Teddy bear

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For other uses, see Teddy bear (disambiguation).

Bear formerly owned by Kermit Roosevelt, thought to be made by Michtom, early 1900s; Smithsonian Museum
of Natural History, 2012

A replica Steiff model 55PBdisplayed at the Steiff-Museum, Giengen, Germany, 2006; no original examples of
the 55PB are known to survive

A teddy bear is a soft toy in the form of a bear. Developed apparently simultaneously by
toymakers Morris Michtomin the U.S. and Richard Steiff in Germany in the early years of the 20th
century, and named after President Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt, the teddy bear became an iconic
children's toy, celebrated in story, song, and film.[1] Since the creation of the first teddy bears which
sought to imitate the form of real bear cubs, "teddies" have greatly varied in form, style, color, and
material. They have become collector's items, with older and rarer "teddies" appearing at public
auctions.[2] Teddy bears are among the most popular gifts for children and are often given to adults to
signify love, congratulations, or sympathy.
 Contents

 1History
 2Production
o 2.1Commercial
o 2.2Amateur
o 2.3Antiques
 3Cultural impact
o 3.1"The Teddy Bears' Picnic"
o 3.2Teddy bear museums
o 3.3Teddy Bear Cops program
o 3.4Brunus edwardii April fool
o 3.5In popular culture
 4References
 5External links

History[edit]

A 1902 political cartoon in The Washington Post spawned the teddy bear name.

The name teddy bear comes from former United States President Theodore Roosevelt, who was
commonly known as "Teddy" (though he loathed being referred to as such).[3] The name originated
from an incident on a bear hunting trip in Mississippi in November 1902, to which Roosevelt was
invited by Mississippi Governor Andrew H. Longino. There were several other hunters competing,
and most of them had already killed an animal. A suite of Roosevelt's attendants, led by Holt
Collier,[4] cornered, clubbed, and tied an American black bear to a willow tree after a long exhausting
chase with hounds. They called Roosevelt to the site and suggested that he should shoot it. He
refused to shoot the bear himself, deeming this unsportsmanlike, but instructed that the bear be
killed to put it out of its misery,[5][6] and it became the topic of a political cartoon by Clifford
Berryman in The Washington Post on November 16, 1902.[7] While the initial cartoon of an
adult black bear lassoed by a handler and a disgusted Roosevelt had symbolic overtones, later
issues of that and other Berryman cartoons made the bear smaller and cuter.[8][9]
Morris Michtom saw the drawing of Roosevelt and was inspired to create a teddy bear. He created a
tiny soft bear cub and put it in the shop window with a sign "Teddy's bear", after sending a bear to
Roosevelt and receiving permission to use his name. The toys were an immediate success and
Michtom founded the Ideal Novelty and Toy Co.[6]
At the same time in Germany, the Steiff firm, unaware of Michtom's bear, produced a stuffed bear
from Richard Steiff's designs. Steiff exhibited the toy at the Leipzig Toy Fair in March 1903, where it
was seen by Hermann Berg, a buyer for George Borgfeldt & Company in New York (and the brother
of composer Alban Berg).[10] He ordered 3,000 to be sent to the United States.[11] Although Steiff's
records show that the bears were produced, they are not recorded as arriving in the U.S., and no
example of the type, "55 PB", has ever been seen, leading to the story that the bears
were shipwrecked. However, the story is disputed – author Günther Pfeiffer notes that it was only
recorded in 1953 and says it is more likely that the 55 PB was not sufficiently durable to survive until
the present day.[12] Although Steiff and Michtom were both making teddy bears at around the same
time, neither would have known of the other's creation due to poor transatlantic communication.[7]
North American educator Seymour Eaton wrote the children's book series The Roosevelt
Bears,[13] while composer John Walter Bratton wrote an instrumental "The Teddy Bears' Picnic", a
"characteristic two-step", in 1907, which later had words written to it by lyricist Jimmy Kennedy in
1932.
Early teddy bears were made to look like real bears, with extended snouts and beady eyes. Modern
teddy bears tend to have larger eyes and foreheads and smaller noses, babylikefeatures that
enhance the toy's cuteness. Teddy bears are also manufactured to represent different species of
bear, such as polar bears and brown bears, as well as pandas.
While early teddy bears were covered in tawny mohair fur, modern teddy bears are manufactured in
a wide variety of commercially available fabrics, most commonly synthetic fur, but
also velour, denim, cotton, satin, and canvas.

