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41-555: Morris and Rose Michtom founded the "Ideal Novelty and Toy Company" in Brooklyn when they invented the Teddy bear in 1903. Rose had made the original "Teddy's Bear" for their children. Morris and Rose sent a bear to President "Teddy" Roosevelt, as well as asking permission to use his name for the bear. Roosevelt "adopted" the bear and had it present in his campaign and on display at White House functions. After Morris Michtom's death in 1938,

82-550: A Judy Garland doll. Two cosmetics-based doll series were launched after World War II: Toni was introduced at the end of the 1940s, followed by the 1950s-dominating Miss Revlon series. Ideal had a hobby division in the 1950s, but shifted from that to games in 1962. By the early 1970s, 30% of the company's sales were games such as Mouse Trap and Hands Down. Doll designer Judith Albert worked for Ideal Toy Company from 1960 to 1982. Master sculptor Vincent J. DeFilippo spent 27 years creating dolls for Ideal from 1963 to 1980. Some of

123-596: A "characteristic two-step", in 1907, which later had words written to it by lyricist Jimmy Kennedy in 1932. Early teddy bears were made to look like real bears, with extended snouts and beady eyes. Modern teddy bears tend to have larger eyes and foreheads and smaller noses, which are babylike features intended to enhance the toy's " cuteness ". Some teddy bears are also designed to represent different species, such as polar bears and brown bears , as well as pandas and koalas . While early teddy bears were covered in tawny mohair fur, modern teddy bears are manufactured in

164-479: A boy doll launched named the Uneeda Kid, after a biscuit company . It was patented on December 8, 1914. The 15-inch boy doll wore a blue and white bloomer suit and held a box of Uneeda Biscuits under his arm. One of Ideal's most lasting products was Betsy Wetsy , introduced in 1934 and in production for more than 50 years. The doll was named after the daughter of Abraham Katz, the head of the company. Ideal, via

205-539: A choking hazard for small children. These "plush" bears must meet a rigid standard of construction in order to be marketed to children in the United States and in the European Union. The Vermont Teddy Bear Company in the U.S. is one of the world's largest specialty marketers of teddy bears. There are also companies, like Steiff, that sell handmade collectible bears that can be purchased in stores or over

246-837: A new plant in College Point, Queens , but was unable to strike a deal with the Lindsay administration. Consequently, the company opened a new facility in Newark, New Jersey , in the early 1970s, while continuing to operate its factory in Hollis. In 1979, a Hungarian inventor, Erno Rubik , pitched his "Magic Cube" to Ideal Toy Company, who renamed it the "Rubik's cube." The toy was sold in stores beginning in 1980. Ideal had earnings of $ 3.7 million in fiscal year 1979–1980, but lost $ 15.5 million in fiscal year 1980–1981. (Sales both years averaged around $ 150 million.) Trying to maximize profits on

287-585: A popular children's toy and has been celebrated in story, song, and film. Since the creation of the first teddy bears (which sought to imitate the form of real bear cubs), "teddies" have greatly varied in form, style, color, and material. They have become collector's items , with older and rarer teddies appearing at public auctions. Teddy bears are among the most popular gifts for children, and they are often given to adults to signify affection, congratulations, or sympathy. The name teddy bear comes from former United States President Theodore Roosevelt , who

328-798: A sign "Teddy's bear." The toys were an immediate success and Michtom founded the Ideal Novelty and Toy Co . A little earlier in 1902 in Germany, the Steiff firm produced a stuffed bear from Richard Steiff 's designs. Steiff exhibited the toy at the Leipzig Toy Fair in March 1903, where it was seen by Hermann Berg, a buyer for George Borgfeldt & Company in New York (and the brother of composer Alban Berg ). He ordered 3,000 to be sent to

369-497: A symbol of southern pride. Toy companies making them advertised using slogans predicting the end of teddy bear popularity. Those around Taft theorized that he would be remembered in a similar way as Roosevelt with a popular toy. However, the Billy Possum plush toy didn't achieve the same level of popularity or enduring legacy, and the toy's production and impact were minimal in comparison. Magic 8-ball The Magic 8 Ball

410-476: A version in the form of a traditional black-and-white 8 ball, which was possibly inspired by a gag in the 1940 Three Stooges short film , You Nazty Spy! Although originally sold as a paperweight , the Magic 8 Ball remained popular for several decades as both an office toy and a children's toy. In 1971, Bookman sold Alabe Crafts, Inc., to Ideal Toys , who marketed the ball firmly at children. In 1987,

