On September 9th, National Teddy Bear Day honors the history of one of childhood’s favorite toys. We have all had a special cuddly teddy as a child. Some of us still have our teddy bear from our childhood. No matter what kind of teddy bear you had, the day is a perfect time to celebrate your childhood friend!
- In 1902, American President Theodore Roosevelt refused to shoot a bear cub while hunting in Mississippi. The incident made national news. Clifford Berryman published a cartoon of the event in the Washington Post on November 16th, 1902, and the caricature became an instant classic.
- The Berryman cartoon of Teddy Roosevelt and the cub inspired New York store owner Morris Michtom. He created a new toy and even had a name in mind. Michtom wrote President Roosevelt to ask permission to name the new toy a “Teddy Bear.”
- The Oxford English Dictionary dates the first use of the term teddy bear to 1906
- Big Bird from Sesame Street named his Teddy Bear “Radar”.
- The lasagna-loving cat celebrated on Garfield the Cat Day armed himself with Pooky, his lovable scapegoat.
- The British invasion of Teddy Bears includes Winnie-the-Pooh and Paddington.
- In 1981, the Care Bears first became greeting cards. Not long after, they launched into television and toy history.
- Let’s not forget the Muppet character Fozzie Bear. The lovable and comedic bear endlessly perseveres with one-liners, slapstick and musical comedy.
- The classic song, ‘Teddy Bear’s Picnic.’ was written in 1907, shortly after teddy bears were first manufactured in Europe and America.
- The Teddy Bears’ Picnic song was originally called The Teddy Bear Two Step.
- It was composed in 1907 by JK Bratton. Its words by Jimmy Kennedy were added in 1932.
- In 1902 Germany, the Steiff family developed a silk-like fabric bear, based on zoo animals. They caused a sensation at a toy fair and were snapped up by an American buyer.
- They aren’t just for children – 40% of teddy sales are for adults, and a quarter of us still has our childhood companion.
- A teddy bear has been into space! Magellan T Bear boarded Space Shuttle Discovery in 1995 as part of a school project.
- If you love teddy bears, you are officially an arctophile (say “ark-toe-file”)! That’s from the Greek words arctos (meaning bear) and philos (meaning loving).
- There’s probably no bigger arctophile than Jackie Miley of South Dakota. She holds the Guinness World Record for having the most teddy bears — 8,026 at the time the record was set in 2012! She has so many, she keeps them in a separate house across the street from where she lives.
- The story of Goldilocks And The Three Bears was written in 1837 by Robert Southey who was the Poet Laureate at the time.
- In Southey’s original story, the visitor to the bears’ house was an ugly old woman. Goldilocks only entered the tale in later versions.
- Bear hugs predate teddy bears by 60 years. The term bear-hug was first recorded in 1846.
- A staggering 5,000 artists globally make their money from designing custom made teddy bears, according to the Chicago Tribute in 2020
Sources:
