The story is legend: Theodore 鈥淭eddy鈥� Roosevelt went on a Mississippi hunting trip, where he refused to shoot a black bear that had been caught and tied up for
him. The incident was satirized in a political cartoon by Clifford K. Berryman, but in subsequent printings the bear was made smaller and cuter.
The cartoon inspired candy seller and aspiring toymaker Morris Mitchum, a Russian Jewish immigrant, to create a small stuffed bear and put it in his shop window, calling it 鈥淭eddy鈥檚 bear.鈥� Sales were so brisk that Mr. Mitchum was able to found the Ideal Novelty and Toy Co., which went on the manufacture such hits as the Magic 8 Ball and the Rubik鈥檚 cube.
By 1906, Teddy bears were a full-on craze, and not just for children: High society women carried them as accessories, and Roosevelt used one as the mascot for his 1906 reelection campaign. Teddy bears even inspired music, like composer J.K. Bratton鈥檚 鈥淭he Teddy Bear Two-Step鈥� for piano. Lyrics were added and the song became 鈥淭he Teddy Bears鈥� Picnic.鈥�
Teddy bears remain popular today, but they have undergone a few cosmetic changes over the past century or so. Early teddy bears had more bearlike features,
like elongated snouts and beady eyes. Today鈥檚 bears are more likely to be pudgier and more human-like than their predecessors, with larger eyes and shortened snouts.
