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hey everyone today

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i'm replaying one of of my all-time favorite

0:04

episodes of of this this podcast it's about how

0:06

the teddy bear off a national

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moral panic in 1907 and

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why it it just might be history's, most subversive

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toy next month i'll

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have i'll have episode inspired by this one

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because a toy history and recently heard

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this episode then reached out to share

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the untold story of the action figure

0:23

that'll make you think differently about

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toys you grew up with i am really

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excited about it but first let's

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get into teddy bears

0:34

this is billed for tomorrow a podcast

0:36

about the smartest solutions to most misunderstood

0:38

problems i'm jason fiber and in

0:40

each episode i take something that seems concerning

0:42

are confusing today and figure out where it came

0:44

from what important things were missing and

0:46

how we can create more opportunity to oh

0:49

we don't know what's fun about reverend

0:51

michael g esper but we know that he was

0:53

loved he was a michigan man

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born in town called bring well that

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no longer exists and father ever

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built a local life for himself in

1:02

year and i you know to he was hired as fourth

1:04

ever passed there have little church across state

1:06

of st joseph parish and a place

1:08

with bit of a fixer upper he

1:10

oversaw improvements the office and rectory

1:13

he put up school building and clean up the summit

1:15

eerie he took out a twenty thousand

1:17

dollar life insurance policy for himself so

1:19

that if he died the money would pay off

1:21

churches deaths local news stories on

1:23

the time talk about how love he was once

1:25

after taking a trip to milwaukee father

1:27

esper came back and got to work as usual

1:30

but at around eight thirty that evening he

1:32

was asked to join little gathering the church

1:34

ladies were having so walk in her room

1:36

and supply is it was really a party

1:38

for him in a place was packed people

1:41

applauded they sang songs a cake

1:43

and ice cream and years from the st joseph

1:45

daily press the

1:47

real surprise of the evening came when

1:49

john f word called father

1:51

as the to the stage and with a few words

1:53

of appreciation for what he had done for the parish

1:56

and telling of the love his people had

1:58

for him on behalf of the pool

2:00

the know presented him with a purse

2:02

containing one hundred and fifty dollars

2:04

in oh heavenly father the

2:06

way i share this with you so you see how trusted

2:09

and beloved this man was he

2:11

was voice the community and people

2:13

took him seriously so

2:15

they surely listened closely and with

2:17

great interest when he stood in

2:19

front of his congregation one day in july

2:21

of nineteen o seven and told his flock

2:24

that one the greatest evils in the world

2:26

was hi

2:29

, name is

2:32

a new and i be friend and

2:34

he and it would be and long time before teddy russian

2:36

was invented but teddy bears teddy

2:38

bears were the enemy we

2:40

unfortunately don't have the full transcript

2:42

of his urban that day but pieces of it were quoted

2:45

in very

2:45

this newspapers so we can get a nice sense

2:47

of it and here isn't least part

2:50

of what father esper said what more

2:52

concerns the community is the teddy

2:54

bear craze in relation to the children

2:57

the

2:57

children who wouldn't have turned that way if

2:59

they hadn't been encouraged when

3:01

you little girl as for dolly and you

3:03

gave her a teddy bear your action

3:05

was fraught with a consequence that is

3:07

only excusable on the ground of

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your ignorance bring

3:12

your baby's back to dollies are

3:14

you will have weaned of the grown ups of future

3:16

from the babies that will never be nice

3:18

little wordplay at the end there though that he just be

3:20

clear about what he means father

3:22

esper is saying that if little girls don't

3:24

play with dolls now than they won't

3:26

grow up to have babies later and

3:28

that has far reaching consequences

3:31

the suicide the greatest

3:33

danger was conference or nation today is

3:36

been fostered as and encouraged

3:38

by the sad for supplanting the good old

3:40

dolls of our childhood with a horrible

3:42

monstrosity known as a teddy bear

3:45

the very instincts of motherhood

3:47

in growing girl or blunted

3:49

and often times destroyed if a child

3:51

is allowed to lavish upon an unnatural

3:54

toy of this character the loving care

3:56

which is so beautiful when bestowed upon

3:58

dull representing us was innocent

4:01

no more disgusting site has ever come

4:03

to my eyes than is presented by the spectacle

4:06

of girl fondling caressing

4:08

and even kissing the pseudo animals

4:11

i mean when you put like that don't

4:13

sound a little weird and ears one

4:15

more bit from father esper it is shame

4:17

upon the american people

4:19

that it will suffer the development of the instinct

4:22

of motherhood in it's future women

4:24

to be arrested for of sad for

4:26

these bundles of horrible miss the

4:28

most harmful and repulsive nature

4:30

fakes ever perpetrated woof

4:33

could you imagine a public

4:35

figure said something like this today it

4:38

would go viral which

4:40

is exactly what it did back nineteen or seven

4:42

when going viral met showing up in newspapers

4:45

across the country one day

4:47

after esper gave his sermon news

4:49

of it was everywhere here

4:51

for example with the headline in the journal gazette the

4:53

of mattoon illinois peggy there is

4:55

menace and in the detroit free

4:57

press teddy bear dooms race

5:00

we found versions of this story appearing

5:02

in iowa indiana massachusetts

5:04

california ohio utah on

5:06

and on in washington post there

5:08

was actually some nice news about teddy bears

5:10

a four year old boy named edward and hackett

5:13

had fallen out his third storey window while

5:15

holding his teddy bear than landed on and on

5:17

and rolled off and teddy bear

5:19

broke his fall he was totally fine

5:21

but news of this is published on page six

5:24

of the paper you know was on page one

5:26

aber that very same day teddy

5:28

bear sad destroys motherly instinct

5:30

and trends to race suicide

5:33

pretty soon as the entire nation

5:35

was leading the issue and many people

5:37

are on father esper side teddy

5:40

bears were banned in certain places and

5:42

parents and educators bemoaned they're bad

5:44

influence which sounds absolutely

5:46

nuts today of course tabor

5:48

seem like the most innocent queue to harm

5:50

the thing anyone's ever in kid

5:53

i mean except for lotto from toy story three

5:55

she loved you lot so you never

5:57

loved me so how were teddy

5:59

bear there's one scene so threatening

6:02

that they could destroy an entire civilization

6:05

the teddy bear was meant to be nice the more

6:07

than a cuddly toy buddy unexpectedly

6:09

became something far more

6:11

it became subversive or

6:13

at least became seem that way

6:15

for many young girls became a gateway

6:17

into the bigger world it changed

6:20

us for years the thing we

6:22

in turn changed the teddy bear to

6:25

there is a lot to snuggle up to here

6:28

but first let's take quick break if

6:30

you are an entrepreneur really minded person

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if you are always thinking what's the next big

