# Teddy Bear Mania



## SifuPhil

Teddy bears - those soft, lovable bear dolls that are named after Theodore Roosevelt and that have been with us since 1902, the year that Roosevelt went on a bear-hunting expedition.

It seems that there was one American Black bear that had been subdued and tied to a tree. The other hunters, most of whom had already bagged their own bears, invited Teddy to shoot their captive. Roosevelt refused, saying that it was unsportsmanlike and telling them instead to quickly put it out of its misery. News of this got out to the press and became the subject of a political cartoon in _The Washington Press_ on November 16, 1902.

 Morris Michtom spotted the cartoon and was inspired to create a small stuffed bear, which he placed in his shop window along with a sign, "Teddy's Bear". The rest, as they say, is history.Michtom went on to found the Ideal Toy Company and Teddy's bear became the latest fad. Women carried them in the streets, children clamored for them and even Roosevelt himself used one in a re-election bid.

It was the viral toy of its time - even Sears got into the act.



Some of them are just too cute for words -



... some are a little, um, _odd_ - 



... and some folks just don't know when to say "Enough" - 



... but seeing as how they've been at our side for more than 100 years it's probably safe to say they'll always be with us, in one form or another.

Did you have a Teddy bear when you were a child? Do you still have it? Is your bedroom full to overflowing with them?


----------



## Ina

Phil, I only have the three that my hubby bought me when I was 15,16,17. They were my first toys. I love my bears.


----------



## SifuPhil

I never had the pleasure of owning a teddy bear - my playthings all came from the Island of Misfit Toys.


----------



## SeaBreeze

I'm not into stuffed animal, but I have two that my husband bought for me over the years.  This Teddy Bear was from a gift store at the top of Pike's Peak, I said that he was cute, and touched him and it was soooo soft...hubby insisted on getting it for me.

​


----------



## Ina

Sea, Same for me, I keep the bears because my hubby thought I needed toys. I didn't, but I did need him, and I still do. Oh, as you can see, I now have a signature.


----------



## SeaBreeze

*Orphaned Foal with Teddy Bear Mama*

*






* An orphaned week-old foal sleeps soundly in the lap of its new surrogate mum – a jumbo TEDDY BEAR.
 Breeze the bay pony was found abandoned on Dartmoor National Park just a few hours after his birth.
 Unable to find his mother, the tiny foundling was stumbling hopelessly around the hillside trying to suckle other mares.






 Orphaned Dartmoor Hill Pony Breeze who snuggles up with a teddy bear at the Mare and Foal Sanctuary in Newton Abbot, Devon
 By the time rescuers from a local equine sanctuary arrived Breeze had collapsed in a state of severe shock and dehydration.

 But after being nursed back to health over the following days he was missing one vital thing – a mum to cuddle and snuggle up to.
 Staff at the Devon-based Mare and Foal Sanctuary knew just the answer to comfort the lonely newborn – a four foot teddy they have named Buttons.

 Sanctuary executive director Syra Bowden said: “Sadly, little Breeze hasn’t got his mum around to keep him company.
“Although his carers here at the sanctuary work around the clock to look after him, it’s not quite the same.

“As a result, we always give our orphaned foals a giant cuddly toy as a companion.
“They’re just like human babies in the way it provides them with comfort”.

Breeze is being nursed 24 hours a day by a dedicated team of carers at the sanctuary’s Honeysuckle Farm in Newton Abbot, Devon.






 Breeze sleeps with the teddy every night to keep him comforted after his mother died
 He was found on May 24 by a Dartmoor farmer who was unable to locate his mother.

 After arriving at the equine centre staff and their vet spent the next three hours by the poorly foal’s side as he was placed on a saline drip, had a catheter fitted and was given crucial colostrum drips, milk and medication.

 A week on, Syra said Breeze was making real progress – buoyed by his cuddly new companion.
 A similarly gigantic teddy proved just the tonic for Mesha, another orphaned pony who was taken in last month and became so attached to hers that she still sleeps and snuggles up to it like a real mum.

