Noel Regney Speaks - The Monday Morning Memo

“In 1902, President Roosevelt went on a bear hunting trip in Mississippi. After several days without success, his guides captured a black bear and tied it to a tree for him to shoot—essentially handing him a guaranteed trophy.

But Roosevelt refused, calling it unsportsmanlike. He said he wouldn’t shoot a defenseless animal.

Enter the cartoon:

Political cartoonist Clifford Berryman drew a sketch of the incident in The Washington Post, showing Roosevelt sparing the bear. It quickly became famous.

The birth of the teddy bear:

Inspired by the cartoon, a Brooklyn candy shop owner named Morris Michtom and his wife made a stuffed bear cub and put it in their shop window with a sign:
“Teddy’s Bear.”

It was a hit. Michtom went on to mass-produce the toys, founding the Ideal Toy Company, and the name stuck.

Meanwhile, in Germany, Steiff—a separate toy maker—was also developing jointed stuffed bears, and both versions helped launch the global teddy bear craze.

“

- Craig Arthur, Townsville, Australia

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