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idea for a business or just even a side

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hustle will then i've got podcast

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for you listen to my first

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million the to hosts sean

6:44

perry and sam par have both started

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and sold their own businesses to amazon and

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hub spot every week they brainstormed

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business ideas that you can start tomorrow

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these can be little side hustles that make you ten grandmother

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big ideas that could be a billion dollar

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thing they also chat with entrepreneurs

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investors celebrities and billionaires about

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business ideas and trends they're investing in

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i recommend checking out there recent episode with

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andrew wilkinson where he talked about white

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getting rich slow is better

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than getting rich quick they also talk about the

7:13

five pillars of happiness how to identify

7:15

winners and much more these are

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the kinds of conversations that can get you thinking

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big and then acting big so check it

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out just search for by first

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million on apple podcasts spotify

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or wherever you listen to podcasts

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did you know

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that the average podcast listener subscribes

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to six shows well

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assuming you already subscribed to my show than

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i have great reason for you to add another

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one is called the jordan harbinger

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show and honestly jordan is a friend mine

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but i would recommend it even if wasn't

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because i love this show and his

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interview style and just the whole thing jordan

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dives into the minds of fascinating

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people from athletes authors and scientists

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to mobsters spies of hostage negotiators

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he has real talent for drawing out never

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heard before stories and thought provoking insights

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and he always pulls out tactical bits of

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wisdom in each episode all with the

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noble cause of making you more informed

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and a better critical thinker theres good

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reason that jordan is the guy i text basically

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every time i have a question about podcasting and thats

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easy to listen to check out his conversation with t

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show that is h a r b is and

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or wherever you listen podcasts right

8:51

right the thing i love about

8:53

this national teddy bear scandal is how much

8:55

challenge is the very fundamentals

8:57

of our lives i mean think about

8:59

your most basic childhood experiences

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did have a teddy bear i did if

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they would blueberry he was bright orange okay

