In Praise of Teddy Bears

 RHYS BOWEN:

Just before Christmas I noticed it was National Teddy bear Day. This was celebrated in our household because I happen to love teddy bears. It started because I was a deprived child. I didn’t own a teddy bear until I turned twenty-one.  I was born in the middle of WWII when it was impossible to buy toys. I had home made stuffed animals but never a real teddy bear. So for my twenty-first birthday I asked for one.

My mother, always wanting to do things properly, went to Hamleys on Regent Street (The FAO Schwartz of Britain) to choose a teddy bear. The assistant showed her one after the other. She rejected them all. In the end he said, trying to hide the exasperated tone, “What exactly are you looking for, madam?”

                “One with a nice face,” my mother replied indignantly. “These ones aren’t smiling.”

                So in the end she found the perfect bear. I named him Henry, after an American student I’d met in Germany who looked just like that—friendly, chubby, understanding. I still have Henry, now rather the worse for wear after having been played with by my own children, but he’s packed away in a trunk somewhere in the attic. My more recent teddy bears are more compact. Their names are Sophie and Alexander and they come with me on book tours to cheer me up after a long day. (Alexander is the one with the more mischievous expression. Sophie is long-suffering.)

                During the pandemic I made them a house. The visiting bear is Sophie’s grandfather (whose hair is turning white and who has to sit down).   I’ve always loved small things—I used to have a fabulous doll house, made for me by an old man my father knew. And I need toys around me, to distract me when I’m working.  I keep a variety of amusements in my office. Edgar Allen Poe bobblehead is rather the worse for wear. The cube is all Monet seascapes. I love them all. The wind-up hamburger makes me laugh and is good for morale.

Eleanor Roosevelt watches over my low bookcase. I rescued her from a bookshop when other people were discussing how ugly she was.  She brings much joy

And this is my Zen garden on top of my credenza. I enjoy rearranging and raking while I wait for ideas to gel.

So, dear Reds, who else still plays with toys? Who else has stuffed animals?  Is there something wrong with me? The Peter Pan syndrome perhaps? Who else has distractions in their office?

Just want to be...your teddy bear

ROSEMARY HARRIS: Okay the day you've been waiting for - dolls, book giveaways and your teddy bears. Let's kick things off with the king - Elvis at his youngest and hottest.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhdUucs8AlY

Drum Roll...
Monday's winner (Slugfest)- Thelma Straw
Wednesday's winner of Zoe Sharp's book - Jack Getze
Friday's winner of Vicki Delany's book - Karen in Ohio

and ...all the pix were wonderful but the the top teddy bear/doll/doggie pix are

KAYE'S TEDDIES

 

DRU'S Babies

 

MO'S Gigi

JOAN'S Sparkles and Brownie

DARLENE'S Bill

 

                                                                         LESLIE's teddy

REINE'S

 

PAULA'S.

 

.. andTuesday's winner of The Other Woman

 

                                                             SANDI'S Twicket!

Sandi, pls contact Hank at hank@hankphillippiryan.com
Jack, authorzoesharp@gmail.com
Karen, vicki@vickidelany.com

 
Enjoy!

Teddy Bears' Picnic

ROSEMARY HARRIS: Here he is, the first guy I ever went to bed with, and still the longest relationship I've ever had. Meet Cubby.
Like The Velveteen Rabbit (but unlike me...ha!) Cubby is showing his age a bit. You can see I used to bite his nose and inevitably, as all kids seem to, one day I decided he needed a bath - but dang if he hasn't forgiven me and hung on. Despite the loss of one eye and a whole lot of fur, Cubby is still smiling, and I've gotta say I get a kick out of having him around. (Usually on a shelf in the closet...I have a bigger teddy bear to sleep with now!)
Do you still have your first teddy bear? Or doll? And has anyone seen the movie Ted?

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Aww. It makes me miss Cinnamon, my Steiff plush horse. Which I loved. I LOVED. I can still almost feel how comforting it was. And Cinnamon wasn't one bit cuddly. She was elegant and sleek and the color of--well, you know.
And sometimes my baby sister Nina called her Synonym. Which even now is pretty funny.

