1958 Teddy Bear

by JUDY
(UK)

My Bear was bought I believe in 1958 from Unity House which was a shop in Hartlepool that sold childrens clothes and baby toys. He is 18ins tall and 12 ins wide.The fur is of a yellowish orange colour of a nylon synthetic material. He is soft bodied with very short arms which stick out at right angles but he has thicker round longer legs. I think he is stuffed with a foam material of some kind.The soles of the feet were white brushed nylon circles. His head is much larger in relation to the body and it has a protruding forehead. The eyes and nose of the Bear are made of black felt, and he has a squeak in one ear.

I would very much like to know more about this Bear as I have recently found him again, so it would be great to know who made him and if they are still made today.He seems to be more of a young childs Teddy Bear as there is no harmful objects on him and I remember my Mother putting him in the washing machine. Sadly there are no labels present now. I have searched images of 1950s Teddy Bears but cannot find anything that resembles him.Hopefully you will be able to identify him?
My bear is quite a simple construction so to add anymore detail about him is quite difficult only if my memory serves me well I think he was sporting a blue ribbon and he was in a box.
He was named "Gladly the cross eyed bear" by my Father after the Hymn Gladly the Cross I bear! Which seemed a little strange as Gladly did not have cross eyes! I guess nowadays that is not quite politically correct but in 1958 it was. So I am now 64 and quite proud that he is still with me and in reasonably good condition for his age, although the bottom of his feet have been patched.
I will stop waffling on now and hope that I have written enough.Thank you for looking into his history and look forward to hearing from you.
Kind regards
Judy & Gladly

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