451-564: A wide range of materials including felt , cotton and velour . While many are stitched, others are made from yarn , either knitted or crocheted . Retail sales of stuffed plush animals including teddy bears totaled $ 1.3 billion in 2006, with manufacturers including Gund and Ty Inc. Teddy bear plush toys have enjoyed ongoing popularity, complete with specialty retailers such as Teddy Atelier Stursberg and Vermont Teddy Bear Company , as well as do-it-yourself chains including Build-A-Bear Workshop . The world's first teddy bear museum

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492-414: A wide variety of commercially available fabrics , most commonly synthetic fur , but also velour , denim , cotton , satin , and canvas . Commercially made, mass-produced teddy bears are predominantly made as toys for children. These bears either have safety joints for attaching arms, legs, and heads, or else the joints are sewn and not articulated. They must have securely fastened eyes that do not pose

533-544: A willow tree after a long exhausting chase with hounds . They called Roosevelt to the site and suggested that he shoot it, although Collier told Roosevelt not to shoot the bear while it was tied. Roosevelt refused to shoot the bear himself, deeming this unsportsmanlike, but instructed that the bear be killed to put it out of its misery, and it became the topic of a political cartoon by Clifford Berryman in The Washington Post on November 16, 1902. While

574-422: Is a plastic sphere, made to look like an oversized eight ball , that is used for fortune-telling or seeking advice. It was invented in 1946 by Albert C. Carter and Abe Bookman and is manufactured by Mattel . The user asks a yes–no question to the ball, then turns it over to reveal an answer that floats up into a window. The functional component of the Magic 8 Ball was invented by Albert C. Carter, who

615-424: Is woven into cloth, dyed and trimmed. Teddy bears are a favourite form of soft toy for amateur toy makers, with many patterns commercially produced or available online. Many "teddies" are home-made as gifts or for charity, while "teddy bear artists" often create "teddies" for retail, decorating them individually with commercial and recycled ornaments such as sequins, beads and ribbons. Sewn teddy bears are made from

656-621: The Rubik's Cube craze, Ideal filed civil suits in May 1981 against dozens of distributors and retailers selling knockoff cubes. In May 1981, Joseph Winkler was named Ideal's president, succeeding Lionel Weintraub, who remained chairman and CEO. In 1982, the company moved its headquarters from Hollis, Queens , to Harmon Meadow , New Jersey. It was sold to CBS Toys later that year for around $ 58 million. In 1984, CBS sold Ideal to Viewmaster International , which renamed itself "View-Master Ideal" in

697-470: The same name . After that Ideal began making a line of baby and character dolls such as Naughty Marietta (from the Victor Herbert operetta), and Admiral Dot . Ideal advertised their dolls as "unbreakable," since they were made of composition , a material made of sawdust and glue, rather than ceramics. Ideal produced over 200 variations of dolls throughout the composition era. In 1914, Ideal had

738-581: The 1950s, '60s, and '70s were Lionel A. Weintraub and Joseph C. Winkler. Weintraub, the son-in-law of Abraham Katz, joined the company in 1941 and rose to become president, chairman of the board, and chief executive officer. Winkler joined Ideal in 1956, rising to vice president by 1971. In 1951, Ideal partnered with its competitors the American Character Doll Company and the Alexander Doll Company to establish

779-633: The Betsy Wetsy doll, was also one of the first doll manufacturers to produce an African American version of a popular doll. In 2003, the Toy Industry Association named Betsy Wetsy to its Century of Toys List, a compilation commemorating the 100 most memorable and most creative toys of the 20th century. Debuting in 1934, the Shirley Temple doll was their best-selling doll. Ideal followed this with licensed Disney dolls and

820-540: The Internet. The majority of teddy bears are manufactured in countries with low production costs, such as China and Indonesia. A few small, single-person producers in the United States make unique, non-mass-produced teddy bears. In the United Kingdom one small, traditional teddy bear company remains, Merrythought , which was established in 1930. Mohair , the fur shorn or combed from a breed of long haired goats,

