America Celebrates Teddys 100th Birthday. . .

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America Celebrates Teddys 100th Birthday. . .

• Childhood Icon hits the
• Century Mark

by Ryan Gleason
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Happy Birthday Teddy!

• Last month the Build-a-Bear Workshop retail
  franchise celebrated the 100th anniversary of the
  teddy bear.
• Teddy Bears are arguably the most popular
  childrens toy, enduring 100 years of making
  children smile and play.
• Teddy Bears not only represent childrens needs
  as they are often left at memorials to fallen
  victims of tragedies such as Columbine and
  September 11th.

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Where Teddy Came From

• The Teddy Bear is named after former President
  Teddy Roosevelt.
• Teddy Roosevelt had been hunting bears in the
  woods.
• Roosevelts guide and his hunting dogs had
  cornered a bear and tied it to a tree.
• Roosevelt found this to be unsportsmanlike and
  demanded the bear be set free.
• A Washington Post cartoonist heard the story and
  sketched a scene of Roosevelt declining to shoot
  the defenseless bear.
• The cartoon appeared on the front page of the
  paper 100 years ago this Saturday.

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Early History of the Teddy Bear

• Inspired by the cartoon, a New York displayed two
  stuffed bears sewn by his wife in his shop window
  at 1.50 each. The sign called them Teddys
  Bears.
• A strong public demand led them to start up a toy
  company manufacturing Teddy Bears.
• According to Frank Murphy, author of The Legend
  of the Teddy Bear, Without the cartoon, there
  definitely wouldnt have been teddy bears at
  all.
• Soon, the popularity of the teddy bear had spread
  worldwide.

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Bearing the Burden

• Every holiday season, Hells Angels bikers on
  Harleys appear with teddy bears tucked under
  their tattooed biceps as donations for needy
  children.
• Famous magicians, Siegfried and Roy host an
  online charity auction of 150 teddy bears
  autographed and costumed as celebrities including
  President Bush and Tom Cruise.
• 12 years ago, the Rockv ille Police Chief
  mandated a new policy that every squad car carry
  a teddy bear in the trunk -- to calm children
  during certain accidents and disputes.

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Operation Teddy Care

• A San Francisco couple saw a newscast of an
  earthquake in Japan and of a woman picking up a
  teddy bear and crying.
• They asked for donations of teddy bears and sent
  10,000 teddy bears to Japan.
• A few months later, the couple collected bears to
  be sent to Oklahoma City.
• Even later, the couple collected and sent bears
  to the Balkans.
• Thus far, the program has shipped over 40,000
  teddy bears around the world.

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Teddy Bears for

• Teddy Bears rank among the top four collectibles,
  with stamps, coins and dolls.
• The record price for a teddy bear is 180,000.
• A teddy bear tourist location was built for 16
  million.
• This shop has had over 150,000 customers since it
  opened in September.

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Famous Teddy Bears

• Famous Teddy Bears include
• Snuggles the Downy Bear (on left)
• Winnie the Pooh (on right)
• Teddy Ruckspin
• Bobo the Bear, from The Simpsons

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More on Teddy Bears!

• For more information on Teddy Bears, visit
  TeddyBear.com, Teddys official home on the World
  Wide Web!
• This website is under construction, but will soon
  contain a Teddy Bear chat room, Teddy Bear gift
  shop, and even a place to get your own
  YourName_at_TeddyBear.com email address!!Visit
  www.teddybear.com today!

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The End

• Created by Ryan Gleason
• Created in EDU290, Technology in Education,
  taught by Mark Lagerwey.
• Information source MSNBC.com (http//www.msnbc.c
  om/news/835015.asp)