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Ideal Toy & Novelty Company history
The very first teddy bear was created in 1903 in Brooklyn, New York, by Russian immigrant inventor Morris Michtom and his wife Rose. The inspiration for the now universally beloved plush toy was an incident depicted in a Wasnington Post cartoon, in which President Theodore Roosevelt refused to shoot a bear cub during a hunt in Mississippi. Rose handcrafted soft, jointed versions of the cartoon cub and displayed them in the storefront window of the Michtoms' toy shop. The bears quickly became a huge hit in the neighborhood, prompting the Michtoms to establish the Ideal Toy & Novelty Company to meet the overwhelming demand for the new toy sensation.Legend has it that Rose wrote a letter to President Roosevelt asking for permission to use his name, "Teddy," for the advertising of their new product. She named it Teddy's Bear and hoped the president would be flattered by the compliment. The legend continues that the president wrote back to the Michtoms, giving his blessing on the name and adding that he was doubtful it would add anything to its popularity. How wrong he was! Eventually, the '''s'' was dropped, and the world took the "teddy bear" to its heart.
Ideal earned the distinction of being the first American toy manufacturer to mass produce bears, which remained its main product until the 1930s. By then, comic-character toy's \vere becoming very popular in the United States. The company obtained the rights to produce toy's of characters like Mickey Mouse, Popeye, and Dope)'. In addition, composition dolls and, later, plastic dolls were added to the product line.
There were no permanent labels placed on the bears during manufacture, so exact idcntification of the early bears can bc difficult. But the bears were produced in a distinctive style that seasoned collectors have come to recognize. Dolls are usually marked on the back or under the hairline on the back of the neck.
