Almost everyone has heard the origin story of America’s favorite toy - the teddy bear. One fateful day in 1902, President Theodore ”Teddy” Roosevelt headed on a hunting trip but refused to shoot a baby bear. He quickly became the icon of the kind-hearted environmentalist we know him to be and the stuffed bear was destined to carry on his legacy forever.
In honor of National Teddy Bear Day on September 9, let’s take a look at five unusual fun teddy bear facts and traditions:
- American composer John Walter Bratton composed “The Teddy Bear Two-Step” a song later to be known as “The Teddy Bear’s Picnic” in 1907. A heartwarming tune about the love each generation has for its loyal stuffed friends, the song has certainly inspired thousands of fun-filled birthday parties.
- The first commercially available stuffed animal was produced by the German Steiff company and was not a bear, but an elephant pincushion!
- Did you know that the beloved teddy bear Corduroy was not originally supposed to be a stuffed bear, but a little boy? Author Don Freeman never published the original story, called The Inferior Decorator.
- The original stuffed Winnie-the-Pooh, Tigger, Kanga, and Piglet can be found on display in the New York Public Library Fifth Avenue. (The real-life Christopher Robin, unfortunately, lost Roo in the real-life Hundred Acre Wood.)
- There is a real-life Paddington Bear statue in Paddington station. He is just the right size and is located in left luggage, just by a gift shop stuffed to the brim with Paddington hats and toys. Bring your own marmalade sandwiches!
Natalie Varker is a part-time page at the Crestwood Library and a full-time student at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, NH. She is studying elementary education and is especially passionate about child growth and development, special education, and children’s literature. Her free time is spent reading, watching, and talking about her favorite rom-coms.