Teddy Bears And Their Origins

By Author: Adam Anders
Total Articles: 41
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There are few toys that really stand up to the test of time, and teddy bears are one type of toy that has. Their incredibly wide appeal has lasted generations, and most certainly will last many more. Toy bears, however, were not always such a universally beloved children's toy. They were born in the early Twentieth century, after an unfortunate sequence of events that you may find surpising as the origin of a children's toy.

Teddy bears received their name from American President Theodore Roosevelt, since "Teddy" is the short form of the name "Theodore". The President attended a hunting trip with several other men included the governor of Mississippi. During this trip they had a bear-hunting competition, and everybody had killed a bear aside from Roosevelt. Some of Roosevelt's staff attempted to help him proceed in the competition by capturing a bear for him and then offering for him to simply approach and shoot the bear. But Roosevelt felt this was cheating and refused to shoot the bear. But the bear had been beaten over the head during its capture and was suffering, so Roosevelt asked that the bear ...
... be put down.

The story of course became big news, and was reproduced in a political cartoon in the Washington Post. One person who saw the media coverage was a toy creator named Morris Michtom, who was inspired to create a new toy based on the bear in the incident. He created cute stuffed bears and placed them in his shop window, with a signing reading "Teddy's Bear", a smart way to capitalize on the publicity. The bears instantly skyrocketed to the heights of popularity, prompting Michtom to enlargen his business by founding the Ideal Novelty and Toy Company. By 1906 many unrelated companies started selling the same kind of toy, and they became the biggest toy craze the world had ever seen up until that point.

Over a century later, teddy bears are still the most widely cherished toy that exists, loved by children and even adults all over the world. It might seem odd that such an unfortunate event started this mania for adorable stuffed animals for kids, but perhaps the joy that teddy bears have given to the world have made something good out of that unfortunate situation.
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