I love bears. A lot. So I sure would have been lured into staying at this motel promoted by an ad featuring dancing bears — especially when the ad says, “You’ll feel like doing a dance too when you Visit Your Smokies!”
But, unfortunately, this vintage advertisement was for the Bearskin Motel. Which doesn’t bode well for bears. And if I dance too, am I also performing some sort of death dance?
That’s too frightening. Too much for recommendations from Triple A and even Duncan Hines to overcome.
I’m not certain this Bearskin Motel, of Gatlinburg, is affiliated with the Bearskin Lodge in Gatlinburg. Even though it looks likely to the same same family ownership, they probably shouldn’t be condemned for the promotional sins of their fathers. But I’m not sure I can move past it… If I find myself visiting The Smokies, I don’t think I’ll be staying there. Oh, the nightmares of the poor bears!
Vintage ad found in the May 1963 issue of This Week In The Land of the Smokies and The Southern Highlands. (Yup, it’s titled “this week” but for the month.)