Production[edit]
Commercial[edit]
Commercially made, mass-produced teddy bears are predominantly made as toys for children.
These bears either have safety joints for attaching arms, legs, and heads, or else the joints are sewn
and not articulated. They must have securely fastened eyes that do not pose a choking hazard for
small children. These "plush" bears must meet a rigid standard of construction in order to be
marketed to children in the United States and in the European Union.
There are also companies, like Steiff, that sell handmade collectible bears that can be purchased in
stores or over the Internet. The majority of teddy bears are manufactured in countries such as China
and Indonesia. A few small, single-person producers in the United States make unique, non-mass-
produced teddy bears. In the United Kingdom one small, traditional teddy bear company
remains, Merrythought, which was established in 1930.[14] Mohair, the fur shorn or combed from a
breed of long haired goats, is woven into cloth, dyed and trimmed. Alpaca teddy bears are made
from the pelt of an alpaca because the fiber is too soft to weave. In addition to mohair and alpaca,
there is a huge selection of "plush" or synthetic fur made for the teddy bear market. Both these types
of fur are commercially produced.

 Making of a teddy bear



1: Cutting
 

2: Sewing and turning

3: Filling

4: Assembling
Amateur[edit]
Teddy bears are a favourite form of soft toy for amateur toy makers, with many patterns
commercially produced or available online. Many "teddies" are home-made as gifts or for charity,
while "teddy bear artists" often create "teddies" for retail, decorating them individually with
commercial and recycled ornaments such as sequins, beads and ribbons. Sewn teddy bears are
made from a wide range of materials including felt, cotton and velour. While many are stitched,
others are made from yarn, either knitted or crocheted.
Antiques[edit]
Michtom's jointed mohair "Teddy's bear" was very popular when first designed and remains so with
collectors today. Fake bears look suspiciously new and unhandled: their noses are unworn, and their
seams may be thick and uneven. All Ideal bears have jointed hips, necks, and shoulders. Early
examples have a characteristic "American football" shape and are mostly made of short gold or
beige mohair plush with matching felt paws, and distinctive, sharply pointed foot pads. They have
shoe-button or glass eyes, and the fur around the muzzle may be shorn. Later bears were made in a
large variety of colours and types—for example, pandas—and had longer fur.
Other collectible bears include ones by the Knickerbocker Toy Co. (active 1924–1925) in New York,
which are clearly marked with a label in the front seam. Similar to many early American bears,
Knickerbocker bears usually have long bodies, small feet, and short, straight arms and legs. Their
later bears can be recognized by their large inverted ears and big noses. Other collectible bears
include Gund Manufacturing Co. (est. 1898), now in New York, and "Hershey's bears", which were
designed to promote The Hershey Company's chocolate bars.[15]

Cultural impact[edit]

An RAF Boulton Paul Defiant crew pose with their teddy bear mascot at RAF Biggin Hill during World War II

Retail sales of stuffed plush animals including teddy bears totaled $1.3 billion in 2006.[16] The most
commonly sold brands include Gund and Ty Inc. Brands associated with teddy bears that enjoyed
strong popularity in the 1980s and 1990s are Teddy Ruxpin and Care Bears. Various TV shows and
movies have a teddy bear depicted, such as Super Ted and Mr. Bean.
Teddy bears have seen a resurgence in popularity as international "do-it-yourself" chains have
opened. Among the largest and best-known are Build-A-Bear Workshop and Vermont Teddy Bear
Company.
Some popular mass-marketed teddy bears made today include Rupert, Sooty, Paddington,
and Pudsey Bear. Books have also been written with the teddy bear featured as their main
character. These include Winnie-the-Pooh, Corduroy, Teddy Tells Time, Tristan the Teddy Bear
(from the Teddy Bear Tales) and Teddy Dressing.
"The Teddy Bears' Picnic"[edit]
The popularity of the toy inspired John Walter Bratton to compose the melody "The Teddy Bears'
Picnic" (1907). The lyrics were added in 1932 by Jimmy Kennedy.
Teddy bear museums[edit]
The world's first teddy bear museum was set up in Petersfield, Hampshire, England, in 1984. In
1990, a similar foundation was set up in Naples, Florida, United States. These were closed in 2006
and 2005 respectively, and the bears were sold in auctions, but there are many teddy bear
museums around the world today.
Teddy Bear Cops program[edit]
Because police, fire and emergency officials found that giving a teddy bear to a child during a crisis
stabilized and calmed them, NAPLC created the Teddy Bear Cops program to distribute teddy bears
to police, fire, and emergency officials throughout the United States, for their use in providing teddy
bears to children in emergencies.[17]
Brunus edwardii April fool[edit]
On April Fools' Day 1972, issue 90 of The Veterinary Record published a paper on the diseases
of Brunus edwardii detailing common afflictions of teddy bears.[18][19]
In popular culture[edit]

