Bears & Bunnies & Dolls

The story goes that while President Theodore Roosevelt was in Mississippi in 1902, where he was helping to settle a boarder dispute between that state and the state of Louisiana.

His hosts, wanting to give the President some entertainment  took him bear hunting. But the hunting was poor, and all they could find was a bear cub. They caught the cub, tied it to a tree and invited the President to shoot it! However the idea of shooting  baby bear tied to a tree did not appeal to the sportsman President so instead he ordered the bear to be set free.

The incident was illustrated by Clifford Berryman the famous political cartoonist in a cartoon titled, “Drawing The Line In Mississippi”. The cartoon showed the President rifle in hand but with his  back turned on a cute, cowering, baby bear tied to a tree..

After the cartoon was published a  Brooklyn  store owner called Morris Michtom saw it and it gave him an idea for a window display. That night, his wife Rose cut and stuffed a piece of plush velvet into the shape of a bear with shoe button eyes. Morris made a lable that read “Teddy’s bear” and placed it in the window of his store along with a copy of the newspaper cartoon. To his amazement  he was inundated with customers wanting to buy his stuffed bear!

The Michtom’s immediately wrote to President Teddy Roosevelt, mailing him the original bear as a gift for his children, and asking for permission to use his name for the stuffed bears that he and his wife were now selling. The President gave his permission and the “Teddy Bear” was born!

By 1904, the teddy bear craze was in full swing in the United States and Teddy Roosevelt and the Republican Party adopted it as their symbol in the election of of that year. And Roses’ bears were on display at every public White House function.

Soon Morris and Rose were producing teddy Bears by the thousands. And with the profits from the sales  Morris Michtom went on to form the Ideal Novelty and Toy Company.

The Michtoms original teddy bear, treasured and saved by Teddy Roosevelt’s grandchildren, is today displayed at the Smithsonian!