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Show T Wednesday, December 22, K?" thousands of times and printed literally thousands of millions of took adtimes. it became of its vogue; vantage more common in the hands of children than the wooly lamb. Legend and family oral history have it that Brooklyn candy store owners Rose and Morris Michtom, gave America its first stuffed bear toy and ..Toy-make- named rs it Theodore for Roosevelt. According to their son, Benjamin (who died in 1980), Morris Michtom was inspired by the Berryman cartoon and wrote to the This delightful chap is an original Ideal Toy Co. Teddy Bear whose home is now the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Smithsonian News Service Photo courtesy of the National Museum of American History (Continued from previous page) creature. tethered Washington Post article the next day informed its readers in style: President Called After the Beast Lassoed, but He to Make an Unsportsmanlike Shot The shot not fired was heard around the land. Three Press Had Been Refused Association representatives were with the hunting party and a small army of reporters was following the presidents trail. On Nov. 16, 1902, a cartoon by Clifford Berryman illustrating the incident appeared on the front page of the Washington Post. The American public immediately responded to the story and the cartoon, presumably finding in them the heroic and and very cub. appealing Berrymans little bear was a great success a A sportsmanlike qualities it saw in its president. Shortly, however, the whole matter took on a more whimsical tone. A subsequent Berryman cartoon of the same hunting'.. episode,' dated 1902, depicted the bear as smaller than the one in the first cartoon worried-lookin- g and appeared in his cartoons of Theodore Roosevelt for years afterwards. In fact, Teddys bear was everywhere. Observed historian Mark Sullivan: The Teddy Bear, beginning with Berrymans original cartoon, was repeated 2 president, asking his permission to make a small bear cub and As call it Teddys Bear. Benjamin Michtom heard the story from his father, the president agreed, although T.R. was said to have expressed doubt that his name would mean much in the toy bear business. Despite that skepticism, Rose Michtom made a few samples of the new Teddy Bear. In 1903, Butler Brothers, a large wholesaler, agreed to distribute it, and the Ideal Novelty and Toy Co., was born. Ive been hearing that story since I was a Mark Michtom tiny child, says. Currently a senior vice president of Ideal Toy Corp., Morris Michtoms grandson heartily appreciates the fact that a Teddy Bear started a multimillion-dolla- r business. The Teddy Bear has, in fact, started several multimillion-dolla- r businesses, although they prefer to think they started him. Another firm famous for its Teddy Bears is the Steiff Co. of Giengen-on-th- e Brenz, West headed today by Germany, Steiff, Hans-Ott- o great-grandnephe- w of its founder. Noah had nothing on the Steiff Co. menagerie everything from a peacock with real feathers to a life-size- giraffe. d But the Teddy Bear is still our most popular animal, says Steiff, himself a kindly bear of a man. According to the Steiff bear tale and retold by family members over the years, an American buyer brought several thousand of their toy bears to America in 1903. In a vintage year for Teddy Bears, Steiff sold a million immigrants. By then, practically every large American city boasted two or more Teddy Bear factories. There was a Teddy Bear whose eyes lighted up, one who whistled, one who played music, one who tumbled and one who laughed, revealing a set of teeth (like the president's), the better to bare them at his critics. In this same bearish year, young women regularly were 1907, toy-be- ar May the Sun Advocate, with 7,000 the have given away 75,000 Teddies and other bears since the group was founded in 1973. So far, 11 Goldilocks. ) The growing Teddy Bear population so alarmed a Michigan minister that he warned that replacing dolls w ith toy bears would destroy the maternal instinct in little girls. Clearly, America is experiencing a new Teddy Bear awareness. This year the old Zoological Society of Philadelphia, Americas first chartered zoo, held Americas First Great Teddy Bear Rally. For two days, 25,000 people and an undetermined number of bears marched in parades, entered contests, attended bear-car- e clinics and swapped bear tales. The Good Bears of the World, Theodore Roosevelts birthday, Oct. 27, as Good Bear Day. The group is urging the United Nations to declare 1985 1 he Year of the Teddv Bear. Why all the fuss over a stuffed furry creature? New York City's Big Apple Bear Den put it this way: "we have an enduring affection for the Toddy Bear, finding it to be a universal symbol of love, comfort and joy. Psychiatrist Dr. Paul Horton of Meridan, Conn., agrees, applauding the therapeutic value of tlie Teddy Bear as a "solacing object." (Parents provided 108-ye- ar states have Amber Leonaid Castle Heights f I f I ,V M ' vo M MX t fj II X My MX? M m j 1 ,'0 ij l-- fev. 7n X j ( t ' uv. Ar vi T I iff 53 fjr E Because the good will of those we serve bring you happiness this Christmas season. f ft AMERICAN g SAVINGS 8 it's a real pleasure at this holiday time to say Thank You is the foundation of our success as we wish you a full year of HAPPINESS AND SUCCESS East Main Sieeit ffflefai 80 East 100 proclaimed r. 7 A Price, Utah members, is a nonto profit organization dedicated and donating bears to children inolder people in hospitals, stitutions or wherever they are needed. Through their dens in many states, the Good Bears seen driving through Central Park in Columbia electric victorias and other fancy vehicles their Teddies the But Teddy only passenger. Bears were not just for the rich. In 1908, the Sears and Roebuck catalog advertised a family of three bears, for 25 cents. , true spirit of w Christmas 1982 North, Price efirIgrgatIrB "Merry Christmas to all our friends and customers |