This is a rather long-winded tale about a little stuffed owl which was very popular for a very short time - it’s assumed you know what one looks like but if not there is a picture below. The story here is told chronologically through the headlines and quotes from newspaper articles (Globe & Mail, Toronto Star and Maclean’s magazine) at the time. The saga starts in 1963 at the Philadelphia trade fair:
1963-11-12
Canada Bids for Rich Philadelphia Market
Canada yesterday kicked off a large-scale drive to break into one of the richest and - from a Canadian point of view - most neglected markets in the United States. The Canadian Trade Fair, Nov 11 to 16 at Philadelphia’s Sheraton Hotel is the result of a market survey by the Department of Trade and Commerce which showed that the area Philadelphia serves has been almost entirely overlooked by Canadian exporters of manufactured goods.
An exhibition of Canadiana included Ookpik, a stuffed arctic owl; totem poles and Eskimo craft; free movies and Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers; Highland dancers and pipers and promises of a 60-foot Canadian Christmas tree.
1963-11-18
Philadelphia Fair a 'smash hit' Meet Ookpik - owl with duck's bottom
In one word: Ookpik. In another: a smash.
Ookpik - if you must know - is a happy Arctic owl with a duck’s bottom. He has been riding the back bumper of Philly taxis for weeks promoting "Canada Week" in Philadelphia.
1964-01-07
Bug-Eyed and Scruffy - U.S. Ogles Ottawa's Ookpik
Ookpik is a bug-eyed, flat-footed scruffy owl from Canada's Arctic. He's also the hottest property going in the Trade and Commerce Department's export promotion drive. Ookpik - Eskimo for owl - is a small sealskin doll fashioned by Eskimo craftsmen at Fort Chimo.
When the time came to ship him down to the United States, it was discovered he [Ookpik] wasn't where he was supposed to be - in a warehouse. Panic buttons were pushed, The Northern Affairs Department was asked to radio to Fort Chimo to place new orders and then it was learned that a sealskin boom had sent prices skyrocketing and the skins had also vanished.
Finally someone found a harp seal pelt in Ottawa and an Eskimo woman was enlisted to do the needlework. But she gave Ookpik a duck's webbed feet and all the posters showed him with cute little black feet. The day before the show opened, Ookpik had arrived by plane at Philadelphia and was immediately turned over the to Royal Canadian Navy. Aboard a frigate, an emergency operation was performed as a seaman made some correct black feet and another - said to be a surgeon - sewed them on. The next day the show opened and Ookpik was there, all six inches of him.
1964-01-17
Meet Ookpik - he's busy as a beaver
Ookik is a cute little artifical Artic owl made of seal fur. He stands six inches high. He's got a duck's bottom and metal feet.
Ookpik was so popular in Philadelphia recently that Canada had to reject a department store's order for 100,000 like them - an order that at $10 an Ookpik would have meant a $1,000,000 Canadian sale to the United States.
Ookpik was so popular on his first visit abroad that about a dozen firms protested to the Canadian government when they discovered Ookpik wasn't going to the new trade fairs in Los Angeles and Chicago. "Get us an Ookpik" they told the Department of Northern Affairs. Officials desperately rounded up an Eskimo woman living in the Ottawa area and she made an Ookpik. It didn't look like an Ookpik. Nonetheless it was rushed to Philadelphia and a navy metal-worker and seamstress teamed up to revamp Ookpik.
Ookpik arrived and became star of the show. Perhaps the strangest order forms in history were whipped up. Customers were told there would be no quality control: "No two Ookpiks are identical."
1964-02-14
Even Ookpik the Owl Refuses to Say Who
Lawrence S. Samuels, vice-president of Reliable Toy Co. Ltd. said he could not comment about his firm mass-producing the Ookpiks for the Government department.
1964-02-18
Ookpik Obtains Legal Advice For Toy Talks
Ookpik the Eskimo owl has retained an Ottawa law firm to help him in his negotiations with toy-makers in Southern Canada.
1964-03-05
Possum Pelts from the U.S. to Be Used in Eskimo Doll Manufacture in Montreal
What is probably the greatest Canadian symbol since the beaver will be manufactured by a Montreal firm out of fur imported from the United States. Reliable Toy of Toronto won the right to make a plush toy of white synthetic fabric. The Montreal firm won the contract for wrapping the doll in U.S. fur.
At a dinner at the National Press Club last night, club president Gordon Lomer unveiled what he referred to as a new Canadian flag. A black Ookpik on a red background held a Union Jack and fleur de lis on a white background in its wings. The dinner was referred to as an Ookpiknik.
1964-03-06
Too Fur South: Not Enough Opossums In Canada for Ookpik
If Ookpik the owl is going to be made out of opossum, it will have to be U.S. opossum. Officials of the Lands and Forest Department for Ontario, the only province in Canada where opossums are found, say they just do not exist in large enough numbers in the province.
“There aren't enough of them to make regulations. I have seen the odd one along the north shore of Lake Erie", said Douglas Omand of the department. “But there aren’t enough that they ever get listed on any of the Canadian fur auctions.”
