I have gotten such a huge response from the Teddy Bear Picnic that I have decided to add this special page to all those who have a wonderful story to tell. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I have. Thanks to all of you who have contributed these wonderful stories and for sharing them. ~ Shari

I received the Scuderia Logo (shown below) and the following letter in my e-mail. I thought it would be of interest to everyone who visits this page.
 

I stumbled across your site today and thought I'd send along this image. Scuderia Bear was the name of my fathers racing team in the late fifties to late sixties. They raced Ferraris and Fords at Sebring and LaMans. The logo came about as a result of my mother's nickname for my father. (Scuderia means team in Italian).
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My mother gave my father a small bear (3" high) which sat on the dashboard of the race cars. The bear had a red drivers suit which my mother made, and a cut up ping pong ball as a helmet.
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In 1966 during practice for the 24 hours of La Mans, the Gt40 my father was driving left the track at 150 MPH. The car was totaled but my father escaped uninjured. Unfortunately they never found the bear. Two years later while visiting Paris, my father was in a bar with a friend of his. The friend went to the rest room and returned with a gentleman he had bumped into. Amazingly, sticking out of the man's coat pocket was the bear who had logged so many miles on the dash board of my father's cars.
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I thought you might enjoy an image of the teams logo.
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Sincerely,
Bill McKelvy

Oxford, Maryland

Birthday Song
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I am from a large family. My mother, was a pianist and teacher. I am so happy to find the lyrics to the bday song that we've sung for what seems like forever. I've never heard any one else sing this version with the exception of my family. It's our birthday tradition. the kids love it and I would love to find a recording of it. I don't think I can express how happy I am to find the lyrics. My mom is no longer with us, but she's happy because now I can pass down a very great and rare tradition. Please let me know and thanks.
B. Ryan Akin

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Questions of the day!
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I have a few old records but one, in peticular,  I can't  find any info on. It's a one sided zonophone made by the British Zonophone company called Teddy Bear Picnic and the artists are the Black Diamond band. Regal brought it out in the 1930s but this is alot earlier. Can anyone be of  help?  Thank you, Michael homerau@iprimus.com.au

I have one of the original records of the Teddy Bear Picnic. . Does anyone  know if there are any more in existance? Curious!   Thank You!  Michael   homerau@iprimus.com.au
 

Bonnie writes...

I, too, have a personal attachment to the tune Teddy Bears Picnic. When I was in nursing school, I decided to go hunting with my brothers. We had been walking in the woods for a while and had not come across any deer. My brothers were always bantering back and forth and my older brother started singing the Teddy Bears Picnic, only he revised the words a bit. "If you go into the woods today, you're in for a big surprise--NO DEER!"   My brother died very unexpectedly the following July, and when I hear this tune, I always think of him and his wonderful sense of humor. Thanks for the memory.

I was real surprised to see the words to the song, "Teddy Bears Picnic". I remember it from when I was a young child, and have mentioned it to other people from time to time. I don't think that more than one other person remembers it. I remember it, in the late 40's, as the theme song for the kids radio show, "Big John & Sparky". I don't know if you ever heard of that show or not, but it was one enjoyed by many young children. Thank you again for the page and the memories I was reminded of because of it....G.E.B. Michigan

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My Dad used to sing the Teddy Bear Picnic to my brother & me when we were little. He will be 88 years old this September. He also still sings me that, now a little bit shakier. It is one of my favorites that I remember as a child. I think it's wonderful.

The song Teddy Bears' Picnic goes back way long before 1947. Although I'm now living in Ontario, it was in South Africa that the song was played and sung for me on a birthday when I was about 6 or 7 years old and it left a permanent impression on me (not a bear-print but a memory-print!) That will have been in 1935 or 1936. Thank you for the happy Beary Patch

Shari Thank you for your 8/2/98 response to my earlier email regarding the "TBP" song. I got curious about it the other day and did some research. According to a "TBP" book which I have, the words were written by Jimmy Kennedy. The first copyright was issued in 1907, but I don't know whose name it was in at that time. The copyright was renewed in 1947 by Warner Bros., Inc.....apparently they bought the song rights somewhere along the way. Anyway...just some additional information for you.

