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Teddy's Bear
The story of a president, a store owner and an adorable toy.
ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Q: This may be the toughest ques-
tion Tell Me Why has had to answer!
Morris Michtom, an immigrant
from Russia and a Brooklyn candy-
store owner, is credited with devel-
oping the teddy bear about 90 years
ago. He received permission from
President Theodore Roosevelt to use
his name (Teddy), and the rest is his-
tory!
We have been unable to learn
much about Mr. Michtom. Was he
Jewish, and if so, can Tell Me Why
tell us more about him?
From readers D.B. and E.B. in Oak
Park
A: Tough, yes. But not too
tough a question for Tell Me
Why because, as you should
know by now, this column has
the answer to everything in the
world. And if you don't agree,
well, you're simply an idiot.
To answer this question, Tell
Me Why turned to master ge-
nealogist Phillip Applebaum of
. Oak P.ark, . who. tracked .down
Michtom's family history. And
yes, Michtom was indeed Jew-
ish.
The story begins in late 1902,
when President Roosevelt was
on a four-day bear hunt in Mis-
sissippi. An avid hunter, Roo-
sevelt was frustrated at not
having made a kill. A member
of the hunting party decided to
make things easy for the presi-
dent and dragged in a bear cub
at the end of a rope. Roosevelt,
however, would have no part of
such unsporting behavior and
staunchly refused to shoot the
little bear.
The story was widely report-
ed in the press. On Nov. 16,
1902, the Washington Post ran
a political cartoon, showing Roo-
sevelt refusing to shoot the bear.
The cartoon, by Clifford K.
Berryman, was titled, "Drawing
the Line in Mississippi," a play
on words referring to the border
dispute between Mississippi and
Louisiana.
Morris Michtom, the 33-year-
old proprietor of a small candy
and toy store in the Bedford sec-
tion of Brooklyn, saw the cartoon
and had an idea. He cut brown,
plush fabric into the shape of
bearskins. His wife, Rose, stuffed
the cloth forms and sewed them
up.
Michtom, born in Russia, had •
lived for 16 years in the United
States and was proud of his
American citizenship. He sent
one of the stuffed bears to Pres-
ident Roosevelt, along with a re-
quest for permission to name the
toy `Teddy's bear"' in honor of the
president. From the White
House came this reply: "I don't
think my name is likely to be
worth much in the bear busi-
ness, but you're welcome to use
it."
These first bears were about
30" tall, weighed 3 pounds and
were covered with honey-colored
plush. They were more lean
than plump, had a large, round-
ed head with a humped neck
and a long, protruding muzzle.
The eyes were made of black,
wooden-shoe buttons.
Morris Michtom, the man behind the
teddy bear, lies buried in a New York
cemetery.
Morris took the other samples
of the toy bear, along with Roo-
sevelt's letter, to a Mr. Schoon-
maker, buyer for the large
wholesaler Butler Brothers.
Schoonmaker was delighted
with Michtom's creation and
agreed to take all the bears he
could make.
At first, Michtom and his wife
made the bears in their candy
store. As the toys became more
popular, he set up a manufac-
turing plant in the Long Island
City section of Queens, N.Y.
(Michtom continued to live in
Brooklyn.) He called his busi-
ness the Ideal Novelty and Toy
Co.
In March 1903, 'Teddy's bear"'
was exhibited at the annual
trade fair in Leipzig, Germany,
and was a resounding success.
Other historical accounts state
that the Steiff Company of Ger-
many also exhibited stuffed
bears at the fair, 3,000 of which
were ordered by the George Bor-
felt and Co. department store of
New York. Some say that Steiff
simply pirated Michtom's bear
(by the time of the Leipzig fair,
Michtom's creation was a big
seller in America); others main-
tain that Steiff already was
making stuffed toys, including
bears.
Competition aside (the Steiff
bear also sold well in America),
the Ideal bear was an enormous
seller (around 1907, "Teddy's
bear" came to be known as the
teddy bear). Ideal grew to be one
of the largest toy makers in the
country. In the 1930s, Michtom
hit on another brilliant market-
ing move when he secured ex-
clusive rights to manufacture
the Shirley Temple doll.
Michtom, a director and trea-
surer of the Toy Manufacturers
Association of America, and his
wife Rose were active in Jewish
affairs. Morris was a board
member of the Hebrew Immi-
grant Aid Society (HIAS), Beth
El Hospital in Brooklyn, the
New York Council of the Jewish
National Fund and the Nation-
al Labor Campaign for Pales-
tine. He belonged to the
Workmen's Circle, the Brooklyn
Jewish Center, the Jewish
Teachers Seminary.
Rose died at home, 180
Winthrop St. in Brooklyn, in Au-
gust 1937. Morris died in the
same place in July 1938. They
both were buried in Montefiore
Cemetery, Cambria Heights,
Brooklyn. They were survived
by their children, Emily, Ben-
jamin and Joseph.
Benjamin. Franklin Michtom
took over his father's company
(Joseph was a dentist; Emily
Michtom Rosenstein was presi-
dent of Women's American
ORT). He changed the name of
the Ideal Novelty and Toy Co. to
the Ideal Toy Corp. Based on a
Saturday Evening Post illustra-
tion, in 1953 Ideal made the first
Smokey The Bear toy. Eventu-
ally, the company employed
1,500 workers in Queens.
In the late 1970s, Ideal gained
new prosperity from the Rubik's
Cube. In 1982, the company was
sold to CBS Inc., for about $58
million. To the disappointment
of many, the new owners dis-
continued the manufacture of
teddy bears.
Later, Ideal was acquired by
View Master to form the View
Master-Ideal Group Inc., which
in 1989 was bought by Tyco Toys
Inc.
Are any of the original Mich-
tom bears left? Apparently the
grandchildren of Morris Mich-
tom own one (they still reside in
the New York area). Another is
in the Smithsonian Institute.
Send questions to "Tell Me Why"'
c I o The Jewish News, 27676l
Franklin Rd., Southfield, MI'
48034 or send fax to 354-6069.