CHRISTMAS '09

« The Great Pumpkin… Lives?
Le Petit Prince Party Ideas - Guest Blogger Lisa Kothari »

Teddy Bears - Flash Back Friday

Published October 31st, 2009 in teddy, bear., gund, Collector's, Parenting, Edition, Amazon, Bear, Toys

There is just something about a teddy bear isn't there?  I mean, who can resist the cute, soft, squishy love of a teddy bear?  This year we have a new Amazon.com 2009 Gund Teddy Bear with tan fur and a cute red hat with the Amazon.com logo. He's cute, and collectible!

Tanbear

Here's some the particularly gruesome (it's a toy for goodness sake!) history of the teddy bear from wikipedia:

The name Teddy Bear comes from former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, whose nickname was "Teddy". 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, 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,[2] but instructed that the bear be killed to put it out of its misery, and it became the topic of a political cartoon by Clifford Berryman in The Washington Post on November 16, 1902.[3] While the initial cartoon of an adult black bear lassoed by a white handler and a disgusted Roosevelt had symbolic overtones, later issues of that and other Berryman cartoons made the bear smaller and cuter.

Morris Michtom saw the drawing of Roosevelt and the bear cub and was inspired to create a new toy. He created a little stuffed bear cub and put it in his shop window with a sign that read "Teddy's bear," after sending the bear to Roosevelt and receiving permission to sell the bears. The toys were an immediate success and Michtom founded the Ideal Novelty and Toy Co., which still exists today.[2]

At the same time, in Germany the Steiff firm, unaware of Michtom's bear, produced a stuffed bear from Richard Steiff's designs. They exhibited the toy at the Leipzig Toy Fair in March 1903 and exported 3000 to the United States.

By 1906 manufacturers other than Michtom and Steiff had joined in and the craze for Teddy Bears was such that ladies carried them everywhere, children were photographed with them, and Roosevelt used one as a mascot in his bid for re-election.



When I was growing up, the department store in my home town in Indiana was a store called Lazurus.  Every year they had a bear called "Lazzie Bear"  that you could get when you purchased a certain dollar ammount,  Every year I begged my mother for that bear, and one year I got one.  I loved that bear- he was white with a big red hat and bow and was so soft.  Teddy bears hold a special place in the heart of all children- they are just loveable, plain and simple.

Everyone has had a teddy bear! Share some memories with us in the comments below. 



--Laura McMullan

 


best deals here



TOYS powered by
YORGOOblaster

  • Free Marketing Newsletter

    Get Your Marketing News here!
    First Name:
    Last Name:
    Email Address:


  • Search