1964-03-07
Somewhat like an Owl in Front ... and Just Like a Duck Behind
An Ode to an Ookpik Melts the Freeze in Ottawa Hearts
A 22 year old Ottawa folksinger has won a behind-the-scenes battle with the Goverment and will be allowed to sing her song about Ookpik the Owl. The folksinger, Maryellen Greer, known to her friends as Rusty, composed the song a few weeks ago and almost immediately ran into trouble with the Department of Northern Affairs and a law firm representing the Eskimos who hold the rights to Ookpik.
A Department of Northern Affairs official phoned her and told her she should call the Ottawa lawyer because her song might be an infingement of the Trade Mark Act. Northern Affairs officials, according to Greer, took exception to the verse in her song, describing the Ookpik from the rear as looking like a duck. One of the Ookpik's main features is that he has no tail.
"It sounds trite," Miss Greer said, "but it isn't the money any more. It's the principle. I shouldn't have to pay any money to sing the song."
Meanwhile, Ookpik, which will be made of U.S. opposum fur, gazes impassively with its unblinking eyes.
1964-03-07
Ookpik: the strange little Arctic owl that means “Canada” around the world
Government Lawyers are thinking of applying to Parliament for an Act that would make a “ward of her Majesty” out of Ookpik, the furry talisman whose sudden success threatens the status of the beaver as Canada’s national emblem. By officially adopting Ookpik, the federal government hopes to make sure that Eskimos who first devised the bug-eyed Arctic owl receive a fair share of the royalties on sales of the bird — even though the Eskimos no longer have any hope of making all of them.
The demand for Ookpiks in the south has grown incredibly beyond the Eskimo’s working capacity. “If all the Eskimos in the north did nothing but make Ookpiks for the next twelve months, they still couldn’t come anywhere near meeting even a quarter of the demand,” says Frank Hamilton, director of editorial and art services for the Department of Trade and Commerce and the man mainly responsible for Ookpik’s success.
The government expects Ookpiks to be turned out in mass quantities somewhere in southern Canada, but manufacturers are already badgering the government for permission to use the Ookpik design on hats, wall plaques, jewelry and various other items. A newspaper syndicate is anxious to promote a comic strip with Ookpik as its hero and two Canadian film companies want to feature him in a series of cartoons. Rusty Greer, a Canadian folk singer, recently wrote a ballad to Ookpik.
A leading Ottawa lawyer has been retained to oversee all these exploitations. "We want to make sure that Ookpik’s image is protected," says Hamilton. “He's a whimsical fellow and we don’t want him to do things that appear to be out of character, like taking pratfalls or making like a real Arctic owl and eating cute little mice."
1964-03-10
Ookpik Copyright
Northern Affairs Minister Arthur Laing has expressed his hope that "unauthorized" manufacturers will not steal his Ookpik.
1964-03-26
Ookpik's Success Seen as Boon to Eskimo Co-ops
Ookpik the Arctic owl that is Canada's newest symbol is focusing attention on Eskimo co-operatives. The Fort Chimo Co-operative in Northern Quebec, founded three years ago, has become the richest of the 19 co-operatives. Ookpik alone will provide an income of over $25,000 in the next 12 months for the 44 persons in the organization.
All the co-ops are run by the Eskimos in all 19 locations. All the co-ops are run by the Eskimos, with initial aid from the Department of Northern Affairs and National Resources. Loans from the department to get co-ops rolling average about $6,000 according to officials. The Eskimos are good risks and never fail to make payments promptly.
Last year the 19 co-ops had a total business turnover of almost $1,000,000, a quarter of which came from the sale of Eskimo carvings and crafts.
1964-05-28
Ookpik in Costume jewelry
The Federal Government has awarded Hedy Hill the franchise to reproduce the original Eskimo Ookpik in costume jewelry. [The] gold-plated healthy-looking creature is made of copper. The thinner creature, with hair standing on end, is made of sealskin on copper. Cufflinks are of copper with sealskin tufts.
1964-08-11
Ookpik has netted $10,000 and international interest
Ookik, the toy arctic owl with the big eyes, has already netted $10,000 in royalties for the Fort Chimo, Que. Eskimo Cooperative Union of Canada, its annual meeting was told.
1964-08-20
Ookpik Fans Can Buy Shirts
The Oookpik [sic] from the Eastern Arctic has turned up on children's and boy's sweatshirts.
1964-10-31
Aurora-Made Medal Adorned by Ookpik
Ookpik has been reproduced on a medal by the Canada Medal and Token Co. of Aurora.
Applications have been received in Ottawa for permission to use the Ookpik design on hats, wall plaques, jewelry and various other items. A newspaper syndicate is anxious to promote a comic strip with Ookpik as its hero and two film companies want to feature the owl in a series of cartoons.
1964-12-22
Don't Shoot the Ookpik
Hunters in Southern Ontario were warned today not to shoot an Ookpik. Hawks and owls - including the Ookpik - are protected under Ontario's Game and Fish act because they keep down the rodent population.
