Teddy Bears Are Loved by All, But How Did They Come Into Being?

Today it's hard to imagine a world without our much loved and loyal friend, the teddy bear. The teddy bear has only been with us for just over 100 years, making his first appearance in 1902. Then, in one of those impracticable to clarify coincidences, the teddy appeared in the same year on opposite sides of the world - in Germany and the USA.

In America, the teddy bear came into being with a cartoon showing Head Theodore Roosevelt refusing to shoot a baby bear. According to this tale, Roosevelt had traveled to Mississippi to help settle a border dispute linking that state and Louisiana, and while there, found time to go bear hunting. There were no bears to be found, but his hosts were desperate that he should have a excellent time. So eventually a name captured a bear and invited Roosevelt to shoot it. Roosevelt's refusal to fire at such a helpless target inspired the well-known cartoon with its message regarding the two ways Roosevelt was drawing a line, ie settling a border dispute and refusing to shoot a intent animal.

The cartoon caused an immediate sensation and was reprinted across the USA. It inspired Morris and Rose Michtom of Brooklyn, New York, to make a bear to commemorate their head's actions and they named it "Teddy's Bear." It was placed in the window of their New York candy and stationery store. As a replacement for of looking fierce and standing on all four paws like before toy bears, this bear looked cute , innocuous, and honest, like the bear in the now well-known cartoon. That could be why "Teddy's Bear" became so well loved with both adults and children across the people. In fact, the demand was so strong that the Michtoms, with the help of a wholesale firm called Butler Brothers, established the first teddy bear manufacturer in the United States, the Ideal Novelty and Toy Company.

At the same time, but on the other side of the Atlantic, in Germany, a young man by the name of Richard Steiff was working for his aunt, Margarete Steiff, in her stuffed toy business. Richard often visited the Stuttgart Zoo to sketch animals, above all the bear cubs. In 1902, the same year the Michtoms made "Teddy's Bear," the Steiff firm made their first toy bear based on Richard's designs.

Over the next 100 years the teddy bear went from strength to strength and whilst other toy crazes came and went, the bear remained an enduring favourite with generations of children across the world. The bear is loved by adults too, for his or her endearing, loyal and friendly nature. These characteristics are evident in the latest generation of bears, those pictured on the DevonBears Designs harvest which show the loveable small creatures out and about in the lovely countryside of south Devon, England.

Author: Helen Dickson
Condition Source: EzineArticles.com
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