Teddy Bear Tales: Telling Tales, #2

By Kathy Warnes

Teddy Bears have fascinating stories to tell if we just listen to them or read about them. They also make good coloring books and plays, like the bears in this book.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kathy Warnes
• Release date: Jan 21, 2019
• ISBN: 9781386775058

Kathy Warnes

Kathy Warnes loves to write history, children's stories, and fiction and non-fiction and poetry.  She lives in Michigan with her family and three cats with personality!

Book preview

Teddy Bear Tales

Teddy Bear, Teddy, Bear, Stuffed Animal

by Kathy Warnes

Chapter One

Teddy Bear Time

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d8/Teddy_bear_early_1900s_-_Smithsonian_Museum_of_Natural_History.jpg

Teddy Bear formerly owned by Kermit Roosevelt thought to be made by Michtom early 1900s. Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, 2012.

How the Teddy Bear Got Its Name

As well as being the 26th President of the United States which he enjoyed, Theodore Roosevelt. also had a nickname, which he didn’t enjoy. Many people including his family, called him Teddy. The story of Teddy’s nickname starts during a bear hunting trip he took to Mississippi in 1902. Mississippi Governor Andrew H. Longino invited President Roosevelt and several other hunters to hunt bear in Mississippi. One of President Roosevelt’s aides, Holt Collier, captured an American black bear cub and tied him to a tree. The bear suffered from a long exhausting chase by hounds and a clubbing from Holt Collier who called President Roosevelt over to the tree and asked him if he wanted to shoot the bear cub. President Roosevelt ordered the bear cub shot to save it any more suffering.

On November 16, 1902, cartoonist Clifford Berryman drew a cartoon of the bear and the bear story that appeared in the Washington Post, and many more cartoons after that featuring a smaller and cuter bear. Businessman Morris Michtom saw the Roosevelt drawings and they inspired him to create a teddy bear. He made a soft bear cub, and sent a bear to President Roosevelt asking permission to use his name. After he received permission from the President, Morris Michtom placed the teddy bear in his shop window complete with a sign saying Teddy’s Bear. He sold enough bears to enable him to create the Ideal Novelty and Toy Company to manufacture teddy bears.

Morris Michtom and other pioneering teddy bear manufacturers made teddy bears with extended snouts and beady eyes, while modern teddy bear creators produced teddy bears with larger eyes and foreheads, which made the bears look cuter. Manufacturers covered the early teddy bears with brown and beige mohair fur, while later bear creators covered them with commercial fabrics including synthetic fur, velour, denim, cotton, satin, and canvas.

Teddy bears grew in popularity through the 20th and into the 21st Century, and by 2006, retail sales of teddy bears and stuffed plush animals totaled 1.3 billion dollars and by 2017 the sales total of plush animal toys amounted to 1.26 billion U.S. dollars. Some of the most popular teddy bears include Teddy Ruxpin, Care Bears, Steiff Vintage Teddy Bear, Paddington Bear Toy with Suitcase, Winnie the Pooh, and Vermont Teddy Bears.

Smokey the Bear

Smokey the Bear is a bear of timely talents. On August 9, 1944, The United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service and the Ad Council created a bear named Smokey to be their spokes bear in an ongoing forest fire prevention campaign.

posters

Artist Albert Staehle painted the first poster of Smokey the Bear which featured Smokey putting out a campfire with a bucket of water and advising, Care will prevent 9 out of 10 woods fires.

Smokey and his message quickly captured the popular imagination and he and his message appeared on many forest fire prevention materials. By 1947, his slogan had evolved to Only YOU can prevent forest fires! In later years, it would change again to Only YOU Can Prevent Wildfires!

In the spring of 1950, a real-life Smokey the Bear appeared on the scene. That spring, a fire burned out of control in a forest in the Capitan Mountains of New Mexico, trapping a young bear cub. He climbed a tree to escape and he survived, but with severe burns. Eventually, firefighters rescued the little bear cub, and his bravery impressed them so much that they named him Smokey after the fictional bear.

Soon, the story of the real bear that the firefighters named Smokey spread from New Mexico across the county and Smokey traveled to a new