This little guy came to us from California. Hello the Sunny State.
Well Sunny the Bear has an interesting story. He was a free give away bear for the Crocker National Bank in California if you opened a new account. This was probably the first time a bank gave anything for free! People were coming in by the car loads to get a Sunny Bear. Yes there were a lot of angry people who didn't get their bears because there were not enough in California. The bank ordered more and transported these bears all over the state. (Beaver County Times: "Sunny The Bear" in a Bank Caper: Los Angeles)
Sunny Bear's face looked moth eaten and his nose was almost off. He was stuffed with the doctor's favorite stuffing - FOAM CHIPS! What a mess. After a good clean, his face was removed to create a pattern. Little scary looking.
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| Crocker Bank Tag |
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| He really needs a nose job! |
These are the pieces of the inset muzzle. They had been sewn and re-sewn numerous times! Fortunately the one on the left was almost complete, so we could make a pattern. Now try to put it back together. It wasn't easy.
After several attempts at putting the face together, it finally worked. I had to use my son's bear to help match up the pieces.
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| I look soooo much better |
Here are the two of them together. Similar but with minor differences. Both of them were given away as a bank promotion in the 70's.
I worked at Crocker Bank as a New Accounts rep. back then, in Newport Beach. They were so strict about giving these bears out I even. Had to open up a new savings account. I originally bought him for my first child, when I had one, but forgot about him. So now, I'm saving for my first grandchild, if I ever have one. My teddy is in perfect and unused condition. Forgot how cute he is
ReplyDeleteWow that is such a neat story. My grandma was a long time customer of Crocker Bank and I'm sure she had to open an account too! We only just found out the story about the bear issues when someone wanted us to fix their bear. So we Googled it, just out of curiosity. Thanks for sharing.
DeleteI have the bear on the right frim my grandparents in '78 . I recently had seen the bear on an episode of Golden Girls. I then decided to do some reasearch. Thank you for the article.
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