9:07

getting he was a blueberry name blueberry but to really

9:09

understand the fear of teddy bear we have

9:11

to start reconsidering things that are as fundamental

9:14

to us as childhood don't

9:16

let's start that childhood promo

9:19

oh world history and

9:21

agreed most of american history

9:24

course children worked

9:26

everybody worked that's cure and sanchez

9:28

apple or who teaches american studies

9:30

and english at amherst college and

9:32

out there is a debate among historians

9:35

about exactly how children

9:37

were treated throughout most of history of

9:39

french historian has very same asli argued

9:41

a few decades ago that childhood was modern

9:43

constructs made up in the eighteenth

9:46

century and before then children

9:48

were basically treated as miniature adults

9:50

but karen and many childhood assyrians

9:53

today say that isn't quite right

9:55

and there is plenty of evidence that children

9:57

across times were in games

9:59

and being it it special and so

10:01

on but either way it is well

10:03

agreed upon the before the eighteenth century

10:06

people weren't catering to children way

10:08

that we do now if kids had toys

10:10

they were homemade if they had books

10:12

they were instructional and then

10:14

something new came along for the

10:16

earliest book that wasn't i'm

10:19

trying to teach you how do we

10:21

are you should have moral didactic

10:23

both read a book it's core

10:26

why is the support play

10:28

was published in seventeen

10:30

forty four it was

10:32

the british publisher named john newbury

10:34

and it's known by the title a little

10:36

pretty pocketbook loot that's actually

10:39

just the very first part it's title be

10:41

full title the book went like this

10:44

a little pretty pocketbook intended

10:46

for the and struck the

10:47

an amusement of little master tommy

10:49

and pretty miss paulie

10:51

the letters from jack the giant killer

10:53

as also a ball and a pin cushion

10:56

the use of which will infallibly make

10:58

tommy a good boy and paulie

11:00

a good girl and that's not all

11:02

the title i swear to you is actually

11:04

only halfway over there is a whole

11:06

other part about a songbook but whatever

11:09

we really need to dig into what you just

11:11

heard so remember as the title

11:13

says you've got your book and comes with bunch

11:15

stuff to letters from jack the giant killer

11:17

and ball or a pin cushion so

11:19

what the letters the letters explained

11:22

that the little boy or girl the got this book would

11:24

be constantly judged by their no research

11:26

whoever was taken care of them when the child

11:28

it's something good a pin would put

11:30

into the red side of ball or pin cushion and

11:33

when child did something bad a pin would

11:35

you put into the black side that

11:37

way there could be constant accounting

11:39

of child's deeds silicon

11:41

valley's ios they would call that demuth occasion

11:43

and also let's talk about that ball or pin

11:46

cushion the book didn't come with

11:48

two objects and there weren't

11:50

two versions of this thing that you could buy a store

11:53

the ball or the pin cushion

11:55

well they were it's the same object

11:57

is such a football it's just you

11:59

call it all you call it a concussion

12:02

depending on which gender you're talking to

12:04

even at that moment when the idea

12:07

of we're going make entertaining things

12:09

for children they're still going have this disciplinary

12:11

edge to them and

12:14

they're gonna be gendered in this really

12:16

sets the home for the future of

12:18

play

12:19

and publishers create more books for kids

12:21

and eventually in fact years start create

12:23

toys they are always thought of

12:26

as part of the grooming process

12:28

boys that balls and toys

12:30

and things that prepare them for a life of labor

12:32

and adventure and girls they

12:34

got home goods little iron

12:37

the

12:37

little washing boards

12:39

and so play for

12:42

girls always represented

12:45

as just another site for learn

12:47

a domestic skills and then

12:49

along came to teddy bear to shatter that

12:51

domestic bubble

12:52

so it's not actually that simple

12:54

so let's pause for a minute on history of childhood

12:57

in america and rewind a few years to november

12:59

of nineteen oh to the american

13:01

president teddy roosevelt is on a bear hunting

13:03

trip in mississippi but despite

13:05

being an avid hunter roosevelt never

13:07

gets bear so by the end of the trip rather

13:10

helps assistance finds a black bear and

13:12

ties into a tree so that roosevelt

13:14

could you shoot it point blank which is

13:16

kinda like when they put human being for a dick

13:18

cheney so he could shoot the guy in face that's

13:20

how that went right anyway roosevelt

13:23

refused shoot captive bear because

13:25

come on that just pathetic soon

13:27

news of this gets out and out and post cartoonist

13:29

draws roosevelt waving off this adorable

13:31

little bear and then the whole situation becomes

13:34

a national sensation it's

13:36

a hunter president who wouldn't shoot the bear

13:38

from here to popular origin

13:40

stories about the teddy bear emerge one

13:42

is from a guy named morris victim who ran

13:44

the ideal toy company in new york

13:47

the company would go on to become famous for the roubaix

13:49

cube and very appropriately for our conversation

13:51

about gender dolls they also invented betsy

13:53

west

13:54

ask your mom a to get you betsy

13:56

betsy and then in the amounting

13:58

to put back in

14:00

if you know to morris supposedly saw this

14:02

news about teddy in the bear and he thought

14:04

to create a plush bear and call it a teddy bear

14:06

he's often credited as the inventor of teddy

14:08

bear though some historians suspect that this was really

14:11

just a made up story to promote his company

14:13

the second more widely accepted story

14:15

comes from germany it starts with woman

14:17

named margarita steiff who owned local

14:19

clothing company was confined to a wheelchair

14:21

because of polio one day and eighteen

14:23

seventy nine the made a elephant pin cushion

14:26

based on little guide she found in magazine

14:28

and the children in family

14:30

sort of adopted this instead of being

14:32

a pin cushion as a toy

14:35

and soon there was so much demand

14:37

for the pain cushion

14:40

that her clothing

14:42

business turned into a toy business

14:45

the business was called stice and

14:47

it's around the states that voice you just

14:49

heard was rick emerson has been has product development

14:51

and marketing consultant for stay for fifteen

14:53

years so as the story goes margaret

14:56

goes margaret all sorts of other animal

14:58

