THE TEDDY BEAR

It is widely believed that Margarette Steiff, a famous German toy maker, made the first bear in 1902. Margarette Steiff had suffered from polio as a young child and used to make stuffed animals to pass the time. In time her stuffed animals became well known through out the world. Margarette's nephew Richard arrived at her home one day with a drawing of a bear he had seen in the zoo. Margaraette made a simple toy bear using soft brown material and used sawdust for the stuffing. The bear name was "Friend Petz" She took it to her toy factory and 3000 teddy bears were made to sell at the big Leipzig Toy Fair. The bears were not a huge success at the fair. When the fair was over Hermann Berg a New York buyer, bought the bears and shipped them to America

PresidentTheodore(Teddy) Roosevelt, an avid hunter was out hunting with friends They hadn't seen a single bear until one of his friends found a little bear cub that was too frightened to run away. One of the President's friends wanted him to shoot the little bear cub. But President Roosevelt, wouldn't.. When the newspapers heard this story, cartoonist Clifford Berryman drew a cartoon.

"I was bear hunting in Mississippi in 1904 when my guides did a foolish thing. They caught a bear cub and tied her to the tree and sent for me to shoot the poor thing. Now I am a sportsman and I said, "untie her and let her go - this is where I draw the line." The newspaper dispatch that reached the Washington Post the next day was reported of the incident and the cartoonist, Clifford Berryman, drew a picture showing me and small, timid little bear cowering in the distance. Using my own words he called the cartoon, "drawing the line in Mississippi." Now a man in Brooklyn New York, named of Michton, thinking of that incident fashioned a small bear, button nose and eyes, movable arms and legs and wrote to the White House to have permission to call his new creation, "Teddy's Bear". I wrote to him and told him he could but I doubted that lending my name would help him in the bear business - it did well!
U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt

CLIFFORD BERRYMAN CARTOON

Morris Michtom was the Brooklyn toy maker who saw the Berryman cartoon and designed toy brown replica of the little bear. It was an instant success. The Michtoms went on to found the ideal toy and novelty Company. By the time he died in 1938 the Ideal Toy Company had become one of the largest toy manufactures in the world.

MICHTOM BEAR The First American Teddy Bear
The Steiff bears went on to become world known and are still available today. Sadly Margarette's first bear "Friend Petz" is missing from their archive of bears produced through the years.

A STEIFF BEAR
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