I was delighted to see and hear the "Teddy Bear Picnic" on your web page. You may or may not know -- in the late 1940's and early 1950's, there was a radio show on Saturday morning which featured Big John and Sparky. The theme song for that show was the "Teddy Bear Picnic." I spent many Saturday mornings listening to Big John and Sparky and the theme song. Fortunately, and because of you, it has not disappeared forever. (Believe it or not, we didn't have TV in those days.)

Thanks for the memories.

My sister sent me one of your post cards from your site. I went a step further,(backwards??) and went to visit your beautiful "Beary Patch"!! (If there are typos here, please forgive.....it's because I'm crying as I write this)

When I was a little girl in the early 50's, I used to go with my Dad every Saturday morning to help him make his "Fuller Brush" deliveries. (He later became a Branch Manager) Anyway, every Saturday morning as my Dad and I drove from neighborhood to neighborhood, we would listen to a favorite radio program, the name of which I had forgotten until I read some of the other letters on your site. I have NEVER forgotten the song "Teddy Bear's Picnic".....or the wonderful time my Dad and I had singing it together.....just the two of us on Saturdays. Daddy died in 1971, and I miss him still. When the music came on on your site, it just flooded my heart, soul...and eyes...with happy childhood memories. And thank you so much for printing the words to the song.....I had forgotten some of them.

Just had to write...... Going back to enjoy your site some more.

Kitty Rosen Tulsa, Oklahoma

I just had to write to you about the Teddy Bear Picnic Song. It also brings back many memories for me. I can remember as a child my mother playing the old 78 rpm record on the old record player for me. We had a whole stack of records but this was amongst my favourites. We used to listen to some Spike Jones songs etc. too. I would love to have possession of some of these old records especially the Teddy Bear Picnic Song. Unfortunately another family member had children first and they were passed along to them and were not looked after. My favourite record was broken and thrown away. I collect teddy bears now and have often thought of the song and found myself singing it. I have never forgotten the words. Thanks again for the music and a terrific web site. Jill Welland, Ontario

A friend sent me a postcard off your website and I went in to look further at your site ,which by the way is done very nice indeed. and OH!! MY!! I was so thrilled when I saw your postcard about TBP. My story on it is in the early eighties when a friend of mine and I were in our early 20's and starting our marriages and families she used to sing TBP to her daughter who is 3 yrs older than my daughter and I liked it so much and had not ever heard it before then,that when I had my daughter I started singing it to her and only knew the last stanza of it because that's all she ever sang. Then when my son came along 6 yrs later the tradition carried on. It seemed to be the fav and most requested song for me to sing to them as they grew, my son is 9 now and even asked me to sing it to him last week which tugged at my heart because it had been a long while since I had sang it and I thought he had outgrown such things and even caught my 15 yr old daughter listening in. I was so very excited at seeing the full song on your site,to the point that I printed it out on my printer right then, and I am going to frame it. So that when my grandchildren come along I can have it to sing to them :-) I'm 38 now and hope that is awhile to come yet ..lol I don't see my friend much any more, occassional phone calls and a visit every few yrs as she moved away,but fond memories of her are in my mind every time I sing it. So sorry if I have rambled on, here with this,but it stirred me inside and if you decide to put with letters bout TBP you can edit it ..lol

My Regards and Thank You for Your Time, Lisa Fowler Texas

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As a little girl, my sister and I would listen to a child's program on Sat. morning radio that had stories...the intro music was Teddy Bears Picnic....before 1947

Alberta Morgan .....

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Hello:

I listened to a radio show called Big John every Saturday morning when I was a child and Teddy Bears Picnic was the theme song. The radio was a Zenith floor model and it now has a place of honor in my livingroom. A treasured gift from my Dad before he passed away in 1988.

I was thrilled when I found the music and the lyrics on the Web about a year ago. They brought back fond memories of my childhood. If I ever have a homepage, I hope to use them too.

Thanks for the memories, Mickey in Maryland

followup...

We didn't have a TV in those days and the radio was a great source of entertainment for the family. It would mean a lot to my Dad that his gift is still a treasure to his daughter and that I cared enough to write a letter about it.

Please feel free to add my letter to your Letter Page about Teddy Bears Picnic.

I have tried to find out some information about this particular model radio but have not been successful.

Mickey in Maryland

I enjoyed hearing the music and singing along with it last week. I am 76 and it took me back to when I used to sing it to my kids.