toys and had some members of her family joined

15:00

company and one of those people and

15:02

nephew named richard style was visiting

15:04

zoo one day and ninety know to when

15:07

started sketching out toy based on bear

15:09

he saw he called it p

15:11

b fifty five that's

15:13

actually the very first name of a teddy bear

15:15

p b fifty five and in nineteen or

15:17

three the company decided to take p

15:19

b fifty five to market size presented

15:22

the beer at it at toy

15:24

fair in germany and there

15:27

wasn't much interest at first

15:29

however at the end of this show

15:32

which i believe was in leipzig the

15:34

buyer from the us placed in order

15:36

for three thousand pieces i'm assuming

15:39

that's because

15:41

the is association

15:43

work with popularity of

15:45

that you are you up and us the original

15:47

order a three thousand went missing

15:50

nobody knows what happened them and finding

15:52

them is basically the greatest dream

15:54

of every teddy bear collector today but

15:56

whatever happened that was just the beginning

15:59

more orders

16:00

game and and more and more by

16:02

the urinating o seven the company

16:04

made over one million

16:06

teddy bears mostly for the export

16:09

market that year newspapers were

16:11

of light with stories about the booming popularity

16:13

of teddy bears here's the lancaster

16:16

new era of lancaster pennsylvania

16:18

the girl and society women have taken

16:20

up the feds has the boston herald and

16:22

there is no telling whether claim will stop

16:25

that arizona state street or wall street

16:27

is nothing to the barest domination

16:30

of the toi market oh and after

16:32

new era

16:33

your workplace so good i can hardly bear it

16:35

anyway or stories people lining

16:37

up for these bears and drawings of girls

16:40

playing with these bears and just general

16:42

bear loving mania so

16:44

there's also at least a small bit

16:46

of grumbling about the teddy bear one

16:48

of the earliest came from child rearing

16:50

experts because this was a time of great

16:53

change in the way the kids were being raised

16:55

at home more and more parents were having

16:57

their little children sleep in separate room

16:59

rather than keeping them with them that's

17:01

peter stearns a university professor

17:03

of history george mason university who studies

17:05

the history of the family and peter says that

17:07

his parents moved their children into their

17:09

own rooms for the first time they started

17:12

giving teddy bears to the kids to comfort them

17:14

though some people said that was sending the

17:16

wrong message it gives wrong signal

17:19

that the first thing you should develop

17:21

an attachment to is a thing

17:23

rather than person which sounds

17:25

not unlike things we still do today

17:27

like nipple confusion but then

17:29

things started to get little more hysterical

17:32

variable in scranton tribune on

17:34

june sixteenth nineteen o seven

17:36

a columnist report said teddy bears are

17:38

having quote as permanent and effect

17:41

upon the manners and morals of our age

17:43

as pretty nearly any other factor

17:45

you can mention and quo for example

17:47

the columnist rights

17:48

for the and most the and grab

17:50

that and this that and and us and

17:52

grab and us bear how in subversive

17:55

to the horrible destroy changed

17:57

teddy then in com grab people developing

18:00

it means that dignity to seen snuggling

18:02

them under their arms and i even

18:04

saw a devoted lover once

18:07

come into a house full of people

18:09

who was brilliantly gown didn't

18:11

evening dress class been

18:14

a big teddy bear

18:16

to his immaculate shut fucked

18:19

one month after that call was written the

18:21

mother lode arrives father

18:23

michael g esper goes on

18:25

tirade against teddy bears at st

18:27

joseph's parish and the news rockets

18:29

around the country and just refresh

18:32

your memory here is bit of what he had to

18:34

say no more disgusting sizes

18:36

ever come to my eyes than is presented

18:38

by the spectacle of girl fondling

18:40

caressing and even kissing the pseudo

18:43

animals soon a national

18:45

debate is fueled newspapers are running

18:47

around town surveying the locals most

18:49

people to be fair think that teddy bears perfectly

18:52

fine but there are also plenty of people

18:54

going anti bear for example

18:56

here's guy named w a ramsey

18:58

who's quoted in nevada state journal i

19:01

agree with the priest

19:02

i never liked the teddy bear the old

19:04

fashioned all is the thing to play with there

19:06

is something human about a dull at least

19:09

it has the human image but he's

19:11

toy be seven doesn't recommend

19:13

them by the way the nevada state journal

19:15

describes that guy as quote childless

19:17

and unmarried yet to an observer

19:20

and quo

19:22

sharp sounds like he's qualified comment what

19:24

children should play with but soon enough more

19:26

consequential people also start

19:28

to take father esper side for example

19:30

teddy bears begin being banned at schools

19:33

here's piece from the idaho record now

19:36

the teachers have joined the fight little girls

19:38

they point out formerly got their first lessons

19:40

and so

19:40

the to the natural desire to provide their

19:42

dolls with pretty close

19:44

the teddy bear however does not wear clothes

19:47

say possibly ribbon or sweater or

19:49

cap and so the up to date child

19:51

was discarded her dollars for the intrusive

19:53

bruin has no incentive to learn

19:55

to stitch and make buttonholes and

19:58

in new york where teachers were also

20:00

inning teddy bears a woman named mrs

20:02

jessup

20:02

had been running the so when department at n y u

20:05

and she told local paper this formerly

20:07

as went about the city visit the schools it

20:10

was delight to me to see the little girl sydney

20:12

group's making dark clothes are engaged

20:14

in so and that i knew they had learned in school

20:16

now instead of these domestic scene that

20:18

is invariably is invariably bear

20:20

that is the center of ten in and a

20:22

little hands are idle

20:25

and you might be wondering how

20:27

could people possibly be this worked

20:29

up over a cute little teddy bear

20:31

it is now time to pick back up

20:33

on our history of childhood because

20:36

all is not well in ninety

20:38

seven

20:39

definitely with a time of anxiety

20:42

possibly , i don't know if i

20:44

go that far but there's

20:46

there's sense sense course because

20:48

women's roles are changing so

20:50

rapidly at the turn of the twentieth century

20:53

the there's a great deal of concern

20:55

that girls aren't going to turn out right this

20:58

