The bear started as a fascinating but not particularly friendly figure during the 19th century and today maintains a hold on our hearts as a cuddly companion lovingly called "Teddy Bear." People of the 19th century saw dancing bears come to town with the circus and depicted the bear on furniture, pottery, even countries' coats of arms. On our TV sets today, we see images of Winnie the Pooh, Paddington, the Coca Cola polar bear, CareBears, Teddy Ruskin, Smokey the Bear, even Snuggles in his fabric softener commercial. So in the 19th century, who was it that began to change the image of a perfoming bear chained to its pole and trainer into the icon of love, warmth, and eternal friendship we (children and adults alike) know today?
There are many contenders for the first teddy bear, but perhaps the most famous and most documented claim is that made by the Americans. As with any items of history, this story may have a few discrepancies but according to an event involving the twenty-sixth President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, we can thank him for giving us Teddy's Bear, as well as Clifford Berryman for drawing the now famous cartoon "Drawing the Line in Mississippi" in the Washington Post (November 16, 1902 issue). And we can also thank the individuals who actually made this plush stuffed toy bear cub and displayed it in their store window: a Russian immigrant and his wife, Morris and Rose Michtom, owners of a confectionary and stationery ship in Brooklyn, New York.
As the story goes, on November 14, 1902, President Roosevelt was on a hunting trip in Smedes County, Mississippi. He was there to negotiate terms about the boundary between Louisiana and Mississippi. The bear hunt had been arranged as a way for him to relax. President Roosevelt was a popular president and very aware of his image, which was why he liked to be seen as a rugged hunting sportsman.
On that particular day, the hunting party could not find a single target. Anxious to do so, some of the hunters captured a 235-pound black bear and tied it to a tree to give the President an easy shot. But when he arrived on the scene and found this captive animal, he refused to shoot it.
The event was relayed to the world by the Washington Post, which wrote, "President called after the beast has been lassoed, but he refused to make an unsportsmanlike shot." With the report was an illustration by political cartoonist Clifford K. Berryman, in which the bear appeared as an enchanting bear cub with round eyes and large ears. The name "Drawing the Line in Mississippi" tied the President's action with his political purpose for being in the state.
Inspired by the newspaper story and cartoon, Rose Michtom made a jointed soft fabric bear in the image of a small bear cub. Morris put the toy in the shop window calling it "Teddy's Bear" alongside a copy of the cartoon. It sold immediately and the Michtoms realized they had a hot seller on their hands. Sales of "Teddy's Bear" boomed throughout 1903 and Butler Brothers, one of the United States' largest toy wholesalers, agreed to guarantee the Michtoms' credit with the factory which made the plush fabric. By the end of 1903, the Michtoms had formed the Ideal Novelty and Toy Company (known as the Ideal Toy Company from 1938.) This company had factories not only in America but eventually also in Canada, Australia and even Japan. It remained a family business until 1982 and closed completely in 1984. On Morris Michtom's death his newspaper obituaries hailed him as "The Father of the Teddy Bear."
While it is true that both Germany and the United States claim to have invented the teddy bear, it seems to be a mere coincidence that the toy evolved almost simultaneously on both sides of the Atlantic in 1902-3. In 1903, Richard Steiff designed a plush bear for his aunt's toy factory, based on drawings of bears he had seen at the Stuttgart Zoo. Steiff's first bear - a Bar 55PB - attracted the attention of U.S. wholesaler George Borgfeldt when it was exhibited at the Leipzig Toy Fair, and he ordered 3,000. In 1905, Steiff registered the button-in-the-ear trademark, and in 1907 they called their bears "teddy," instead of the previously popular name for jointed plush bears which was "Bruins" (the traditional English name for a bear).
The Teddy Bear Craze
By 1906, the teddy bear craze was in full swing in the United States. The excitement probably compared to the frenzy for Cabbage Patch dolls in the 1980s and Beanie Babies in the 1990s. Society ladies carried their teddies everywhere, and children had their pictures taken with their teddy bears. President Roosevelt, after using a bear as a mascot in his re-election bid, was serving his second term. Seymour Eaton, an educator and a newspaper columnist, was writing a series of children's books about the adventures of The Roosevelt Bears, and another American, composer J.K. Bratton, wrote "The Teddy Bear Two Step." That song would become, with the addition of words, "The Teddy Bear's Picnic."
Meanwhile, American manufacturers were turning out bears in all colors and all kinds, from teddy bears on roller skates to teddy bears with electric eyes. "Teddy bear," without the apostrophe and the s, became the accepted term for this plush bruin, first appearing in print in the October 1906 issue of Playthings Magazine. Even Steiff, a German company, adopted the name for its bears.
Steiff and Ideal were no longer the only players in the teddy bear business. In America, dozens of competitors sprang up. Almost all of these very early companies didn't last, with the notable exception of the Gund Manufacturing Corporation. Gund made its first bears in 1906 and is still making bears today.
American teddy bear companies faced stiff competition from all the teddy bears imported from Germany, and many of the U.S. companies didn't last long. In Germany, toymaking was an old and established industry, and many German firms, such as Bing, Schuco, and Hermann, joined with Steiff in making fine teddy bears.
