‘Bully Pulpit’ brings out
the Teddy bear in TR

By Rita Charleston
For the Times

Considering all the hats he wears — writer, actor, ardent salsa dancer, Latin percussionist and more — Michael O. Smith insists he really has no preferences. He loves it all.
"It’s like Teddy Roosevelt used to say," said Smith. "‘I sort of take up whatever comes along.’"
And Smith should know and at the same time be able to quote quite a bit of Roosevelt since he’s written a play about the former president titled The Bully Pulpit. Smith is performing his one-man show at Bristol Riverside Theater through March 17.
Set in Roosevelt’s Sagamore Hill, N.Y., home, the play takes place in 1918, on the occasion of Roosevelt’s 60th birthday. The president is 10 years out of office with, unknowingly, just three months left to live, yet vibrant and exuberant as ever.
Reflecting on his many triumphs and tragedies, including the loss of both his mother (from typhoid) and his first wife (complications from childbirth) on the same day in February 1884, "TR" is trying to come to grips with the legacy he will eventually leave behind.
Spurred on to write the script by colleagues like Burt Reynolds and Dom DeLuise, Smith decided to do just that, writing the play as an acting vehicle for himself.
After performing it at various venues, Smith will once again don his pith helmet, carry his elephant gun and become our beloved 26th president, Teddy Bear.
While Roosevelt is probably best known for his role as president, he is also noted for the "Teddy" Bear named after him and his saying, "speak softly and carry a big stick."
"Writing the show rekindled a lot of memories for me," Smith recalled, "because as a child in Mississippi, my father used to tell me stories about my grandfather.
"My grandfather died when I was just four so I don’t remember him, but I was told he used to shoot skeet with John Phillip Sousa, who would often recount to my grandfather that Mississippi was the place where Roosevelt refused to shoot a bear. That’s what gave rise to the whole teddy bear story.
"I do tell that story in the show," Smith continued, "but the fact is it was not a baby bear that Teddy refused to shoot, it was an older bear. And Teddy said had he shot the bear, he could never look into his children’s eyes again, which gives some insight into the kind of man Roosevelt was."
Other insights, Smith continued, include the fact that among his many jobs, Roosevelt was police commissioner of New York City at one time.
"It was there that he took it upon himself to hire more than Irish cops," Smith said.
"In fact, he hired the first Jewish cop, the first lady cop. He opened the police force to various ethnic groups."
Smith said he thoroughly enjoyed researching, writing and often performing this play, although he has many other impressive credits.
He has appeared on TV in such shows as Evening Shade, Murder She Wrote, The Young and the Restless, Days of Our Lives and more. He was a series regular on ABC’s B.L. Stryker with Reynolds.
Broadway and touring credits include Dracula, The Elephant Man, Amadeus, 1776 and others.
And yet, with it all, Smith often returns to one of his favorite projects, The Bully Pulpit — both the play and the man.
"At Teddy’s funeral," Smith explained, "someone came up to his second wife Edith and said, ‘I hope people never forget the fun and joy of your husband.’ And that’s what kind of man I have based the show on." ••
For times and ticket information, call 215-785-0100.