turn out i'm jennifer how grim i'm

21:00

associate professor of history as the university

21:03

pacific and jennifer says a

21:04

lot is happening just as these teddy bears

21:07

are entering the picture so first of all

21:09

women are increasingly leaving their traditional

21:11

gender roles they're becoming more athletic

21:14

and more independent by nineteen hundred

21:16

women make up thirty seven percent

21:18

of college students and they were increasingly entering

21:20

the workforce and this alarmed

21:23

many scientists because saw pattern

21:25

women who are educated we're having

21:27

fewer children instead

21:29

scientists have the day determine

21:31

that oh my goodness education

21:34

is bad for women's fertility that

21:36

ah honestly took me second even understands

21:38

of to clear the scientists

21:40

didn't think that women were simply making choice

21:43

to delay child rearing they

21:45

thought the education literally

21:47

harmed women's physical

21:49

ability to give birth so

21:51

that's what we're dealing with here and as

21:53

american culture worried about these last

21:55

women it started to focus a lot

21:57

on how to preserve the girls

21:59

there

22:00

psychologist by the name of g stanley hall

22:03

and he's generally regarded as the

22:05

father of adolescent psychology

22:07

and he writes this huge book in a

22:09

chino for called adolescence

22:12

the overwhelming majority of majority is

22:14

focused on boys with you've got this chapter

22:17

on girls and one of the things

22:19

that he argues in there is

22:21

that girls during their sensitive

22:23

adolescent years especially

22:25

when they're menstruating mean

22:27

to take it easy

22:29

no relax be quiet

22:31

focus on nature says this is actually

22:34

pretty liberal compared some of g stanley

22:36

horse contemporaries who made arguments that like

22:38

girls need to lay down in the recumbent

22:40

position for the entirety of their periods

22:42

either way the message was clear for girls

22:45

particular childhood was not a

22:47

time of exploration and experimentation

22:49

it was a tearful and fragile path

22:51

and any false step could lead away from

22:53

motherhood so that may

22:55

explain all the motherly instinct stuff

22:58

that father esper was talking about in his sermon

23:00

but he also said something else in

23:02

there something that i hadn't drawn attention

23:04

to until now but that we really do

23:06

need to pause and look at despite how

23:09

ugly is t use the phrase

23:11

race suicide here

23:13

it is it get race suicide the

23:16

greatest danger was conference or nation today

23:18

is being fostered and encouraged

23:20

by the sad for supplanting the good old

23:22

dolls of our childhood with horrible

23:25

monstrosity known as a teddy bear

23:27

so what are you talking about here will

23:30

easy jet x ray the if the right people

23:32

don't meet marry and have

23:34

kids then the quality

23:36

of the human race will degenerate

23:38

but of course people who used the phrase

23:40

race suicide back then weren't just talking

23:43

about the human race they were talking about the white

23:45

race there was a belief that immigrants

23:47

and african americans were having more and more babies

23:50

and yet white people were killing themselves off

23:52

with things like education for women and birth

23:54

control which was just becoming thing and

23:56

this wasn't some crackpot theory spoken

23:58

in hushed tones and the president

24:01

of the united states of america at the time

24:03

had endorsed it this is teddy

24:05

roosevelt second and considerably

24:07

less flattering intersection with teddy bear history

24:10

for example here is a letter from ninety

24:12

know to the he wrote in which he talked

24:14

about the dangers of waste suicide

24:16

the man or woman who deliberately

24:18

avoids marriage and as hot so

24:20

cold as the no no passion

24:22

and brain so shallow and selfish

24:25

as to dislike having children the

24:27

is in effect a criminal against

24:29

the race then should be an object

24:31

of contemptuous abhorrence by all

24:33

healthy people

24:35

in fact after father esper theory

24:37

of a teddy bear fueled race suicide went

24:39

viral a reporter managed to ask

24:41

roosevelt specifically about what he thought

24:43

of it all and according to the news palladium

24:46

have been harbor michigan he the

24:48

laughed when he was asked to comment

24:50

on the priests remarks he

24:52

said he had read the remarks a father

24:54

esper with interest but he had

24:56

nothing to say for or against

24:59

his name the park so

25:01

now let's look at whole picture the role

25:03

of women was changing girls

25:05

were becoming more active just as the most

25:08

respected thinkers of the day we're urging girls to

25:10

become less active there was big

25:12

broad racist fear that white people going

25:14

extinct which was endorsed by the man

25:16

sitting in the white house and now here

25:18

comes the teddy bear replacing dolls

25:21

those wholesome dolls those toys

25:23

do with toys for girls been meant to do

25:25

for centuries which is to teach them how to become

25:28

mothers and homemakers you

25:30

could imagine it being seen as the lowest

25:32

of all blows

25:33

there's more list the nation were saying

25:35

everything in our world is already

25:38

changing and now this of

25:40

all basic things you're going to take away

25:42

the dolls that is the girls

25:44

are doing anything other than

25:46

developing those maternal instincts

25:49

the and is signaling danger to

25:52

people in this era or least

25:54

some of the people in this era of

25:56

by the way motherhood was not the only

25:58

thing to also the time teaching harvard

26:01

professor robin bernstein wrote a paper in

26:03

two thousand and eleven that explored how white children

26:05

in nineteenth century would also be given black dolls

26:07

and they would quote read books about

26:09

slavery and then use dollars to act

26:11

out scenes of racialized violence and forced

26:13

labor and quote how much of this

26:15

was in father father mind when he gave that

26:17

sermon about teddy bears it's impossible

26:20

to know but his language was certainly

26:22

clear and now i think have

26:24

a far fuller understanding of just

26:26

what people were concerned about when said

26:28

that the teddy bear was harming girls

26:32

that lot the ugly

26:34

stuff you ready for a curve ball

26:37

because while researching history of

26:39

the teddy bear something landed something my

26:41

inbox that blew my mind

26:43

and made me look at this history very

26:46

differently and it's coming

26:48

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alright we're back so to recap father