861-508: The Juna Group to represent worldwide select Ideal brands (not included in the sale to Poof-Slinky) in all categories outside of toys and playthings. In 2023, this license agreement was acquired from The Juna Group by CSN Press LLC, publishers of the weekly newspaper, Comic Shop News . Ideal began making dolls in 1907 to complement its line of teddy bears . Their first doll was “Yellow Kid” from Richard Felton Outcault 's comic strip of

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902-762: The New York Stock Exchange. In 1968, the American Character Doll Company filed for bankruptcy, and Ideal acquired the defunct company's dyes, patents, and trademarks, as well as specific products like the " Tressy " Gro-Hair doll. In late 1971, Ideal joined the New York Stock Exchange ; valued at $ 71 million, it was one of the U.S.'s top three toy companies. By 1970, Ideal had outgrown its manufacturing complex in Hollis, Queens . The company wanted to build

943-650: The Teddy Bear Cops program to distribute teddy bears to police, fire, and medical responders throughout the United States. On April Fools' Day 1972, issue 90 of The Veterinary Record published a paper on the diseases of Brunus edwardii detailing common afflictions of teddy bears. The largest teddy bear measures 19.41 m (63 ft 8 in) in length and was constructed by Municipio de Xonacatlán, Ideas por México and Agrupación de Productores de Peluche (all Mexico), in Estado de México, on 28 April 2019. The bear

984-535: The United States-Israeli Toy and Plastic Corporation. The company was created to produce material for toys in Israel; the U.S. Ideal CEO Abraham Katz was named president of the new company. In 1953, Ideal won the licensing rights to produce the U.S. Forest Service 's Smokey Bear . They kept their licensing until 1968 when the U.S. Forest Service switched to Knickerbocker. In 1968, Ideal joined

1025-399: The United States. Although Steiff's records show that the bears were produced, they are not recorded as arriving in the U.S., and no example of the type, "55 PB", has ever been seen, leading to the story that the bears were shipwrecked . However, the shipwreck story is disputed – author Günther Pfeiffer notes that it was only recorded in 1953 and says it is more likely that the 55 PB

1066-421: The ball, a cylindrical reservoir contains a white plastic 20-sided regular icosahedron die floating in approximately 100 ml ( 3 + 1 ⁄ 2  US fl oz) of alcohol dyed dark blue. Each of the die's 20 faces has an affirmative, negative, or non-committal statement printed in raised letters. These messages are read through a window on the ball's bottom. To use the ball, it must be held with

1107-472: The company changed its name to the "Ideal Toy Company", and Michtom's nephew Abraham Katz became chief executive. During World War II , the company's value rose from $ 2 million all the way to $ 11 million. The company's dolls were so popular during the post–World War II baby boom era, they began selling dolls under license in Canada , Australia , the United Kingdom , and Brazil . Key Ideal employees during

1148-579: The company's most popular dolls during this period were Tammy (1962–1966), Flatsy dolls (1969–1973), Crissy (1969–1974), and Tressy (1970–1972). Popular Ideal toys in the 1970s included a full line of Evel Knievel toys, Snoopy toys, and the Tuesday Taylor and Wake-up Thumbelina dolls. For a short time, the company had a huge seller with the Magic Cube , which it imported from Hungary in 1980 and renamed Rubik's Cube . The Rubik's Cube

1189-404: The founder's names, Albert and Abe. Alabe marketed and sold the cylinder as The Syco-Slate. Carter died sometime before the patent was granted in 1948. Bookman made improvements to The Syco-Slate, and in 1948 it was encased in an iridescent crystal ball . Though not successful, the revamped product caught the attention of Chicago's Brunswick Billiards , who in 1950 commissioned Alabe Crafts to make

1230-517: The initial cartoon of an adult black bear lassoed by a handler and a disgusted Roosevelt had symbolic overtones, later issues of that and other Berryman cartoons made the bear smaller and cuter. Morris Michtom saw the Berryman drawing of Roosevelt and was inspired to create a teddy bear. He created a tiny soft bear cub and put it in his candy shop window at 404 Tompkins Avenue in Brooklyn with

1271-510: The instructions warn against doing so to avoid white bubbles. While the Magic 8 Ball has undergone very few changes, an addition in 1975 by new owners, Ideal Toy Company , fixed the bubble problem. Their patented "Bubble Free Die Agitator", an inverted funnel, rerouted the air trapped inside. The solution has been used ever since. A standard Magic 8 Ball has twenty possible answers, including ten affirmative answers ( ● ), five non-committal answers ( ● ), and five negative answers ( ● ). ● It

