Clifford K. Berryman (1869-1949) was a Pulitzer Prize–winning editorial cartoonist, perhaps best known for inspiring the Teddy Bear toy. As a draftsman, illustrator, and cartoonist, Berryman always worked in pen and ink. Berryman satirized both Democrats and Republicans with a light-hearted approach.
Born April 2, 1869 in Clifton, Kentucky, he never attended art school and was entirely self-taught. His first job, in 1886, was as a draftsman at the United States Patent Office in D.C. From 1891 to 1896, he worked as a general illustrator and it was during this time that he learned cartooning by studying contemporary cartoons and copying the artist’ styles.
Berryman’s illustration entitled “And Boys, Remember the Maine!”, which appeared in the 
Washington Post on April 3, 1898, depicts an angry Uncle Sam addressing sailors as the USS Maine sinks in the background. “Remember the Maine,” became the battle-cry for American sailors during the Spanish-American War.
Berryman originated the “Teddy Bear” in his illustration “Drawing the Line in Mississippi”, published November 16, 1902 in the Post. It showed President Theodore Roosevelt refusing to shoot a captured cub during a bear hunt. This is the cartoon which inspired New York store owner Morris Michtom to create a new toy and call it the Teddy Bear. This little bear appeared in cartoons drawn by Berryman throughout Roosevelt’s career.
Berryman drew thousands of cartoons, first with the Washington Post and then with the Washington Star, where he drew cartoons until his death on December 11, 1949. Berryman’s cartoons can be found at the Library of Congress, the National Archives, and George Washington University.
Biography~ https://alchetron.com/Clifford-K-Berryman-1222344-W
Running for Office: Candidates, Campaigns, and the Cartoons of Clifford Berryman~
https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/running-for-office/
Composer Amilcare Ponchielli was born in Italy in 1834. He started composing operas while still a student at the Milan Conservatory. After graduating in 1854, he held various positions over the years, including professor of composition at the Conservatory; his pupils included Giacomo Puccini and Pietro Mascagni. His most famous opera is “La Gioconda”, written in 1876. It is mainly remembered for its ballet, Dance of the Hours.
“The Dance of the Hours is probably the only opera ballet that has established a life of its own in both the concert hall as a stand-alone orchestral work…and in pop culture: Walt Disney’s 1940 animated film Fantasia, for example, used the music for a ballet performed by tutu-clad hippos, ostriches, alligators and elephants. And in 1963, parodist Alan Sherman set words to the tune of Ponchielli’s day music with its all-too-familiar four-note theme. Sherman’s “Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh (A Letter from Camp)” hit No. 2 on the pop charts.”
FROM~ https://nepaphil.org/program-notes-from-an-evening-of-opera-overtures-and-arias/
The Misty Miss Christy 