Ostrov's Shoes Buster Brown Ad – March 15, 1956

The well-remembered rendering of Buster Brown and his dog, Tige

Remember shopping for shoes as a kid?

I don't have fond memories of it. Shopping for shoes wasn't interesting to me (it still isn't). But we had to do it. The worst part was that if Mom did take my siblings and me shoe shopping, then she probably was buying them for all of us – meaning a marathon session in the stores. 

I've written before how Lorain used to have a lot of shoe stores – Downtown, in South Lorain (Pic-Way), out at O'Neil-Sheffield Center and later, at Midway Mall. Sometimes Mom had to drag us to several of them on the same night. 

Back then you had your own personal shoe salesman, who fitted you with his measuring tool and then proceeded to bring out as many styles and sizes as you requested. I remember how the man used to crush your toe with his thumb when he was trying to see how much room you had. I also recall how it was somewhat embarrassing to have to march around the store to see if the shoe slipped. 

Isn't it odd now that people buy shoes online without trying them on?

Anyway, one of the weird things I remember about children's shoes back then was that Buster Brown was a major brand, and he always appeared prominently on signs in the stores. I didn't quite understand who he was; it wasn't until much later that I learned that he was a comic strip character from early 1900s. He was somewhat otherworldly, with his hat not unlike that of Donald Duck. And his bulldog – with his shark-like teeth – was a little creepy.

Below is an ad featuring the sailor hat-wearing tyke and his namesake shoes for Ostrov's – a shoe store with outlets in Lorain and Elyria. The ad appeared in the Lorain Journal on March 15, 1956.

The ad mentions that kids could win big prizes in Buster Brown's "Paste-Up Pet Contest" and that a free comic book with all the details was available in the stores. What was that all about?

Fortunately, several copies of the Buster Brown comic book from March 1956  are on eBay right now. 

That's Western star and comedy sidekick Andy Devine on the cover along with the characters from the Andy's Gang TV show (including Froggy the Gremlin – who a few decades later would tease the Ghoul on his late night horror show on Cleveland television).

And here's the spread from the book showing the contest entry.

The idea was that kids would cut out the various pieces (designated as eyes, noses, ears, etc.) and glue them down on the entry blank to create their own 'pet' (or nightmarish freak of nature as the case may be).

Much like Snap, Crackle and Pop being redesigned to appeal to kids, Buster Brown was also rendered in a more modern style in some ad appearances.

An ad detail from a 1957 Christmas magazine ad

And here he is as depicted on two birthday cards. That's Captain Kangaroo himself in the top one.

And here's a vintage commercial. I had forgotten about the Buster Brown logo printed inside the shoe where your heel goes.

Today, Buster Brown shoes supposedly exist as a brand, but are nowhere to be found on the website of the company that owns them. Hope Buster and Tige are still around!