Teddy is 100 Years Old!
Author: Barbara Nicholson BellPublished on: Apr 30, 2002
Most of us can remember our favorite teddy bear, that warm and unassuming companion of our childhood. Some of us still have that beloved bear, now scraggly-furred and missing an eye or patched by loving hands. Did you know that this is the year Teddy turns 100? Yes, there was a time B.T. (Before Teddy)! Late in 1902, the teddy bear was born in two different countries, Germany and the United States.
A political cartoon in the Washington Post by Clifford Berryman is credited with starting the teddy bear craze in the United States in November 1902. Called "Drawing the Line in Mississippi", it depicted President Teddy Roosevelt refusing to shoot a baby bear, belying his reputation as a big-game hunter and giving a political twist to a local border dispute between Mississippi and Louisiana that the President was trying to settle. Media attention was so great that Rose and Morris Michtom of Brooklyn, New York, decided to commemorate the event with a stuffed bear. Its sweet and innocent look was apparently the first time a stuffed bear was not made to look fierce and intimidating.
The public's response to the toy bear led to the creation of the Ideal Novelty and Toy Company, founded by the Michtoms and a wholesale firm, Butler Brothers, to answer the demand.
At the same time in Germany, Margarete Steiff and her nephew, Richard Steiff, were already established in the stuffed toy business. Sketching bear cubs at the Stuttgart Zoo, Richard developed a prototype of a toy bear in 1902.
Although the two bear designs were different, and the two companies were unaware of each other's designs, an American toy manufacturer realized the Steiff bear would sell well in the U.S. and brought it to the American market in 1903. Within three years, the teddy bear fever had reached a high pitch for both adults and children. Roosevelt used a bear as a mascot in his re-election campaign, and more manufacturers responded with bears of all kinds and colors. While many of the early manufacturers didn't survive long, the Gund Manufacturing Company, started in 1906, is still making distinctive bears today.
The next leap forward in Teddy Bear history is thanks to a little boy named Christopher Robin Milne. Winnie-the-Pooh was "born" in print when Christopher Robin was six, and the original Pooh and his friends are on display at the New York Public Library's Donnell Branch in New York City.
Most "manufactured" bears in the first 25 years were, nonetheless, handmade. Gradually, the bears became more child-friendly with glass eyes and softer stuffing. Although World War I briefly stunted the flow of bears from Germany, it wasn't until the Depression years that U.S. companies felt a real economic crisis. Many companies were forced to cease production or find cheaper ways to produce the bears. Mass production overcame the handmade bears' higher costs.
The outbreak of war in Europe in 1939 was the final blow for many of the remaining Teddy bear companies. Factories turned production over to the making of war materiél, and workers became soldiers.
After the war's end, the public began to demand washable bears as safer and more sanitary toys. Natural fibers were replaced by synthetics like nylon and acrylic, with plastic eyes and foam rubber stuffing. For a while, American and European manufacturers were able to adapt to this change. However, by the 1970s cheap and poorly made bears from Eastern Asia began to flood the markets.
Amazingly, the re-birth of demand for high quality, handmade bears was initiated in 1969 by a television program and a British actor, Peter Bull. On television, he expressed his devotion to the teddy bear and its importance to adults. The public's response was so warm and immediate, Bull wrote a book about his lifelong affection for teddy bears. The teddy bear emerged as more than a child's toy but as a highly regarded collectible for adults.
By the mid-1970s and early 1980s, both vintage and collectible bears were being sold at toy auctions, high-end antique shows, and specialized toy expos. There are many wonderful collectible Teddy Bear manufacturers today, such as Boyd, while the older companies such as Steiff and Gund continue to create distinctive and lovable examples of our dear friend, Teddy.
Thanks to: Marianne Clay, author, at Teddy Bear and Friends magazine.
All photos are of the author's own bears, Vermont Bear, Mr. Potter Bear, and Lady Jane Bear. Permission is granted to use these photos, with acknowledgment to the author and Suite101.com.
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