The Baby Blog

Bear Musical

The Pink Teddy Bear and Novelty Bears

The pink teddy bear is considered a novelty bear of simply because of its unusual coloring. And, contrary to popular belief, pink teddy bears are not reserved strictly for the birth of a baby, a christening, or a baby shower; this delightful teddy can be given and purchased for any and all occasions.

In the 1950s and 1960s, the novelty teddy bear was born. Japanese manufactures – which had been producing molded, bisque, and celluloid bears since the 1920s – really came into their own.

Between 1945-50, after Japan's occupation by the U.S. army, they became very active in the toy industry and soon were leading the way when it came to technology and mechanical toys. The Kamar Toy Co. produced clockwork and battery-powered teddy bears that were both cheap and innovative - they could be wound up and moved forward.

Clockwork movement of teddy bears was also being done in Switzerland. Before the start of World War II, the Swiss had provided musical boxes which were fitted inside teddy bears belonging to all the leading manufacturers. However, in the 1950s, the first Swiss teddy bear manufacturer was established in Zurich. MCZ adopted the trademark Mutzli - meaning "little bear" - and used the name on identification tags which were attached to the teddy's ear or chest. Their range of bears included dressed boy and girl bears, bear rattles, soft-filled unjointed bears for newborn babies, a Chef bear, bears that had flexible limbs, and bears that were on all fours. Unfortunately, the company went out of production in the 1990s.

The Merrythought Co. produced the Twisty Bear Family in 1965 – Mr. And Mrs. Twisty Bear and their two children. They had blue fabric bodies and father and son wore red overalls, while mom and daughter wore red skirts and white aprons. All the bears had large feet and an internal wire frame which allowed them to stand. With the internal wire, the bears could also be twisted and would hold a position until moved again.

From the 1920s on, musical bears with clockwork or pressure-activated mechanisms were popular. Teddy manufacturers around the world had the tendency to buy their mechanisms from Swiss producers rather than making the attempt to produce them themselves. In 1928, Steiff introduced musical teddies with Musik Teddy and Musik Petsy. Clothing on the bear (such as a skirt) would hide a cylinder which contained the musical movement. When the bear was pressed down, the melody would play.

Schreyer and Co., under the brand name Schuco, were one of the finest producers of novelty teddies. They introduced a wide range of automotive, miniature, and other unusual bears to the market, using many of the ingenious techniques it had developed when it produced toy cars. There was a uniformed soldier bear produced in the 1920s which was a clockwork Bär 155 Automatic, that would march up and down when it was wound up.

In the scheme of things, the pink teddy bear is not so unusual given the different types of novelty bears that have been produced over the years. While it's still most often given to mark an occasion associated with a little girl, the pink teddy bear, like all novelty bears, doesn't have to have such a specific label associated with it.

pink teddy bear

big teddy bears

Copyright Shelley Vassall, 2010. Contact the author to obtain permission for republication.

 

About the Author

Shelley Vassall is a writer and collector of the pink teddy bear as well as big teddy bears.

Musical instruments of the future...what are your predictions?

Over the centuries, musical instruments have undergone substantial structural and functional changes.

Ever-increasing size of orchestras and concert venues - development of key-mechanisms to facilitate increasing technical demands - rising pitch - these have driven the evolution of many simple ancient instruments into virtual hi-tech machines.

Some instruments - eg. the strings and percussion - have remained relatively unchanged - violins and harps bear more similarities to their Baroque counterparts than, say, oboe, horn or piano - though no instrument is immune to change.

And instruments continue to evolve - each decade sees substantial advances in development - today's top-of-the-range flute, for example, with its "high-wave lip-plate" and "improved" key-work make 50 year old flutes seem almost primitive!

What are YOUR predictions for the musical instruments of the twenty-third century - and why?

Look into your crystal ball and share your thoughts...

Hafwen x

By the 23rd Century, the ascendancy of Western culture will only be a memory. Predictions of this nature are awfully hard to make, even without the uncertainty of the world's political and commercial state to further complicate matters!.

Will nationalism have shrunk, and will there be a 'world music' by then?
Thirty years ago, I was one of a growing band of composers that were almost ready to articulate the prediction that the synthesiser, as developing in France, Germany, Britain, USA, and Japan (!) would be the vehicle of the new music.

How wrong we were!

Who could have predicted the massive wave of conservatism, of reactionary fear, almost, that swept over most of the world.
I refer not only to music, of course, but to all of the arts, to Spiritual aspirations, as well as to our political sentiments. The fundamentalist hysteria (e.g. Iran, as well as the USA), the rejection of much of socialism, the collapse of the Soviet Union, etc.

Now there is a formidable group of music lovers who really believe they need know nothing of music written less than 100 years ago. "I am a Baroque specialist!", "I recommend the works of Chopin" etc., are not the utterings of some lunatic fringe! They represent the typical lover of Western Art Music in 2008.

Is this an indication of the actual death of this expressive, creative music? This music, unique in the history of the world, music that depends on continuous creative evolution.

It well could be.
('They' tend to call it 'Classical' Music these days, maybe ignorant of what 'Classical' Music really is; or are they, perhaps, unconsciously prophesying the fall of European Art Music?)

Electronics, in the immediate future, will have to do for much of the grand civic investments in music. (The Organ, predominantly)

Will electronics infiltrate the orchestra? While this is possible,I doubt it.

The "Classical" Music Lovers are not a very 'avant guarde' group, and (I hope) that 'they' will save the acoustic instruments, if only because of their conservatism!

( I think the Orchestra, as a vehicle for the performance of music, is under threat of extinction. Composers have almost stopped writing music in any 'new' style for quite a while now! The widespread availability of fine recordings of orchestral works must also be a threat?)

In Commercial Music (USA, Britain, France, Japan) electronic music (it is - brashly - called 'techno', I believe) has ceased growing. (To my horror, I find myself joyful!)

This is a most long-winded method of saying : "I have no idea!"

It is a confronting question, one of the most interesting I have encountered in a long while!