 Syra said: “Breeze was very poorly when we first reached him and it was very much touch and go.
“He’s now suckling well and feeding every hour. He even tried to have a little canter and buck in his stable over the weekend.

“He’s not out of the woods yet, though. We’ll keep a very close eye on him and care for him around the clock to ensure we do everything possible to help him pull through.
“We all have our fingers crossed that Breeze will continue to grow strong”.

The charity is appeallng to the public to donate any suitable soft toys that might help future arrivals.
 To find out more visit www.mareandfoal.org/shops or call the sanctuary on 01626 355 969.


----------



## SeaBreeze

*



*


----------



## SifuPhil

Awww! See - teddy bears are GOOD for you!

Unfortunately, nowadays I think they've got some competition from those Japanese Boyfriend Pillows ...


----------



## Ina

Sea, Great colt story.


----------



## SeaBreeze

SifuPhil said:


> Awww! See - teddy bears are GOOD for you!
> Unfortunately, nowadays I think they've got some competition from those Japanese Boyfriend Pillows ...



LOL, now THAT'S desperate!


----------



## SeaBreeze

*



*​


----------



## Denise1952

Oh I love the first, with the puppy!!  I love the story, and I still have 2 teddy-bears on my bed

ohmygosh, and the one with the foal, how darling!! Thanks all, for the pics, and the post Phil Denise


----------



## Ina

I had an outside dog, (Shine), that found a six week old puppy, and we watch as Shine herded the pup down our dirt road. We named her Founder.


----------



## Ina

nwlady, Do you have a pet? Teddy Bears are too quite.


----------



## Vivjen

I have a teddy bear called Basil; his partner's name is Holly; (my husband's bear..)

As for a Japanese boyfriend pillow.....no thanks!


----------



## That Guy




----------



## That Guy




----------



## Denise1952

Oh Ina, what a wonderful story!! And what a lucky puppy Denise


----------



## Happyflowerlady

One of my earliest memories is going to sleep wwith my little white Teddy Bear. 
He was made with real lambs wool , and had a music box that would wind up and play "Three Blind Mice". I loved my Teddy Bear, and I don't even remember when I stopped sleeping with him, but loved going to sleep with the soft curly fur snuggled next to my cheek, and the music box tinkling its happy melody in my ear.

When my mom and daddy passed away, and I was going through the back closet, there .....to my amazement.....was a box with another brand new (1948 vintage new) Teddy Bear, identical to the one I slept with for so many years.

My mom knew how much I loved that little bear, so she bought a second one, and stored it safely away, just in case something happened to my first one, and it had stayed there, hidden away in the closet for the last 40 years ! 
(Yes, I did wind it up, and listened to it play "Three Blind Mice" while holding it up to my cheek to feel that soft, soft creamy white lamb's wool fur.)


----------



## SifuPhil

_Very_ touching story, Happy - thank you!

I don't recall having a teddy bear as a child, but in my later teens my brother Mickey was addicted to the TV show _ALF_, the comedy about the little brown bear-like alien that lived with his human host. 



So of course, for one of his birthdays we got him ... an ALF doll.



But that wasn't _nearly_ the end of it ...

When Mickey came home from work one day, he found that ALF had a few Band-Aids on him. When he asked us if we knew what happened, we told him about how ALF and the cat got into a fight (since in the TV show ALF always tries to eat cats).

Well, Mickey grumbled a bit but let it go.

Until the following week, when in addition to the Band-Aids ALF was sporting layers of gauze on his head. Again we blamed the cat, but Mickey was getting ticked off, and took to locking his bedroom door when he was at work.

Luckily, I've always been a lock-picking enthusiast ...

The week after that, ALF was covered in a head-to-toe body cast using real plaster and bandages.

Two weeks after that, ALF hung himself from the light fixture in Mickey's room - he even left a note.

After that, Mickey took ALF into his Jeep and kept him locked-up in there. We couldn't get into the Jeep at first, until one day I was lucky with a Slim Jim (another lock-picking device, this one designed to open car doors). We shoved ALF into the glove-box and Mickey couldn't find him for days, until he started smelling a weird smell in the Jeep ...