Constance Ryder

I can't believe I actually happened on a site with the Teddy Bear Picnic. It has been a favorite song of mine since I was a child. I have the song on a 78 rpm but can't play it too often because the quality of the recording plays havoc on my stereo needle.

Your entire site is beautiful and well done....but made extra special for me because of the Teddy Bear Picnic. I have forwarded your site to my mother who will be equally surprised to hear the familiar tune coming from her computer.

God speed

My oldest boy (10) used to love this song. It put a smile on my face & warmed my heart.

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Betty writes...

When my kids were young I used to sing this song to them and they were so sure that I made it up. I am so glad to see that someone else knows the Teddy Bears picnic song.  Love to all of you from a grandmother who now sings all the song to her grandchildren.          Betty
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Dusty writes...
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Thanks for the Teddy Bear Picnic song. I heard that one day listening to Big John and Sparky on KHCB-FM, and I always wanted the words so I could sing it to my grandkids. Thanks again.         Dusty

 Rodney Loyear writes....re: birthday song from the Big Jon & Sparkie show

We have sung and this birthday song to our loved ones since the 1950's. The words I recall from my boyhood differ slightly and I believe are a little more endearing:

Today is a birthday, I wonder for whom?
I know it's for someone who's right in this room
So look all around you for somebody who, is
smiling, and happy
My Goodness, it's YOU!

Happy Birthday, -----
From all of us to you
Happy Birthday, -----
From Mommy and Daddy too
We congratulate you, and pray good luck follows you.
Happy Birthday, -----, May all of your good dreams come true.

Another song we sing on our loved ones birthday is:

Happy Birthday Happy Birthday just for you.
Happy Birthday and may all your good dreams come true.
When you blow out the candles, one light stays aglow.
That's the sunshine of your smile where ere you go.
 

For Zoe in New Zealand, here are the words to the
birthday song, as I sang them just this morning for my
son's first birthday:

Today is a birthday, I wonder for who?
I know it's for someone who's right in this room
So look all around you and find someone
Who's smiling, and happy
My Goodness, it's YOU!

Happy Birthday, Ravi
From all of us to you
Happy Birthday, Ravi
From Mommy and Daddy too
We congratulate you, and hope all your good dreams
come true
Happy Birthday, Ravi
From all of us to you!
 

Now the only reason I know these words is that I
married into a family who always sang this song on
birthdays.  The first time they did it, I asked about
it and my mother-in-law (MIL to be, at the time) told
me this story.

When she was a little girl living in New York City
(must have been in the late '30s or early 40's), she
came down with an extended illness that had her in bed
for several weeks.  Everyday she would listen to the
radio, and she remembers that they would sing this
song every morning to kids who had birthdays that day.
When she had her own family, it became their
tradition, and now it's mine.

I happened upon your posting, because I'm actually
trying to hunt down a recording of the song for her.
Any clues to where I might track that sort of thing
down?

Happy Bear-ing (and happy birthday, Zoe!)

Juliana
 
 

Can you help in finding the words to Big John & Sparky's 'Happy Birthday'
song? Zoe has sent this request....

I live in New Zealand, but my Dad is from Upstate New York. He is always
talking about the radio show "the big John and Sparky show", he loved it as
a kid. I noticed on your websit that somepeople had written in talking about
the show and the theme song "Teddybears picnic". One song that I am looking
for is "Happy Birthday" but the version that Big John and Sparky used to
sing! Do you have any suggestions of how to find out the words?

Thanks for your help,
Regards,
Zoe Carafice
my email address is: admin02@hmi.co.nz
 

I received the following letter in my e-mail and thought it would be interesting to my readers. Thanks to Bear (Bobby Clarke) for taking the time to send it.

Hi...For your information......

About the unknown author of Teddy Bears' Picnic, the words were written in 1947 by Jimmy Kennedy. Later, that year, it was published and incorporated with music, which was written by John W. Bratton. A great Novelty Song, it is but it never did catch on well enough to be popular these days.
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Bobby Clarke,
Musician/Bass Player
for the Travelin' Moondogs
of Northern Virginia

 

My nickname is BEAR - most all but my kids & parents refer to me as BEAR - I
would like to be able to contact Bill McKelvy (he sent a letter & picture of the Scuderia /Bear Patch) - could you please forward him my address - I used to race for a shop known as SCUDERIA in Southern California - Thanks.

You can contact Bear at     Redragon@Dreamsoft.com
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