7/27/2023 0 Comments Buster brown shoe logo![]() "No admission will be charged and a good time will be provided for all." Children wearing Buster Brown shoes were promised a "handsome prize." The story noted that Tige was a "real dog and not one of the usual stage variety, while the part of Buster is played by a dwarf, 28 inches in height. 3, 1920, notes that the next day Gropp's Buster Brown Shoe Store was hosting a big "entertainment" at the Grand Theater, which was across Main Street from the courthouse. Performers depicting Buster Brown continued to visit Henderson in the ensuing years. Outcault died a wealthy man in 1928 - proof that merchandising tie-ins are the way to go if a cartoonist is aiming for the big bucks. "Buster had set his heart on winning the prize, and he showed that he was a real boy by bursting into tears when he found that the prize was not awarded to him."Īpparently there was also a contest for the largest hat, because an item in the "Local Brevities" column noted "Katie Martin won the prize at the skating rink last night for the largest hat, it being eight and one-half feet in diameter."Īccording to Toonopedia, Outcault continued to draw Buster Brown as a comic strip until at least 1921. ![]() Kahn had a wee bit of a hat made, but some other lad had a smaller one and Buster failed to win the prize. That night he appeared at the new skating rink at Elm and Fourth streets "to compete for the smallest hat exhibited," The Gleaner reported. The performance was enjoyed by quite a number of grown-ups as well as the children."īuster then returned to the shoe store to hand out hundreds of buttons and booklets. That afternoon he was going to give an exhibition at the shoe store, but the crowd was so large the event had to be moved to Liederkranz Hall, "and it was found the hall was too small for the crowd. ![]() (Rowland later lent his name to Rudy-Rowland Funeral Home.) A recess was given at each school so that the little ones could gaze on the form of the boy who has become famous from the funny supplements of numerous papers." "He visited the schools in the morning in company with Monroe Hartfield, Kahn's shoe man, and James Rowland. He was met at Union Station by a gaily decorated carriage and driven around the city. 13, 1908, "the original and only living Buster Brown and his famous dog Tige" visited Arnold Kahn's shoe store at the corner of First and Main streets, The Gleaner reported the following day. quickly latched onto merchandising rights, and began sending Buster Brown and his dog Tige into the hinterlands to sell shoes. In 1902 Outcault began drawing Buster Brown, in which The Yellow Kid made frequent appearances, and he was an instant hit. The public dubbed him "The Yellow Kid," and as his fame grew people began calling the newspapers that carried the strip "yellow papers," out of which came the term "yellow journalism" during the Spanish-American War of 1898. Out of it emerged a bald character with ears like cabbage leaves, who was dressed in a yellow nightshirt and was always getting in trouble. ![]() Outcault began drawing a cartoon about life in New York City's tenements. Millions of people are familiar with Buster Brown shoes, introduced at the 1904 World Fair, but hardy anyone is aware of the comic strip's origins."Įven fewer are aware of the connection between the shoe and a long-standing term for sensational and irresponsible journalism.īack in the mid-1890s cartoonist Richard F. As Don Markstein's "Toonopedia" Web site notes, "Buster Brown is one of the most phenomenal merchandising successes in the history of comics. Some of you reading this now are probably wearing Buster Brown shoes. Buster Brown brought a lot of smiles to Henderson a century ago, but Henderson left him in tears.
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