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How a Stuffed Animal Named Billy Possum Tried—and Failed—to Replace the Teddy Bear as America's National Toy
Steiff believed aesthetics were to blame for the toy’s failure. “The American youngster instinctively turns away from what is ugly or grotesque,” he told the American Stationer. “That was the trouble ...
Smithsonian Magazine23d
How a Stuffed Animal Named Billy Possum Tried—and Failed—to Replace the Teddy Bear as America’s National Toy
As Kaufman explains, Billy Possum was “so out of [the company’s] purview of the aesthetic of what they were making.” That seemed to be the consensus. Allgood’s beauty may have been ...