Teddy bear
|
The original Teddy bear (circa 1903). |
The
teddy bear is a stuffed
toy bear for small children. It is an enduring, traditional form of
stuffed animal, often serving the purpose of comforting upset children. In recent times, some teddy bears have become expensive
collector's items. Teddy bear collectors are known as arctophiles from the Greek words 'arcto' (bear) and 'philos' (lover). 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.
|
Berryman's original cartoon |
Theodore Roosevelt, whose nickname was "Teddy", enjoyed big game-hunting. According to legend, the teddy bear received its birth at Hotel Colorado in
Glenwood Springs, Colorado. To cheer Theodore Roosevelt after an unsuccessful day of hunting, Hotel Colorado maids presented him with a stuffed bear pieced together with scraps of fine material. Later, when he did bag a bear, his daughter Alice admired it saying, "I will call it Teddy." The term caught on.
According to another legend, the name is said to come from an incident on a bear-hunting trip in
Mississippi in
1902, when Roosevelt's attendants found and caught an old injured bear. Roosevelt refused to kill the
lassoed animal, calling it "unsportsmanlike", and "Teddy's Bear" was immediately publicized by
political cartoonists, taking journalistic licence and changing it to a young
cute bear. The first such cartoon appeared the following day,
November 16:
Clifford Berryman, an editorial cartoonist for the
Washington Post, immortalized the incident as part of a front-page cartoon montage. Berryman pictured Roosevelt with his gun beside him with the butt resting on the ground and his back to the bear, gesturing his refusal to take the trophy shot. Written across the lower part of the cartoon were the words "Drawing the Line in Mississippi," which coupled the hunting incident to a political dispute (see picture to the left).
Morris Michtom and his wife Rose displayed two stuffed bears in the window of their
Brooklyn store shortly thereafter (
February 15,
1903), and said they had received President Roosevelt's written permission to call them "Teddy's bears".
German toy maker
Margarete Steiff had started to produce stuffed toy animals in
1880; the first one was a little elephant. Her nephew
Richard Steiff convinced her to produce a toy bear cub in
1902. It was not very popular in the
German Empire, but at the March
1903 Leipzig Toy Fair they were able to sell a shipment of 3,000 to an American merchant. Michtom's bear had a more endearing, baby-faced appearance, while Steiff's more closely resembled a real bear cub. The Steiff company continues to produce teddy bears in modern
Germany for worldwide export.
The
Dakin Company and Applause are two American companies based in
California known for production of large volume and high quality plush bears.
Notable fictional teddy bears include
*
Paddington Bear*
Winnie the Pooh*
Radar O'Reilly's unnamed teddy on
M*A*S*H*
Big Bird's teddy bear, Radar, on
Sesame Street.
*
Bobo,
Mr. Burns' childhood teddy on
The Simpsons.
*
Shmee, the teddy bear that speaks to his owner
Squee in
Jhonen Vasquez's comics
*Lord Sebastian Flyte's teddy bear,
Aloysius, in
Brideshead Revisited.
*Amy, Lulu and Morgan, the teddies from
Bananas in Pyjamas.
*
Teddy Ruxpin*Mr. Bear, teddy of
Stephanie Tanner, on
Full House.
*
Mr. Bean's Teddy.
*Kukalaka,
Julian Bashir's teddy bear.
*
Pookie, the teddy bear belonging to
Garfield, the famous cartoon cat.
*
Rupert,
Stewie's teddy bear on
Family Guy.
*
SuperTed*
Roadpook* Teddy, the robotic 'supertoy' teddy bear from the film
A.I.*
Mike O'Malley's Lost Bear At Age 24
* Eddie, the hard-boiled detective's sidekick in
Robert Rankin's book
The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse* "Teddy Bear" was the CB handle for a fatherless, wheelchair-bound boy in country singer
Red Sovine's song of the same name. The song, wherein Teddy Bear wants to ride around with truckers, just as he dreamed of doing with his own truck-driving father (who is deceased), was a major country hit in
1976.
*Roger, a teddy bear/weapon used by
Bridget in the
Guilty Gear series.
See also List of fictional bears.In the
1995 RPG
Earthbound, teddy bears could be used to absorb damage normally inflicted on the heroes.
In
2001, Teddy Bears starred as
villains in a popular
Nintendo 64 Game.
Conker's Bad Fur Day casted the evil 'Tediz' in a war with the heroic Squirrel High Command. The Tediz were based on
Germans, this can be seen by the Red/Black/White
flags they wave, along with the
weaponry they use (
officers wield luger
pistols, and foot
soldiers carry classic stick-
grenades). In
2005, Tediz returned for the 'Reloaded' version of Conker, sporting a new look. Grunts were outfitted with classic German helmets and outfit.
Sword-wielding 'sneekers' were dressed as
Gestapo members with long, dark trench coats, and monocles. The rest of the soldier classes also had similar German
WW2 atire.In
2006, the Teddy Bear 'Sunshine' was an
NPC in the
Nintendo Gamecube game
Chibi-Robo!. He was one of the
toys that came to life when
Humans were not around. He had a
nectar addiction so strong that when hungry, Sunshine could go into a violent rage. Chibi-Robo helped Sunshine beat his obsession by giving him legendary nectar.
A Teddybear is also a shot of vodka and Bailey's Irish Cream.
*
Teddy bears' picnic*
Microsoft Bear*
Teddy Bear (song) by
Elvis Presley*
Teddy Bear Effect*
National Geographic Article on the Louisiana Black Bear*
History of Teddy Bears - TeddyBear And Friends
*
Teddy Bears History Channel
*
The robotic 'Huggable' Teddy Bear project at M.I.T. iCampus*
Teddy bears for collectors