 Winnie-the-Pooh is the name of a fictional character created by A. A. Milne, based on a teddy

bear owned by his son Christopher Robin, who was the basis of the eponymous character in A.
A. Milne's work. Milne wrote many stories featuring Pooh Bear, some of which were adapted by
the Walt Disney Company into theatrical shorts or compiled into movies such as 1977's The
Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and the 2011 film Winnie the Pooh.
 Ted (2012), and its sequel, Ted 2 (2015), are comedy movies, raunchy spoofs of stories where
children's teddy bears come to life.
 Misery Bear a series of short films published on the BBC website.

References[edit]
1. ^ David Cannadine, A point of view - The Grownups with teddy bears, 1 February 2013, (accessed
2013-02-01)
2. ^ "A STEIFF HARLEQUIN TEDDY BEAR, jointed, half red and half blue mohair, one blue and black
and one brown and black glass eye, black stitching, yellow felt pads and FF button, circa 1925 --
13½in. (34cm.) high (small bald spot below right ear, some fading mainly to the blue, blue eye
cracked, patch to right pad and some general wear) Christie's". Retrieved 2010-10-12. Estimate
£50,000–£80,000
3. ^ Matuz, Roger (2004). The Handy Presidents Answer Book. Canton, MI: Visible Ink Press.
4. ^ "Holt Collier" (PDF). Retrieved 2013-09-26.
5. ^ "History of the Teddy Bear". Retrieved March 7, 2006.
6. ^ Jump up to:a b "Teddy Bears". Library Of Congress. Retrieved 2007-12-10.
7. ^ Jump up to:a b Clay, Marianne (2002). "The History of the Teddy Bear". Teddy Bear & Friends.
Madavor Media, LLC. Archived from the original on 2011-07-23. Retrieved 2007-12-10.
8. ^ "Theodore Roosevelt Association. The story of The Teddy Bear". Theodoreroosevelt.org. 2013-02-
01. Archived from the original on 2013-03-17. Retrieved 2013-09-26.
9. ^ "Real Teddy Bear Story - Theodore Roosevelt Association". www.theodoreroosevelt.org.
Retrieved 2018-04-11.
10. ^ "Bring on the Berg". Alex Ross: The Rest Is Noise.
11. ^ Teddy bear celebrates 100th birthday BBC, 2002-12-03
12. ^ The great teddy bear shipwreck mystery, BBC News, Francis Cronin, 26 July 2011
13. ^ "Seymour Eaton". Greater Lansdowne Civic Association (GLCA). 2003. Retrieved 2007-12-10.
14. ^ BBC News Britain's last surviving teddy bear factory
15. ^ Beazley, Mitchell. "Teddy Bears". Miller's Antiques Encyclopedia. Credo Reference. Retrieved 2013-
02-25.[permanent dead link]
16. ^ "Build-A-Bear Workshop Inc" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-05-22.
Retrieved 2013-09-26.
17. ^ "Officers using the Teddy Bear Cops program". Teddybearcop.com. Retrieved 2013-09-26.
18. ^ "Brunus edwardii (1972)". Retrieved 27 March 2010.
19. ^ Blackmore, DK; DG Owen; CM Young (1972). "Some observations on the diseases of Brunus
edwardii (Species nova)". Veterinary Record. 90 (14): 382–385. doi:10.1136/vr.90.14.382. Archived
from the original on 22 November 2008. Retrieved 27 March 2010.