I really didn't understand the doll thing. I had some, but we never really got along. As you can see from this photo.


I bugged my parents for a Steiff Okapi, but they would never buy it for me. I also went through college with a stuffed green Cecil the Seasick Sea Serpent, which talked when you pulled a string. ("I'm comin' Beany Boy!") I had Cecil into my twenties, when a boyfriend's four-year-old son fell in love with it, and I gave it to him. (It was Richard Holbrooke, actually, who became secretary of state.) I wonder if Anthony Holbrooke still has my Cecil....

ROSEMARY: You dated Richard Holbrooke...?

HANK: Oh, yes. A story for another blog. He was brilliant.

DEBORAH CROMBIE: My earliest memory is of sitting up in my crib when I was supposed to be napping, playing with my stuffed animals.  No dolls for me, ever.  But I didn't save any of them, although I do still have daughter's favorite blue "Horsey."  I've made up for not keep the childhood friends by replacing them.  On my bed are Gordon the teddy, Paddington (the proper Paddington in his original coat), Bob the green elephant, Tosh the German shepherd, and Leo the hippo.  Some of you may remember Leo, who is now a star in his own right.
Oh, and my first record was "The Teddy Bear's Picnic", sung by Bing Crosby. I think it gave me nightmares.

ROSEMARY: I LOVE Paddington....Please look after this bear! (Whatever happened to my Paddington...)

HANK: Yes, Debs, that song is CREEPY.

ROSEMARY: (Really? What do you all think?? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_jNgirWeQY&feature=relmfu )

JAN BROGAN _  I have not seen the movie Ted yet, but I think it looks like a hoot. I was the opposite of Debs, I played with dolls and hung onto a Thumbalina until I had my first boyfriend and had to quickly toss the doll in the closet so he couldn't see I STILL PLAYED WITH DOLLS.  Not only did I still play with dolls, but I take credit for inventing the disposable diaper long before Procter-Gamble got into the business.  A Kleenex fastened at each side with elastics for my brother's braces kept Thumbalina very dry and comfortable. Although  I never hung onto stuffed animals, I take a weird delight in the fact the my grown up daughter took her Teddy with her to Medical School, and my son moved his Tiger, Candle, from his dumpy Brooklyn apartment to his new Manhattan digs. (This is Lannie's teddy!)

HALLIE EPHRON: So boring, I did not bond with stuffed animals. Or play with dolls, other than to dress and undress them. I did have a baby doll -- rubber (I remember the taste of her foot) legs and arms with a stuffed cloth body. I think I lost interest in her when my little sister was born. Otherwise I was much more into games. Parcheesi. Careers. Monopoly. My parents moved when I was in college and anything that I didn't have at college with me got swept away.

RHYS BOWEN: I never had a teddy bear. Sob. Because in those post war years of austerity in England you couldn't buy nice toys. So for my 21st birthday my mother bought me Henry Bear at Hamleys on Regent Street. She spent hours looking at bears until the store clerk said, "Madame, what exactly are you looking for?" and my mother said indignantly "A bear with a nice smile, of course."

LUCY BURDETTE: Oh this post makes me sad...I had a wonderful collection of stuffed cats. My parents gave me a new one for Christmases and birthdays. They were all different colors and personalities and their coats were made of rabbit fur. (I know...) My first one was called Fuzzy Wuzzy. Then came Wuzzy Fuzzy, Tangerine, Licorice, and Queenie (who was attached to a little red heart pillow) and more.
But when I lived in Florida for graduate school, we had a terrible battle with roaches. One day I looked in the closet where they were kept and found that the roaches had eaten off every bit of fur. All I had left was a collection of pitiful bald animals. I kept them for a while but was finally persuaded to throw them out--I had to agree that absolutely no one else could find them appealing.

ROSEMARY:  JR readers, send me pix of YOUR teddy bears ( rosemary@rosemaryharris.com) and I will post on Sunday. One lucky winner will receive an advanced readers copy of Hank's new release The Other Woman.