Teddy Bears Are History's Most Subversive Toy

Build For Tomorrow

Jason Feifer

Business, History, Technology, Entrepreneurship

4.7 • 573 Ratings

🗓️ 5 December 2019

⏱️ 47 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The teddy bear: Is it cute and cuddly, or a “horrible monstrosity” that’ll destroy humanity? In 1907, many people feared the worst — that this new toy would ruin young girls’ developing maternal instincts, and lead us to a terrible fate. This is the story of how the teddy bear changed us all… and how we then changed the bear. Get in touch! Newsletter: jasonfeifer.bulletin.com Website: jasonfeifer.com Instagram: @heyfeifer Twitter: @heyfeifer Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hear that? It's your big McDonald's hunger calling, because the big arch is back, and this time
0:05.3	is here to stay with juicy beef, cheddar cheese, and that big arch sauce.
0:09.9	Hungry? You are now. Order delivery on the McDonald's app.
0:15.0	Serve from 11am. Upcharges and fees apply to delivery orders. Subjects availability, price and
0:19.0	participation may vary.
0:20.4	Hey everyone. Today, I'm replaying and participation may vary. Hey, everyone.
0:21.5	Today, I'm replaying one of my all-time favorite episodes of this podcast.
0:26.1	It's about how the teddy bear kicked off a national moral panic in 1907 and why it just
0:31.9	might be history's most subversive toy.
0:34.9	Next month, I'll have a new episode inspired by this one because a toy historian
0:38.8	recently heard this episode, then reached out to share the untold story of the action figure
0:43.9	that'll make you think differently about the toys you grew up with. I am really excited about
0:48.8	it. But first, let's get into teddy bears. This is Build for Tomorrow, a podcast about the smartest solutions to our most misunderstood
0:58.5	problems.
0:59.6	I'm Jason Pfeiffer, and in each episode, I take something that seems concerning or confusing
1:03.4	today and figure out where it came from, what important things we're missing, and how
1:07.0	we can create more opportunity tomorrow.
1:09.2	We don't know a ton about Reverend Michael G. Esper, but we know that he was loved.
1:14.4	He was a Michigan man, born in a town called Springwell that no longer exists,
1:19.0	and Father Esper built a local life for himself.
1:22.0	In the year 1902, he was hired as the fourth ever pastor of a little church across the state
1:26.7	called St. Joseph Parish,
	...

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