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1312-760: The process. In 1989, View-Master Ideal was bought by Tyco Toys of Mt. Laurel, New Jersey , for $ 43.9 million. The Ideal line remained part of Tyco until Tyco's merger with Mattel, Inc. , in 1997. Ideal's United Kingdom assets were sold to Hasbro , which has since released Mouse Trap and KerPlunk under its MB Games brand. Other toys that originated with Ideal continue to be marketed and sold by other companies, including Rubik's Cube by Hasbro and Magic 8-ball by Mattel . The Ideal trademarks, and most toy molds not purchased by Hasbro or Mattel, were purchased by Jay Horowitz of American Plastic Equipment, who later transferred all rights to American Plastic Equipment's subsidiary, American Classic Toys. Mr. Horowitz licensed

1353-461: The rights were again sold to Tyco Toys , spurring on another marketing campaign and resurgence in interest. Tyco Toys was acquired by Mattel, the current manufacturer, in 1997. Despite its numerous owners, the Magic 8 Ball has changed little in design and implementation. The Magic 8 Ball is a hollow plastic sphere resembling a black-and-white 8 ball. Its standard size is larger than an ordinary pool ball, but it has been made in different sizes. Inside

1394-551: The trademark and toy rights to Plaza Toys, to be used on its Fiddlestix building sticks products, and eventually sold the mark and toy rights in January 2011 to Poof- Slinky . In January 2014, the Ideal brand and toy rights became part of a new company, Alex Brands, after the May 2013 acquisition of Alex Toys by Propel Equity Partners. In early 2019, Jay Horowitz of American Classic Toys entered into an exclusive license agreement with

1435-415: The window initially facing down to allow the die to float within the cylinder. After asking the ball a yes–no question , the user then turns the ball so that the window faces up. The die floats to the top, and one face presses against the window; the raised letters displace the blue liquid to reveal the message as white letters on a blue background. Although most users shake the ball before turning it upright,

1476-449: Was displayed at the local stadium in the city of Xonacatlán, and was made with the same materials as a commercially available teddy bear, including details such as a tiara, dress, eyes, and nose. The Billy Possum was a plush toy created after William Howard Taft won the presidential election in 1908 . The toy was a stuffed possum, made to replace the teddy bear. The possum was chosen because of Taft's love for "possum and taters", and as

1517-501: Was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame in 2014. Teddy bear This is an accepted version of this page A teddy bear is a stuffed toy in the form of a bear . Developed apparently simultaneously by toymakers Morris Michtom in the U.S. and Richard Steiff under his aunt Margarete Steiff 's company in Germany in the early 20th century, the teddy bear, named after President Theodore Roosevelt , became

1558-503: Was inspired by a spirit writing device used by his mother, a Cincinnati clairvoyant . When Carter approached store owner Max Levinson about stocking the device, Levinson called in Abe Bookman, Levinson's brother-in-law, and graduate of Ohio Mechanics Institute . In 1944, Carter filed for a patent for the cylindrical device, assigning it in 1946 to Bookman, Levinson and another partner in what came to be Alabe Crafts, Inc., combining

1599-425: Was not sufficiently durable to survive until the present day. Although Steiff and Michtom were both making teddy bears at around the same time, neither would have known of the other's creation due to poor transatlantic communication. North American educator Seymour Eaton wrote the children's book series The Roosevelt Bears , while composer John Walter Bratton wrote an instrumental " The Teddy Bears' Picnic ",

1640-559: Was often referred to as "Teddy" (a nickname which he loathed). The name originated from an incident on a bear hunting trip in Mississippi in November 1902, to which Roosevelt was invited by Mississippi Governor Andrew H. Longino . There were several other hunters competing, and most of them had already killed an animal. A suite of Roosevelt's attendants, led by Holt Collier , cornered, clubbed, and tied an American black bear to

1681-545: Was set up in Petersfield, Hampshire , England, in 1984. In 1990, a similar foundation was set up in Naples , Florida , United States. These were closed in 2006 and 2005 respectively, and the bears were sold in auctions, but there are many teddy bear museums around the world today. Because police, fire and medical officials found that giving a teddy bear to a child during a crisis stabilized and calmed them, NAPLC created

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