrilled to meet Barney, if only he could step out of the TV screen. She believes his show teaches racial tolerance, among other things. "He's a very good, nurturing person for children," Fay said. She likes Barney's show, and so does shop owner Gloria Fay. The difference is, she can't say his name.įako is a Palm Harbor resident who works in Fay's costume shop. Like an Elvis fan who dons a spangled jumpsuit, she has come up with a pretty good imitation of Barney. That's where Catherine Fako's fakery comes in. And when he does pop up somewhere, security tends to be extremely tight to keep the star from being mobbed. He's too busy filming shows for next season. Other characters at Universal, such as Bullwinkle and Fred Flintstone, will pose for free pictures with their fans, but Barney and Baby Bop kept their distance.īarney does very, very few personal appearances. They rode in two parades a day, waving at the hordes of adoring children.īarney's fans had to be content with just a glimpse of their hero. In April, Barney and his sidekick, a green dinosaur named Baby Bop, appeared at Universal Studios in Orlando. When people talk about him, they often compare him to Elvis Presley _ a reclusive star so enormously popular that, when there wasn't enough of him to satisfy his fans, a legion of imitators tried to conjure his magic themselves. There are Barney videos, Barney books, Barney dolls, Barney T-shirts, Barney piggy banks and a ton of other official Barney products for sale to Barneyphiles. This year, he made the cover of People magazine, along with Ross Perot and Bill Clinton, as one of the most interesting people in the world _ even though he is not a person at all, just an imaginary (and extinct) reptile. Her budget was used to salary the six member art department, construction on the fantasy sets, the props, and costumes.Although he has been on the air for just a year, Barney is already more popular than old PBS favorites like Big Bird. Jamie Ruth Conner was given a $300k budget to work with for the production of the first three videos in the Barney and the Backyard Gang series. Jamie Ruth Conner also designed and built the first Barney doll prop used in the 1988 production of Barney and the Backyard Gang. Jamie Ruth Conner also was responsible for designing Moonkin, which was then contracted to a California costume firm to build. The original Barney costume was built by Suzanne Lockridge. He directed Jamie Ruth Conner that Barney needed to look soft and plushy, and be a character that a child "Tina's age" would want to run up to and hug.Īfter Jamie Ruth Conner's design for Barney was finalized, she selected the purple, green, yellow color palette simply because that shade of purple was a trendy color in the late 1980s. When Jamie Ruth Conner was drawing storyboards for the videos, the director, and the producer, John Grable saw how she drew Barney and she pointed at her sketch saying, "That! That is what I want my Barney to look like!". She designed Barney's look after Irene Corey failed to deliver a plushy dinosaur costume for the production to use. Jamie Ruth Conner was hired to be the art director for Barney and the Backyard Gang in May of 1988, six weeks before they began filming the videos. Jamie Conner in 2022 with Andrew Olsen and a replica of the doll she made for the show. In the early 1980s, Jamie Ruth Conner was hired to be the production designer and puppet builder for Sunshine Factory, a Christian based television series filmed in Fort Worth, Texas. She closed her shop and retired from the television and production industry in 2001. Her shop worked with various high profile clients including Six Flags. Jamie Ruth Conner owned art and production studio Starcatcher Productions Inc. Jamie Ruth Conner began her career as a costume designer. For her thesis she directed The Coco and Ginger Show, a Caribbean Baptist Puppet Show that was broadcast in 17+ Latin countries. She graduated from Southwestern University where she earned a MFA in communications on 1974. Jamie Ruth Conner attended University of North Texas where she graduated cum lade in Design with a concentration in 3D design.
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