Teddy bears are a symbol of cuddly gentleness and security the world over as it is well known the bear is named after President Theodore Roosevelt.

The inventors, however, Rose and Morris Michtom, two Russian Jewish immigrants who lived in Brooklyn, are far less known.Brooklyn is one of the five boroughs of New York City, and a very populated area, maintaining its own distinct culture with its own distinct mentality. It is characterised by distinct neighbourhoods where each ethnic group predominates and has its dominant culture there, and independent art scene, distinct neighbourhoods, and a unique architectural heritage.

For generations, bears prompted fear, not affection. Indeed the teddy bear’s namesake, Theodore Roosevelt, was a ferocious warrior and big game hunter, a man who killed for sport.

However, an unlikely alliance between the rugged, native-born American Protestant president and the inventive couple from Brooklyn created one of the most loveable and enduring American icons.

In 1902 the states of Mississippi and Louisiana disagreed over the location of their common boundary, which bisected some of the least well-developed land in the United States. The governors of both states invited President Roosevelt to arbitrate the dispute. Roosevelt decided to combine his tour of the disputed territory with a five-day black bear hunt.

The president’s foray attracted a large contingent of journalists, who reported on Roosevelt’s every move. Even more compelling to the reporters than the boundary dispute was the president’s pursuit of a trophy bear. For four days, the press reported little about Roosevelt’s arbitration of the boundary dispute and harped on the ability of the area’s bears to elude his crosshairs. On the fifth and last day of the junket, apparently to redeem the president’s reputation, one of his hunting companions caught and tied a bear cub to a tree so that the president could shoot it. When he came upon the cub, Roosevelt refused to kill it, saying that he only took prey that had a sporting chance to defend itself.

Roosevelt’s demurrer took the nation by storm. The leading American cartoonist, Clifford Berryman, published a cartoon showing Roosevelt turning his back on the young bear, tied by its neck, and public response to the president’s self-restraint was overwhelmingly favourable.

Clifford K Berryman was born on April 2, 1869 in Clifton, Kentucky to James Thomas Berryman and Sallie Church Berryman. He was married to Kate Geddes Durfee in July, 1893 and they had three children, Mary Belle, Florence Seville, and James Thomas.

In the cartoon, Berryman depicted President Theodore Roosevelt showing compassion for a small bear cub. The cartoon inspired New York store owner Morris Michtom to create a new toy and call it the teddy bear. In 1944, Berryman was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning for his drawing "Where is the Boat Going".

The Washington Post published a second cartoon, depicting the bear as a more placid beast, cementing the docile image of the young bear even more firmly in the public imagination.

Morris Michtom had arrived penniless in New York in 1887, when only in his teens, he married Rose and opened a small store that sold notions, candy and other penny items. In the evening, to help make ends meet, Rose sewed toys that they sold in the shop. Like millions of other Americans, the Michtoms avidly followed press accounts of Roosevelt’s journey into the Louisiana backcountry. Roosevelt’s refusal to shoot the defenceless bear touched the Michtoms heart and Morris suggested to Rose that she sew a replica of the bear represented in Berryman’s cartoons.

That night, Rose cut and stuffed a piece of plush velvet into the shape of a bear, sewed on shoe button eyes and handed it to Morris to display in the shop window. Thus, the first Teddy Bear was reportedly made by hand by Rose Michtom and sold by her husband Morris in their novelty- and stationer's shop in New York.

Morris labelled it, "Teddy’s bear." To his surprise, not only did someone enter the store asking to buy the bear, but twelve other potential customers also asked to purchase it. Aware that he might offend the president by using his name without permission, the Michtoms mailed the original bear to the White House, offering it as a gift to the president’s children and asking Roosevelt for the use of his name. He told the Michtoms he doubted his name would help its sales but they were free to use it if they wanted.

The Michtoms sewed teddy bears and placed them in the window of their shop, but demand was so great they couldn’t keep up. The couple concluded that there was more profit in teddy bears than in penny candy and dedicated full time to producing them.

In 1903 they established Ideal Novelty & Toy Company. Morris Michtom, the founder of Ideal, died in 1938, but after the second World War new opportunities opened up for the company, under his son Benjamin, a period when new designs and materials were introduced.

Because of the doll’s popularity, Roosevelt and the Republican Party adopted it as their symbol in the election of 1904, and Michtom bears were placed on display at every public White House function.

Ideal Toys sold millions of teddies throughout the world The Michtom’s business grew into the Ideal Toy Company, remaining in family hands until the 1970s. when they disposed of their whole stock to wholesale traders Butler Brothers.The company got the license for the first Smokey Bear toy bear, which came on the market in 1953. In the sixties, they had subsidiary companies in New York, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, England and Germany. In 1978 the 75th anniversary was celebrated with a special bear. In 1982 the company was bought by CBS-Toys and doesn't make Teddy Bears anymore.

The early Ideal-bears did not have a fixed trademark. They only way to identify them is by design and some special details. Later Ideal Teddy Bears had a loose, carton label in the shape of a circus wagon, with print: An Ideal Ultrafine Animal; Ideal Novelty & Toy Co.; Long Island City NY.

One of the first Teddy Bears from Ideal, was given to the Smithsonian Institute in New York, in 1964. This bear is ideal for getting information about early Ideal bears. Classical Ideal touches include a wedge-shaped snout, a plump, hunchbacked body; long, bent, narrowing arms and unique, pointy oval-shaped toes.

In the twenties the designs got more slim with shorter arms. Glass eyes were used for Ideal-bears after the second world war, before which, Ideal, like most other companies, used shoe knot-eyes Sadly enough, the company used their designs for a long time, which weighs on the value for collectors.

More details on the Smithsonian Institute can be found at

www.si.edu

Then search for Teddy Bear

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