27:56

esper and his sympathizers across country

27:58

were concerned about the seat of their young girls

28:00

the culture was changing and for many traditionalists

28:03

the teddy bear became the representation

28:05

of that change it seemed like

28:07

something nefarious a weapon aimed

28:09

at very heart of girlhood while

28:13

researching this episode i received an email

28:16

from miranda sacks visiting history

28:18

professor at denison university she'd

28:20

done a research paper on night you know seven

28:22

teddy bear scare and unfortunately didn't

28:24

have time to hop the phone with me to discuss it

28:26

but she did send me couple of notes

28:28

on her findings and one of them

28:30

said this

28:32

reading of picture books were teddy bears or anthropomorphizes

28:35

they are badly behaved they're not really

28:37

models of behavior they act like

28:39

bad boys which is why a lot the early marketing

28:41

was four boys but they

28:43

ultimately sit more in the dolls world

28:46

which is why they were for girl all to put

28:48

it more simply

28:49

heidi bears were originally thought of as

28:51

toy for boys

28:53

after i read this i started scouring the

28:55

archives to see what she has found a

28:57

sort of their is in ninety

29:00

seven for example there's a series of book called

29:02

the teddy bears were these rambunctious bears

29:04

keep causing trouble for little boy named john

29:06

and can get dark in one both

29:08

john finds the teddy bears piled up a

29:10

heap outside the school house and

29:12

the text reads like this each

29:14

teddy bland about pint who's

29:17

very laugh all round was spilling

29:19

for you must know a teddy bear can't

29:22

live without is sold us feel

29:24

who who any night you know six a newspaper

29:27

called the san francisco call ran a full

29:29

page explanation of how the teddy

29:31

bear became so popular it started

29:33

by referencing a german woman who made

29:35

these things she's never actually named in story

29:37

but it's clearly margaret stice and

29:40

then the story describes patient

29:42

zero of the teddy bear the first

29:44

child to by a bear in a store

29:46

along either the jersey shore or and linux

29:49

city now is this true know

29:51

who knows but the gender and here is worth

29:53

noting because that first child by

29:55

bear the first kids who supposedly

29:57

spark a national interests it

29:59

was a boy there's some at night you know sixty

30:01

he marched away hugging his prize

30:04

just as probably as a grown up man

30:06

or the president of the united states

30:08

returning from a successful hunt that

30:12

started the bear sad every

30:15

other little boy on the boardwalk had to have

30:17

bear it was just

30:19

the thing vulnerable girls

30:21

had dolls to play with and boys

30:24

on a has something like a bear when it was too

30:26

hot for baseball or to play indian

30:28

in the park or shipwreck sailors on

30:30

sand and here's where it's worth noting

30:32

that these earliest states dolls were

30:34

not actually cuddly they were

30:36

hard instead of being filled with cotton

30:39

that they were filled with kind

30:40

the would shaving called excelsior

30:42

they also had hump at the bottom of their neck

30:45

not a soft and gentle thing so

30:47

one could assume it was not meant to be

30:49

handle gently now i tried

30:51

my absolute damn this to

30:53

find historian who has deeply studied

30:55

the teddy bear but i just couldn't it's a very

30:58

understudied topic and rig consultant

31:00

for size knew nothing about it's early gender ring

31:02

to rest of his knowledge the company in the nineteen

31:04

hundreds had no position on whether teddy bears

31:06

were for boys or girls but i have have

31:09

and to be clear this is only my theory

31:11

but it's one i think as well supported by sachs

31:13

it goes like this though and perhaps

31:15

because the teddy bear never intended

31:17

to be more than innocent toy it

31:19

just might be the most consequential

31:22

he subversive toy we have ever had

31:25

consider it from the moment that the

31:27

first children's book was released and seventeen

31:29

forty four girls were only

31:31

given toys a promoted domesticity

31:34

the pin cushion was soon joined by toy

31:36

irons and cookware and baby dolls basically

31:38

the world would not permit the creation

31:40

of toy for girls if it didn't

31:42

serve the purpose of training that girl to

31:44

be a mother and housekeeper and

31:46

this was true the turn of century to

31:48

when teddy bear was created it's hard

31:51

to imagine anyone approving the teddy

31:53

bear as a toy explicitly for girls back

31:55

then because it just didn't have a domestic

31:57

purpose of boys on

31:59

the other hand allowed to have a wider

32:01

range of things they got toys

32:03

that encourage adventure and discovery

32:06

a bear with a perfectly fine thing for

32:08

them to have because i mean just listen that story

32:10

from nineteen o six bringing home

32:12

teddy bear was like bringing home a bear the shot

32:14

and killed yourself just like president

32:16

theodore

32:17

the about my do so that's how bears

32:19

enter the home stats the only way they

32:21

could have entered the home through

32:24

boys and once they were there

32:26

well here's some that ninety six

32:28

san francisco call story again

32:30

but boys not the only lovers of teddy bears

32:32

by no means they're little sisters

32:35

like them too little

32:37

girls looked at the new playthings the some

32:39

trepidation bears and dolls

32:41

are so very different goals

32:44

, always lady like and their manners but

32:46

there's no counting on the actions of their

32:49

but after a while the article says the girls

32:51

started to take to the bears they like

32:53

their little faces and how the they are moved

32:55

like the dolls both have movable arms

32:58

and legs instant

32:59

baby sister decided she liked

33:02

bears to and olivia

33:04

may with all her gorgeous silken most

33:06

fox and cassettes in bonnets was

33:08

left lying on her face in the corner

33:11

of the nursery love little mother

33:13

transferred mother reception to

33:15

teddy

33:15

ah know how the writers just refer to

33:17

little girl as little mother

33:20

reminder the time they're how

33:22

the changeable young mother soon found

33:24

that she could not count on being able to borrow

33:26

teddy from her brother show

33:28

, the wisdom of her sexy decided

33:31

that the only thing to do was

33:33

to have one also has area

33:36

so the shift was complete

33:38

the boys had brought home a non domestic

33:40

toy and it was adopted by the girls

33:42

it was a doll dressed as a bear or bear

33:45

in the form of adult whatever was a change

33:47

the discussion of what a girl's toy could be

33:50

it helped us imagine a different world

33:52

now imagine a guy like father esper

33:54

who stood to protect traditional values

33:57

you can hear a kind of panic in his voice

33:59

now can't you the firewall

34:01

had been breached here is jennifer held

34:03

run again

34:04

so one of the things i like to ask is

34:06

a historian and in terms of how

34:08

people get through things and how social change

34:10

happens is as

34:12

the question who won and in fact

34:14

in fact there's one and

34:17

it's teddy bears are probably already winning

34:20

i'm a lot these editorials were written

34:22

father esper was giving a rallying

34:24

