Who Remembers Buster Brown?

It’s a standard joke from me: Each time I have my bangs trimmed and they turn out too short for my liking, I say I look like Buster Brown.

Buster Brown and his dog Tige.
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Younger people may ask, “Who is Buster Brown?”

Buster Brown was originally a comic strip character created in 1902 by Richard Felton Outcault, who was associated with the Brown Shoe Company. Buster, with his pageboy haircut, was based on a small child in Outcault’s hometown.

Brown Shoe Company

Another small child named Richard Barker played Buster Brown in the Brown Shoe Company advertising campaign. Midgets were hired to play Buster in tours around the United States. These little people, accompanied by a Pit Bull dog named Tige, performed in department stores, theaters and shoe stores from 1904 until 1930.

The Buster Brown character went on to a career in comic strips, the theater, radio, television and comic books. But to me, Buster Brown only meant shoes; back to school shoes. Those ugly lace-up numbers that meant you were a mere child; not old enough to wear grown-up shoes.

Childrens Size 8 vintage Buster Browns for sale at etsy.com

No more sneakers and sandals of summer. No more bare legs. It was Fall and time for the shopping trip for sturdy shoes. The kind with which you had to wear socks. That meant Buster Browns.

A Buster Brown Shoes sign like this was outside Kaye's Shoe Store.
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I was dragged into Kaye’s Shoe Store, where you were met at the door by a stuffy man who escorted you and your mother --  with all the formality befitting being taken to meet royalty -- to the back of the store where resided the fluorescent X-ray machine.

Fluorescent X-ray Machine used in shoe stores to ensure the proper fit.
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Little feet slid into the machine, which was a big box resembling a floor-model radio. As the formal salesman adjusted the controls, X-rays penetrated shoes and feet and struck a fluorescent light, resulting in an image of the feet within the shoes. The machines were a big selling point for stores, which advertised that a proper fit would make for longer-lasting shoes and the need to buy fewer pairs.

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The fluorescent image was reflected to three viewing ports at the top of the cabinet, where you, the salesman and your mother could view the image at the same time. (Radiation hazards associated with shoe fitting x-ray units were later discovered and the X-ray machines were no more).

After the proper fit was determined, the salesman went to shelves that lined the wall, selected the correct size, brought the box, opened the tissue-type paper that covered the shoes and presented the brown things with a flourish. 

For my mother, it was an event that proved she was doing the right thing by purchasing footwear that provided proper support for growing feet. It was the kind of shoes all little girls should wear!

My little tantrums and incessant begging to be allowed to wear “slip ons” or loafers, like some of the other little girls, fell on deaf ears. Later, when you're older, she promised. I had to wait a few years before I got my first pair of Bass Weejans.

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But one benefit of buying shoes at Kaye’s was receiving the card each year on my birthday for a free present. Now that was something to look forward to! Some of the gifts I remember are the The Game of Cootie; Old Maid and Authors playing cards; and a miniature doll with a dressmaking kit.

Recent research about Buster Brown indicates the Brown Shoe Company  celebrated its 100^th anniversary in 2011. Still making shoes after all these years! And in the most stylish way! I guess not all little girls have to wear lace-up brown oxford shoes anymore. Read more about the history of Buster Brown.

Brown Shoe Company

Did you ever wear Buster Brown shoes? What are your memories associated with them, or with other shoes you wore as a child?