Unfortunately we hadn't known that because of a faulty switch his glove-box light stayed ON all the time, and the hot little bulb slowly singed ALF's hair. He ended up with a bald spot that stretched from his nose to his left eyebrow.

The war increased. We kidnapped ALF and held him hostage, sending ransom notes to Mickey in the mail. We threw ALF up onto the roof. We buried him in the backyard sandbox. Mickey would eventually find him, sometimes by clues we graciously left laying around but as often as not by just stumbling upon the scene of the crime.

Mickey passed away when I was 30 and I inherited his ALF, who currently occupies a special place of honor on a shelf near my bed.


----------



## That Guy

Somewhere in a box in a closet in my parents home that my little sister "stole" from my older sister and I when my dad died . . . (long sad story) . . . there's a bear my older sister called "Beary" of course and it was always just a limp thing whose stuffing had disappeared long before I came along.  We loved that guy!


----------



## Gael

Never was big with the Teddy bear thing though I get it. And the fascination many have remains still to this day. Lord knows some can be extremely valuable, sentiment aside.

I got some for my grandchild so that's the most recent interaction I've had with the wee buggers. Sacrilegous would be this film I guess: 


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fbo_pQvU7M


----------



## Rainee

Sad song called Teddy Bear by Red Sovine.. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zoTLwrm9QE

I have 5 bears different places in the house.. on bed have one just like that dark brown one..like Sea breeze posted. it  
belonged to our son who passed away 5 yrs ago.. also have one I bought from Disneyland Pooh Bear..in loungeroom .
have a british one with I love England on it also a stone Cornish one as a door stop in Cornish colour sweater. 
and also a small Mr Bean bear on a keyring.. I guess am a little softie for having childhood memories around. things I 
can`t throw out , also I have a cabbage patch doll on my cupboard.. a baby doll life size that belonged to my daughter 
when she was 2 .. plus have a china headed doll.. I just haven`t grown up have I ? but who cares ? I am what I am..


----------



## Gael

I guess it's time for the teddy bear picnic..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxFIGWm9M6w


----------



## nan

I have a couple of Alf dolls that sit on a book case shelf, one I  bought when they first became popular and another I bought from a Salvos thrift store for $2 he wears a hat and scarf in local football teams colour, that my  mother in law knitted for him years ago, and I have a couple of Teddy bears that I made, I have given a few away that I made as well, to the grandchildren when they were younger.
I enjoyed making them. but now the material for them is quite expensive to buy.


----------



## Ina

Nan, I bet your bears would look great even in patchwork. :cool1:


----------



## Ina

I still have a bunny rabbit that belonged to my youngest. Every time we tried to hide it,(after he was 13), sure enough he'd find it, and hide it back in his room. It's still there too.


----------



## That Guy

Gael said:


> I guess it's time for the teddy bear picnic..
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxFIGWm9M6w



Man, I loved that song when I was a little guy.


----------



## Gael

That Guy said:


> Man, I loved that song when I was a little guy.



Probably millions of children did and it brings back fond memories for those that recall it from their childhood.


----------



## SifuPhil

If you go down in the woods today you're sure of a big surprise
If you go down in the woods today you'd better protect your eyes
For every bear that ever there was will gather there for sure
Today's the day the Teddy Bear's tortures you will have to endure

Every Teddy Bear who's been bad is sure of a treat today
There's lots of horrible things to eat and terrible games to play
Beneath the trees where nobody sees they'll drag you along on your knees
That's the way the Teddy Bears have their vengeance ...


----------



## Ruth

I adopted my sister's teddy bear when she died in 2010. He's my family now.


----------



## meg

There is a firm in the UK that make 'Charlie Bears'.  They are also shown on QVC.  I so far have a collection of 20 assorted colours and sizes.  Love them.


----------



## JustBonee

I've gotten a couple bears as gifts from the Vermont Teddy Bear store website.   They have bears for every occasion. 

http://www.vermontteddybear.com/


----------