cry he was giving fashion

34:27

speech so what does it

34:29

look like

34:29

teddy bears to have one well it's

34:32

obviously too simple say that the bears

34:34

alone changed us to bear came along

34:36

at time of great change and

34:38

although they zero didn't create that change they

34:40

came to symbolize that change so

34:42

as the bear spread they reinforce the change

34:45

and surely they helped lead to even

34:47

more change but we

34:49

also chain the bears

34:52

he what i mean let's take a little field

34:54

trip ago we were just in this room

34:56

so rights to my right we have margaret safe

34:59

this safe this perry he's a co

35:01

owner curator and chef at the den

35:03

of marble town which is museum of

35:05

stays teddy bears and marble tell new york

35:07

the place was closed on the day i happen

35:09

to be encounters let me and anyway because

35:11

this is man who love the talk about

35:13

teddy bears and so i'm

35:16

not his usual kind of visitor this

35:18

place is really all about women in their fifties

35:20

sixties and seventies and eighties and nineties

35:22

allah they'll obviously they

35:24

loved every second are they get they get it completely

35:27

is not just a fun place it's like oh my god

35:30

i see my past i

35:32

see quality i see things built

35:34

the last and it's you know

35:36

it's just i love watching them enjoy

35:38

it so much you know and and each citizen

35:41

of the best times and , kids

35:43

right after that the

35:46

museums prize collection is a nineteen

35:48

oh for teddy bear which looks

35:50

pretty good for his age although the for

35:52

i most of it's faces rubbed away and

35:54

as you walk around you can get better sense

35:56

for what was like actually play with

35:58

one these early bear forget about

36:01

this is meant

36:01

nowhere in any the articles be sound but

36:03

some of the earliest bears made noise

36:05

you tip them back and bring them sword and

36:08

now these are held rallies and they've been groans

36:10

about nineteen away and

36:13

, up to three wildlife experts

36:15

in this room telling me they're not

36:17

goats sheep slandering my staff of

36:19

is selling baby this this

36:21

time goes on the bear start to track with history

36:24

in nineteen twelve stay for least a black

36:26

teddy bear with red eyes which was meant to

36:28

comfort children who lost family on the

36:30

titanic and nineteen thirty

36:32

five stuff created panda bear just

36:34

as china allowed real panda bears go

36:36

outside the country but something

36:38

else is happening over time as well the

36:41

bears started to look different it's

36:43

easy to notice in place like this or ten there

36:45

museum and in nineteen eighty five

36:47

to scientists named robert hi

36:49

and in l a bargain were wandering around

36:52

similar museum in england when they were inspired

36:54

to start measuring the teddy bears faces

36:57

because they sensed a pattern there's

36:59

from paper that they published their findings me

37:02

earliest teddy bear in collection dated

37:04

nineteen or three had a low forehead

37:06

and long snout and was muffled

37:09

survey of the other bears in the collection

37:11

showed a trend over time toward

37:13

larger forehead and shorter snout

37:15

relatives did the dimensions of the head as

37:17

whole the bears evolved the

37:19

first teddy bears has ceases that looked

37:21

like paris long snout angular

37:24

face but over time that softened

37:27

which the scientists point out is exactly

37:29

the same thing that happened to mickey mouse since he

37:31

debuted nineteen twenty eight with long snout

37:33

bulging eyes today his nose

37:35

and eyes a small in his forehead is much bigger

37:38

the question is

37:39

why of course teddy bears do

37:41

not reproduce but they are made for sale

37:44

types more successful and leaving the shop

37:46

ledges and one year are more likely to be

37:48

strongly represented there in the next

37:50

it's darwinism by commerce and

37:52

why the larger forehead and shorter stout relative

37:55

to the dimensions of the head as a whole well

37:57

the hypothesis is that these of features

37:59

found

38:00

the things we like to nurture it's

38:02

kitchen sima a german term

38:04

coined nineteen fifty that we've come to understand

38:06

as the features that make something cute

38:08

whether it's in human infants are little puppy

38:11

or cartoon mouse or stuffed bear

38:13

the scientists nineteen eighty five left it at that

38:15

but a decade

38:16

later in nineteen ninety five a paper

38:18

in the journal animal behavior tried to

38:20

pick up where they left off it's

38:22

titled the survival of the cutest

38:25

who's responsible for the evolution

38:27

of the teddy bear in aims to find

38:29

out exactly when we as little humans

38:31

start caring about kitchen sheila

38:34

and here's what it reports the preference

38:36

for baby featured bears was examined

38:38

in three age groups for

38:40

six and eight year olds the

38:42

six and eight year old significantly

38:44

preferred baby featured bears however

38:47

the four year olds did not the

38:49

evolution of the the bear is thus apparently

38:51

not driven by the ostensible consumer

38:54

the young child the preference

38:56

for baby features maybe part of a wider

38:58

relatively late development

39:00

of nurturing feelings toward young

39:03

in other words we don't start looking at things

39:05

is cute not until we're about sixty

39:07

years old but then we have strong

39:10

preference for it there's something inside of

39:12

us that not just gravitate towards cuteness

39:14

but will literally all through the things

39:16

around us to become more cute as results

39:19

are natural instinct and least in some

39:21

then use use to soften and

39:23

soften it was it was bear and objects

39:25

at once struck fear into the hearts of moralists

39:28

and was then transformed into the platonic

39:30

ideal of to this you know it

39:32

just makes me think of this is gonna

39:34

sound like a total tangent but sick with me here

39:37

you know the history song take me out

39:39

to the ballgame of course

39:41

it's the main event of the seventh inning

39:43

stretch where everyone at ballgame sings

39:45

about wanting to go to a ball game but that

39:47

is not full song that's just chorus

39:50

of much longer song one

39:52

that was written in nineteen oh eat

39:54

only one year after father esper

39:56

railed against teddy bears impact on young

39:58

girls and mobile mobile

40:01

phone began

40:16

so this is a song about a woman named

40:18

ttc who loves the faithful

40:20

she had baseball fever and had bad

40:23

song says and on saturday her boyfriend

40:25

asked she'd like to go to a show but tt

40:27

says no i'll tell you what you can do

40:30

and that's when we get to the chorus

40:37

the course is key these words

40:40

it's cheating telling her boyfriend

40:42

the take her out to the ballgame

40:45

at a time in which the ball games was

40:47

primarily place for men

40:49

later in song she got what she wanted the

40:51

lyric say the katie the

40:52

all the games new the players by their

40:54

first names and would yell at the umpire when

40:56

he got call wrong the song was written

40:58

by jack nor were who at time

41:00

was having an affair with an actress and seem

41:03

as suffragists named trixie for danza

41:05

and historians now believe that td

41:07

in the song is really trixie it

41:10

