From the 1900s to this day, the inquiry about who actually fashioned the first teddy bear is still debated. In any case, the teddy bear remains a national obsession. In 1903, Steiff created 12,000 bears. Teddy manufacturers sprang up everywhere. Textbook author Seymour Eaton, under the pseudonym Paul Piper, wrote a humorous poem called “The Roosevelt Bears” that appeared each week in newspapers around the country and followed the frolics of “Teddy-B and Teddy-G.
And today Vermont Teddy bears Most of Vermont Teddy’s customers are men sending Bear-Grams. Customized Bear-Grams can cost up to $300 apiece. Although the company specializes in lightheartedness–it ships each bear in a container complete with airholes and a delicious candy treat, in case the bear gets hungry on the trip–it’s a full-size business.
Eaton also published a series of books about the bears. “Teddy bears are all the rage,” read an ad in the 1908 Sears, Roebuck catalog. bears of all kinds–plaid bears, fuzzy bears, Viking bears–perch on every available surface. How about a bear with a hood with curlers on it and fuzzy slippers and a robe? It’s there too.
How has a single toy eluded the restrictions of age, gender, nationality, culture and faith for over a hundred years? What makes people cling to their teddy bears, loved to within a millimeter of their fur, for lifetimes? The teddy bear started as a child’s toy, something to comfort and please the young. That bear became a confidante, our best friend, the companion who kept us safe and sound during the trials of childhood.
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