Teddy Bears' Picnic

For other uses, see Teddy Bears' Picnic (film).

A teddy bears' picnic is a party for young children which involves a picnic and to which the children are invited to bring their teddy bears. Teddy bears' picnics may be held as a form of birthday party, or by primary schools or elementary schools or other organised children's groups.

The concept probably originates with an instrumental version of a 1907 musical piece entitled The Teddy Bears' Two Step written by Tin Pan Alley composer John Walter Bratton (but shown only as John W Bratton) Bratton wrote 250 songs in his 50 year career, mainly for Broadway musicals in the 1890's and the early 1900's but only The Teddy Bears Picnic has any prominence today

The song regained prominence in 1932 when the Irish lyricist Jimmy Kennedy added words and it was recorded by the then popular Henry Hall (and his BBC Dance Orchestra) featuring Val Rosing (Gilbert Russell) as lead vocalist, which went on to sell a million copies. This recording was used extensively by BBC broadcast engineers for calibrating and adjusting broadcast equipment throughout the 1930's, due to the recording's large dynamic range and frequency range.

"Teddy Bear Picnic" resurfaced again in the late 1940s and early 1950s when it was used as the theme song for the Big Jon and Sparkie radio program, a children's show presented on weekdays and Saturday mornings. This perennial favorite has appeared on many children's recordings ever since.

The song has been recorded by artists including Bing Crosby, Rosemary Clooney and Jerry Garcia. It was the theme song of the Commodore 64 game "The Hunchback", by Ocean. In November of 2005, agency McCann Erickson produced a commercial for Microsoft's Xbox game console featuring the Henry Hall/Val Rosing version as the primary soundtrack.

External links

• lyrics and audio from the BBC
• The original BBC recording along with information on Val Rosing, vocalist