Aloysius – The Bear Who Outlived Sebastian Flyte
Aloysius came to life in 1945 under the pen of Evelyn Waugh in his novel Brideshead Revisited. The large brown teddy bear belonged to Lord Sebastian Flyte, and represented Sebastian’s reluctance to grow up. He was an integral part of the story, and an integral part of who Sebastian was and why he was what he was.
Sebastian took him everywhere, even to Oxford University, where Sebastian carried him around on his hip wherever he went. Even when Sebastian was more interested in drinking than in his studies, Aloysius was there, accompanying Sebastian to the pubs. Good thing Aloysius didn’t drink! But Aloysius probably saw more of the human side of life than most people do in several lifetimes, enough to have driven him to drink if he had been prone to liking alcohol.
Aloysius was both well-loved and abused. It just couldn’t be helped, for he was with Sebastian during all of Sebastian’s adventures, including Sebastian’s alcoholic stupors. Aloysius was probably even with him at the end of the book when Sebastian was a porter for a Catholic monastery in Tunisia, the object of charity from the Moroccan monks. When even when, sadly, Sebastian couldn’t give up his alcohol.
The idea for Aloysius was a teddy bear named Archibald Ormsby-Gore who belonged to Waugh’s friend from Oxford, John Betjerman. It is thought that Aloysius’ name came from the Catholic patron saint of youth, Aloysius Gonzaga, who lived toward the end of the 16th century.
Fast forward to 1981 when Brideshead Revisited was made into an 11-part serialized television movie. Aloysius was an instant star—as much a star as the humans playing the leading roles.
The bear who played Aloysius was named Delicatessen in honor of his prior owner, and belonged to British actor Peter Bull. Bull and Delicatessen are credited by some with the single (or is it double)-handedly sparking the teddy bear revival that occurred after the miniseries was released. After all, Bull had been speaking about his love for teddy bears for some time and had even written a book about them, Bear With Me, published in 1969.
Who was Delicatessen? He was an Ideal Toy Company teddy bear born in 1907. That made him the ripe old age of 74 when the 1981 miniseries began filming.
Nothing is known about his original family, but he had belonged to Euphemia Ladd for 40 years, sitting quietly on the shelf in her grocery store/deli in Maine. In 1969 Ladd decided to close her store, and wanted to find a good home for her teddy bear. She saw a television interview with Bull where he was talking about teddy bears and his new book, and sent her teddy bear to Bull in England.
Then came 1981 and the director of the Brideshead Revisited’s movie, Derek Granger, was looking for a well-worn teddy bear to play the part of Aloysius. Granger had heard about Bull’s collection of teddy bears, so approached Bull about an appropriate teddy bear for the movie. Delicatessen just looked the part and the rest, as they say, is history.
Delicatessen had such character that he was a natural in the movie. And he’s so closely related to the literary Aloysius, that today he’s still known by that name.
Aloysius was never late on the set, never threw a tantrum, was never drunk. Even when he “bled straw” after some of his stunts and had to be sent to a [bear] hospital for repairs, he remained calm and cheerful. However, he needed a cover for some of those patches. So the wife of human star Anthony Andrews, Georgina, whose family owned Dak Simpson, gave him one of her company’s scarves. The brown plaid scarf became Aloysius’ signature trademark.
After Bull died in 1984, Aloysius spent some time in the teddy bear museum in Stratford before being bought by wealthy American teddy bear collectors Rosemary and Paul Volpp. The Volpps, however, perhaps realizing Aloysius really belonged in England, later sold him to his current owner, Ian Pout, for $50,000 in a private sale.
Pout was contacted in 2007 when a new movie based on Brideshead Revisited was to be made, but decided Aloysius, then 100 years old, was too feeble and frail to reprise his movie role. It was time for a younger actor to have a chance.
Today Aloysius lives a tranquil retired life in Pout’s teddy bear shop and museum in Oxford, well-loved and well taken care of.