may be a stretch to say that take me out of the ballgame

41:12

was a feminist anthem because it was

41:14

instantly popular the time by men and women

41:16

alike but it was certainly feminist tribute

41:19

it was cheering on the changes of the

41:21

time would you course we

41:23

don't remember now all

41:25

modern baseball fans know now is the

41:27

chorus which is song by whoever

41:29

is in the stands so anyway

41:31

here is the i'm telling you all this when

41:33

i was talking to jennifer

41:35

and she said as the question who won

41:37

and in fact teddy bear there's one i

41:39

started to think about the evolution of

41:41

the teddy bear and shortening tic

41:43

the out the ballgame and what it really

41:45

means to win historically speaking

41:48

the teddy bear definitely did when of

41:50

course you know know seven people like

41:52

father esper soft fork in the road

41:55

one direction was defined by the doll

41:57

and represented women as traditional homemakers

42:00

the other was defined by the bay or and represented

42:02

a more complex sidey and we got

42:04

the fair

42:05

then we changed the bear we

42:07

got rid of it's harsh edges we were

42:09

pleased it's tough insides with fluffy cotton

42:11

and we switched its face down into something that frankly

42:14

isn't very bare like at all mean

42:16

look at teddy bear today it is not a bear

42:18

it's a series of overlapping circles the

42:21

bear had come to symbolize a cultural

42:23

force has shaped our world with and we

42:25

ship the bear based on something deep

42:27

inside us something that makes six

42:29

year olds gravitate towards things that need nurturing

42:31

and what we ended up with is a steal

42:33

imperfect but certainly more equitable

42:36

world the we had in nineteen o seven but

42:38

also no sense at all

42:40

that are teddy bears were once much wild

42:42

animals justice now go to baseball

42:44

game sing take me out the ball with

42:46

no idea the were actually singing a countercultural

42:49

song with all the counter cultural parts

42:51

chopped off leaving only the warm

42:53

fuzzy middle that brings us all together

42:56

i wonder what other things around us are like

42:58

this objects at once challenge

43:00

does by design or by accident

43:02

and went on to cheap our culture new

43:05

so what does it mean to win historically

43:07

speaking you could argue that winning means

43:09

changing the world so thoroughly that

43:11

the things he once represented sounds

43:13

archaic

43:14

confusing to moderate years and you don't

43:16

need to front anyone anymore

43:19

you can just lay down your weapons let's

43:21

sync the way start drifting

43:23

towards your one

43:24

the enemy until both are we made

43:26

some version the others image and

43:28

you find new purpose for each other and

43:30

then for better for worse you end

43:32

up in a nice warm katie

43:35

their embrace

43:37

and here

43:38

where we would bring the music back in and run the credits

43:41

but week before we do there really

43:43

is one last place had

43:45

to call it , joseph's

43:47

parish and st joseph michigan where father

43:50

esper divas famous sermon the place still

43:52

exists though the woman

43:54

who picked up the phone had never heard of father esper

43:56

or his legacy addresses

43:59

on news to me i asked if anyone

44:01

there it might know something about father esper

44:03

and she said it was unlikely almost

44:05

everyone there is new including the current pastors

44:08

though that just left me with one question

44:11

harder teddy bears fc your

44:13

sisters that

44:15

i know nothing i know us never

44:18

, any specific into each

44:20

why think there would some in the

44:24

in a church know maybe

44:26

there is a children's room missing teddy bears

44:31

i'm pretty sure i've never seen in our

44:33

in our rose center where we have been activities

44:36

that we have any teddy bears around but

44:39

, will be interesting some skills

44:42

but kind of like that

44:43

way the teddy bear didn't need

44:45

to have made inside father a spurs church

44:48

it just went everywhere else instead

44:51

and thats our episode but of course

44:53

its not all ive got for you perhaps

44:55

as you listen to steve of the teddy bear

44:57

museum you wondered how the legacy

45:00

of the teddy bear gets passed on to a new

45:02

generation the answer is

45:04

unexpected ive say and all

45:06

bear it but fast if you love

45:08

build for tomorrow the podcast you will totally

45:10

love build for tomorrow the book its

45:13

and action plan for how to embrace change

45:15

adapt fast and cute your perhaps your life

45:17

and career and combines lessons from this

45:19

podcast with what ive learned from the smartest

45:21

actors of teddy you can find

45:23

it wherever you get books or by going to jason

45:26

fate for adapt com classic book

45:29

and if you want even more advice and encouragement

45:31

on how to adapt fast then sign up for my

45:33

newsletter you can find it going to jason

45:35

fate for adapt bulletin not

45:37

com you can also get and touch with me directly

45:40

my website jason piper not com or

45:42

follow me on twitter or instagram i am

45:44

at a piper even you i

45:46

f you i fr thanks to our wonderful

45:48

voice actors who read our archival material

45:51

the we rant ruin who can find it

45:53

rant ruin our com and you more

45:55

a who can find at jason more adapt

45:57

com this episode was reported and

45:59

written by jason fate for with additional

46:01

research by louis ano are thing

46:03

music is by kasper baby pants

46:05

learn more at baby pants music got com thanks

46:08

to the many people who helped out as

46:10

a research this episode including daniel

46:12

rados who first alerted me to father

46:14

asper sermon as well as ashley

46:16

remer of girls museum the nice people

46:18

at the strong as well as alison

46:20

robinson keith masha emily

46:22

gallagher elizabeth yang patrick

46:24

ryan more and a thanks emily a we

46:26

law pier as and chris cornelis thanks

46:29

to the podcast between the liner notes

46:31

which is where i first learned about take me out to the

46:33

ballgame now finally heres

46:35

the thing about teddy bears there are people who

46:37

love teddy bears and that there

46:39

are people who love teddy bears so much that

46:41

will build a museum and funny thing

46:43

you can now predict who will be who

46:46

steve of the den of marble town certainly

46:48

couldnt have heres worked as a television

46:50

news producer and chef but when he got

46:52

married a feared was planted in

46:54

form of collectible teddy bear from

46:57

his mother in law first

46:59

toy there family i story get

47:01

in there's

47:02

in the mail and ask my wife what's going on

47:04

and she's like my mom was via gentleman

47:06

teddy bear collector and either

47:09

good says in says in that it

47:11

but you know i love animals i love things

47:13

built to last and ,

47:15

i knew she was work and mean gets a collection that

47:17

no one else seemed interested in so

47:20

so i realize i was going get it i thought what

47:22

am going do with it and wanted

47:24

share because was really into hammered

47:26

by the whole thing actually really kind of grew

47:28

on me

47:29

and steve really has done it if

47:31

you're in marble town new york go check

47:33

that please out all right that's all for

47:35

this time thanks for listening i'm jason

47:38

pfeiffer and let's keep digging for