Evening star., 1939-04-02
Bergman
Continued From Page C-5)

i'll, Bergman Cartoons began to ap-
pear regularly. He was engaged for
The Star by the late Crosby S. Noyes
in 1908, and from the first day at
work for The Star, with few days
missed because of illness or vaca-
tions, the Bergman cartoon has
been a page one feature ever since.
The Teddy Bear Incident.
Not long after he began his regular
cartooning there occurred the
Teddy bear" incident, which, had
Mr.. Bergman or his associates pos
sessed the commercial foresight of a
Walt Disney, might have made him
a rich man. AS a matter of fact,
Bergman never made a cent from
his famous Teddy bear. The original
Teddy bear cartoon hangs in the
National Press Club, and the story,
told many times, can be repeated
here-for somebody is always bring
ing it up and asking how it started
President Theodore Roosevelt had
gone November, 1902 to Mississippi
on a bear hunt not long after the
incident of the white and Negro
troops In Brownsville, Tex. For 10
days he and his companions searched
in vain for any sign of game.
Finally, the last day of his vacation,
the stirring cry of bear" was heard
outside the Presidents tent and he
hurried out to discover a cub teth-
aroJ xY-ith q cfN,1t rnro
Teddy was contemptuous. take
it away" he said. "If 1 shot that
little fellow I would be ashamed to
look in the faces of my own chill
dren."
Mr.. Bergman depicted this Incl
dent in a cartoon which he labeled
with double entendre. Drawing the
Line in Mississippi The next
morning William E. Chandler for-
mer Senator from New Hampshire,
then president of the Spanish Claims
Commission). called Mr.. Bergman
and told him that he and Senator
Lodge had laughed heartily over the
cartoon, and hoped the little bear
would be continued.
Mr.. Chambers telephone call was
merely the beginning. Hundreds of
letters were sent to the cartoonist
attesting the popularity of the bear.
Mark Sullivan has written in Volume
II of Our Times:
"The Teddy bear beginning with
Berryman's original cartoon, was re-
peated thousands of times and
printed literally thousands of mil
lions of times; in countless varia-
tions, pictorial and verbal. prose and
verse: on the stage and in political
debate; in satire or in humorous
friendliness. Toy-makers took ad-
vantage of its vogue; it became more
common in the hands of children
than the woolly lamb. For Republi-
can conventions, and meetings as
sociated with Roosevelt, the Teddy
bear became the standard decora-
ton, more in evidence than the
eagle and only less usual than the
Stars and Stripes"
It never occurred to Mr.. Bergman
to patent his little creation. He
merely says:
II have made thousands of chill
dren happy; that is enough for me. "
Theodore Roosevelt habitually
called the "Teddy-be the Berry
man bear" Mr.. Bergman has in
his collection photograph of
Roosevelt inscribed as follows:
'The creator of the Bergman
bear always has the call on the
Roosevelt administration! My dear
Mr.. Bergman, you have the real
artists ability to combine great
cleverness and keen truthfulness
with entire freedom from malice.
Good citizens are your debtors. Ever
your friend, Theodore Roosevelt" J"
The photograph is dated January 4,
1908.
An ironic aftermath of the Teddy
bear creation in which this photo
graph played decisive role, oc-
Cured in 1914 A Midwestern car
toonist, who had adopted the Teddy
bear for use in his own cartoons,
obtained patent or copyright on it.
His lawyers called on the president
of The Evening Star Newspaper Co.
and informed him of the patent; they
said that The Stars cartoonist must
discontinue his use of the Teddy bear
and threatened to sue for damages