In England, The J.K. Farnell & Co. got its start; in fact, the original Winnie the Pooh was a Farnell bear Christopher Robin Milne received as a first birthday present from his mother in 1921. Five years later, his father, A.A. Milne, would begin to publish the Winnie-the-Pooh books about his son Christopher's adventures with his bear and his other stuffed animals. Today you can see the original toys that inspired the Winnie-the-Pooh books on permanent display in the Central Children's Room of the Donnell Branch of the New York Public Library in New York City, while the Pooh books themselves are as popular as ever.
More Great Years: The 1920s - 1940s
With the exception of the four years when World War I raged in Europe, the next 25 years were kind to the teddy bear. Mass production had not yet taken over the teddy bear world, and people still preferred to buy high quality, hand-finished teddy bears.
Because World War I interrupted the flow of teddy bears from Germany, new teddy bear industries developed outside Germany. Chad Valley, Chiltern, and Dean's joined Farnell in England; Pintel and Fadap were begun in France, and Joy Toys in Australia. The bears themselves changed, too. Boot-button eyes were replaced by glass, and excelsior stuffing was replaced by a softer alternative, kapok.
The United States was relatively untouched by the war, and its teddy bear industry continued to grow. For example, the Knickerbocker Toy Company got its start in 1920 and continues to make teddy bears today. Nine years later, though, the U.S. was hit by the Depression, and most teddy bear companies were hurt by the financial crisis. After 1929, many American companies either found cheaper ways to produce bears, or they closed.
In the 1920s and 30s, musical bears and mechanical bears were very popular, and they were produced all over the world. Perhaps the most noteworthy manufacturers of these novelty bears were Schuco and Bing. These two German companies made bears that walked, danced, played ball, and even turned somersaults.
But the outbreak of World War II in 1939 stopped the fun. Instead of making teddy bears, the world's workers and factories were needed for the war effort. Some companies closed and never reopened.
The Lean Years: The 1950s - 1970s
While traditional teddy bear companies had always prided themselves on quality hand-finishing and had always used natural fibers to make their bears, all that changed after World War II. Fueled by a desire for washable toys, synthetic fibers were all the rage in the post-War years. Buyers liked the idea of washable toys, so bears were made from nylon or acrylic plush, and had plastic eyes and foam rubber stuffing.
While traditional teddy bear companies could adapt to this change in materials, they were not prepared to compete against the flood of much cheaper, mass-produced teddy bears coming from eastern Asia. Even the old, well-established companies were hurt by the onslaught of inexpensive teddy bears from the Far East.
The Teddy Bear's Comeback: The 1970s ¨C Now
Strangely enough, the comeback of the teddy after years of mass-production was triggered, not by a bear maker, but by an actor. On television, British actor Peter Bull openly expressed his love for teddy bears and his belief in the teddy bear's importance in the emotional life of adults. After receiving 2000 letters in response to his public confession, Peter realized he wasn't alone. In 1969, inspired by this response, he wrote a book about his lifelong affection for teddy bears, Bear with Me, later called The Teddy Bear Book. His book struck an emotional chord in thousands who also believed in the importance of teddy bears. Without intending to, Bull created an ideal climate for the teddy bear's resurgence. The teddy bear began to regain its popularity, not so much as a children's toy, but as a collectible for adults.
In 1974, Beverly Port, an American dollmaker who also loved making teddy bears, dared to take a teddy bear she made to a doll show. At the show, she presented Theodore B. Bear holding the hand of one of her dolls. The next year, Beverly presented a slide show she had created about teddy bears for the United Federation of Doll Clubs. That show quickly became a sensation. Other people, first in the United States and then all over world, caught Beverly's affection for the teddy bear. They, too, began applying their talents to designing and making teddy bears. One by one, and by hand, teddy bear artistry was born with Beverly, who coined the term "teddy bear artist," often cited as the mother of teddy bear artistry. Today thousands of teddy bears artists, often working from their homes all over the world, create soft sculpture teddy bear art for eager collectors.
Artist bears also set the stage for a new kind of manufactured bear, the artist-designed manufactured bear. Today artist-designed manufactured bears are offered by Ganz, Gund, Dean's, Knickerbocker, Grisly Spielwaren, and others; all offer collectors the opportunity to own artist-designed bears that cost less due to mass production.
This increased appreciation for the teddy bear as an adult collectible has also increased the value of antique teddy bears, the hand-finished, high-quality teddy bears manufactured in the first decades of the 20th century. In the 1970s and 1980s, these old, manufactured teddy bears began showing up in antique doll and toy auctions, and they began winning higher and higher bids. Today the current record price for one teddy bear, Teddy Girl by Steiff, is $176,000; that bear was sold at Christie's auction house in 1994.
In 1999, in just the United States, collectors purchased $441 million worth of teddy bears. Certainly, as we begin our journey through a new century, we certainly need the teddy bear's gift of uncondtional acceptance, love, and reassurance more than ever.
2002 is the 100th anniversary of the teddy bear, to commemorate the special anniversary, the Art & Music Department of Main Library, 800 Vine Street, is featuring an historic exhibit through January 31 tracing how the teddy bear evolved, including many examples of teddy bears through the ages.
At the begining of new century, some other kinds of teddy bear are becoming popular in Asian countries, such us Momo Bear and Be@Brick Bear. They are the new members in the big teddy bear family and deeply loved by the young generation. People use them to decorate their mobile phones and bagsĄ
