Larry's Barney Story

Once upon a time I took my kids to see Barney the big purple dinosaur. He was at Northeast Mall during the early days of the Barney Craze. There was a sea of people at the mall, scarcely room to breathe. Somehow the gentle Dinosaur was muscled through the crowd and onto a stage in the center where he spoke briefly and then sang the Barney song with the crowd:

“I love you, you love me, we’re best friends as friends should be,
With a great big hug and a kiss from me to you
Won’t you say you love me too”

Upon finishing the song, Barney was muscled back through the crowd and into the safety of the bowels of the mall where there was probably a limo to escort him to a helicopter that would fly him to a Leer Jet… because back then Barney was bigger than US Steel.

The whole episode had lasted less than 2 minutes and the crowd waited in expectation for more…maybe Baby Bop would come out next, or even better, a Barney Encore. Then over the loudspeaker came the words immortal, words that had been many years waiting for a worthy subject to rise to stardom:

“BARNEY HAS LEFT THE BUILDING! PLEASE GO HOME!”

We were shattered, and a thick air of disappointment, sadness and even resentment hung in the air. And thats my Barney Story that I actually stole from Larry Allen. But I stole it fair and square!