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Today is Dec. 9th.
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Here is the History of the Teddy Bear!
(Thanx to the History Channel)
Why is a bear usually one of a child's first stuffed toys? And why are toy bears called "Teddy?" Look no further than our nation's twenty-sixth president, Theodore Roosevelt. The most common explanation for the rise of the "teddy bear" begins in November 1902, when Roosevelt visited the southern United States to help settle a border dispute between Mississippi and Louisiana. While on the trip, Roosevelt went bear hunting, but had little luck. Others in his party did find a bear, which, cornered near a water hole, fought with and killed one of the group's hunting dogs. When Roosevelt saw what had happened, he ordered his men to humanely put the wounded bear out of its misery.
Clifford Berryman, a newspaper cartoonist for the Washington Post, witnessed the incident and turned it into a cartoon. Called "Drawing the Line in Mississippi," the cartoon depicted Roosevelt's dual accomplishments on the trip-negotiating border disputes and protecting wildlife. To Berryman's surprise, the cartoon was published in newspapers across the country. However, the bear had not really been the helpless animal Berryman had first drawn, but, rather, an angry animal that just killed a dog. So, the cartoon, as well as the story of Roosevelt's hunting trip, was soon altered.
Berryman redrew the cartoon, changing the angry bear to a small, frightened-looking cub. The story changed too. The newly invented legend said that, after having poor luck hunting, Roosevelt was given the opportunity to shoot a bear a cub that his staff had captured. Of course, Roosevelt refused. This account of Roosevelt's trip caught on and soon the cub was appearing in all of Berryman's cartoons featuring the president. "Teddy's bear," as it came to be called, quickly gained popularity with Americans of all ages.
The small cub sparked the imagination of Morris Michtom, the owner of a small novelty store in Brooklyn, New York. Michtom's wife stiched several plush toy replicas of the bear for sale in the family store. When they sold quickly, Michtom decided to send Roosevelt a bear and ask his permission to use the president's name on the bears. Roosevelt responded positively and Michtom, along with a large wholesaling company, Butler Brothers, began to mass-produce the toy bears. Michtom probably didn't know it, but he had created a new piece of American heritage.
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