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If you noticed blunt omissions, mis-interpretations or even out-and-out errors,
please let me know:
Arnold Rypens
Rozenlaan 65
B-2840 Reet (Rumst)
Artist: Edison Symphony Orch.
Author: John W. Bratton
Label: Edison
Year: 1908
As an instrumental, copyrighted the year before, still in the slipstream of President Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt's affair with bears: On a hunting spree near Onward, Mississippi, the president was offered to finish off a tied-up and visibly beaten up pup, which he refused. He was of course caricatured by gun-lobbied press, but his refusal to shoot won the hearts of many future female voters, triggering a brilliant idea on the side: a New York toy manufacturer started a line of so-called 'Teddy Bears', an absolute bestseller, 'the father of all pet toys' on the spot.
Covers:
Will Dodge [as Polar Bears Picnic]
Henry Hall [first vocal version (lyrics: Jimmy Kennedy), millionseller UK; later used in tv-series The Singing Detective]
Lords [without Rob De Nijs]
Paragon Ragtime Orch. [following resurfaced Arthur Pryor songsheet]
Later Jimmy Kennedy also wrote lyrics to Red Sails In The Sunset.
If you noticed blunt omissions, mis-interpretations or even out-and-out errors,
please let me know:
Arnold Rypens
Rozenlaan 65
B-2840 Reet (Rumst)