1965-03-04
Ice Worm Is Friend Of Ookpik
Ookpik, the furry Eskimo owl that became a best-seller, has a new friend. The newcomer, Sikusi (pronounced see-koo-see) is described as an iceworm. He, she or it is about 18 inches long, has horns and a long lolling tongue, and generally looks like a shaggy bottle-brush. Sikusi was created by a group of Eskimo women at Tuktoyaktuk, a community at the mouth of the Mackenzie River.
1965-10-16
Another Arctic doll for market: Eskimo hope: Toonik the elf
"Toonik" is a sealskin representation of the legendary creatures that preceded the Eskimos. No Eskimo now living has ever seen a Toonik, but relics periodically turn up. Toonik are prominent in Eskimo folklore from the western Arctic to the east. In the west they were giants but by the time the stories (or the Toonik themselves) had made it to Baffin Island they had shrunk to the size of elves. They wore hair instead of clothes, had stone weapons, ran their game to the ground instead of stalking it, and were - let's face it - stupid.
[Clarification: Tuniit is a word used by modern Inuit to refer to what were most likely the Dorset people. But it seems like the Danish colonizers of Greenland thought that the Tuniit were mythical creatures. As always, and with any culture with oral and not written history, there are differences in the stories of what are now Canadian vs Greenlandic Inuit. That said, the Toonik Tyme Festival has been welcoming arctic spring in Iqaluit for over 50 years].
1965-12-10
Fur trader writes best-selling Ookpik children's book
The book, Two Stories of Ookpik the Ogling Arctic Owl, by Dudley Copland of Ottawa is sold under auspices of the Fort Chimo Co-operative Association. More than half the 10,000 copies of the colorfully-illustrated book printed this fall have been sold already, and its publishers, Canadian Century of Montreal, report that sales are still brisk.
1965-12-15
Sales Soar: Ookpik makes money
First introduced at a trade fair in Philadelphia, the Ookpik toy was the creation of Annie [sic] Snowball, an Eskimo woman in her 60s who still likes at Fort Chimo, near Ungava Bay in Northern Quebec. She has made about $4,200 out of the bug-eyed owl.
1966-09-03
Operation Ookpik
The Toronto Rifles plan to do their bit to promote Canada's Centennial. The Continental Football League team has talked a Toronto toy company into donating Centennial souvenirs, and for the rest of the season the Rifles will shower opposing players and coaches in U.S. cities with Mountie and Ookpik dolls, and the like.
1967-02-01
Ookpik's Creator Visits Montreal
Jeannie Snowball from Fort Chimo, Ungava Bay, attended an exhibition in Montreal department store Monday where Ookpik is on display. It is her first visit to a city.
1967-02-01
One of the few things run by Eskimos: Ookpik plunges family into co-op
In Fort Chimo, not many things are run by Eskimos. There are 600 Eskimos in the town, and there is a debate going on over how they will be governed, but it is over whether white officials from Ottawa or white officials from Montreal will do it.
In Fort Chimo, Rev. Robert Lechat and Rev. Lucien Schneider, French priests who speak Eskimo, offers movies in a tin-roofed cinema with Paris travel posters on the walls. Into it the Eskimos flow after the Anglican service in the evening, to see, for example, Peter Sellers and David Niven in Casino Royale.
Malcolm Storr, a federal teacher who considers Quebec's teaching in Eskimo a pointless exercise, says: "These people just don't have any pride in themselves. I have shown my class the National Film Board series on the old Eskimo life, and they just laugh. I've often wondered why."
1968-04-25
Latest from the north: "Mousepik"
And what does a cool cat do during the long winter nights on Baffin Island? Why, he plays with his spicenip mouse, the one with the "body by Fisher." A fat mouse with big ears and a flattened tail is the latest in a series of furry novelties to break out of the Arctic. In fact, the mouse was invented for a cat. Kyra Fisher, wife of David Fisher, department of northern development administrator in Cape Dorset, had a bored pussycat on her hands last year. So Mrs. Fisher gathered scrap sealskin and stitched together a mouse. The cat wouldn't go for it. Catnip was called for, but catnip is scarce in the Arctic. So Mrs. Fisher went to the spice rack and stuffed the furry doll with sage and other aromatic spices. Now the mouse is ready for mass production in a limited sort of way.
1976-08-05
Whatever became of the Ookpik
Remember? Yes, Ookpik was a cuddly little sealskin Arctic owl with a pointy nose, saucer eyes and floppy Donald Duck feet designed by a Fort Chimo, Que., Eskimo named Annie [sic] Snowball. Annie, a widow on welfare, merely hoped to sell a few dozen of the furry dolls. But suddenly, Ookpik became a huge fad. Department stores across Canada and the U.S. ordered them by the thousands, and Annie began reaping a windfall from her creation.
At the height of its fame in 1965-66, Ookpik became the semi-official symbol of the government trade drive, adorning jewelry, hats, wallpaper, medallions, starred in a TV show, songs, children’s books and a comic strip, and even threatened to replace the beaver, Mountie and maple leaf as Canada’s best known symbols. Still, like all fads, it had to end, and by the 1970s Ookpik was on the way out.
