#Buster brown mary janes series

Popularity of the name peaked in 1923, when it became the 444th most popular girls’ name in the US. ( Vintage advertisements Image via pinterest )Īs girls’ names go, throughout the 20th century, the most popular was Mary and because it was so common for so long it sprouted a whole family of spliced names, including Mary Jane. Little girls wore pinafore dresses with petticoats. Elements of the Buster Brown outfit became the fashion with boys dressed in a fancy blouse or floppy bow. Tight bloomer-style pants and silk stockings, were the order of the day worn with single strap shoes, similar to Buster’s friend Mary Jane. To the new generation, it was the Buster Brown Suit, and fashionable you boys (3-8 years of age) who wore their hair in ringlet curls (love locks), velvet sailor suits with a tailored jacket and bib, or lace collar or floppy blow. Although Buster Brown came after it rode the same fashion trend for the Lord Fauntleroy suit. Birch set fashion trends for American middle-class children. The success of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s Little Lord Fauntleroy as a children’s novel in 1886 was immense, and the pen and ink illustrations by Reginald B. The Brown Shoe Company become one of the most successful shoe companies in North America in no short measure to its association with the Buster Brown characters.

The Brown Company used Buster Brown in their television adverts. In the 1950s a television show was broadcast and ran under the titles Smilin' Ed's Gang and The Buster Brown Show for four years. Richard Fenton Outcault focused on merchandising, and set up an advertising agency in Chicago. Many of the drawings were completed by notable cartoonists including Reed Crandall. These comics featured the Buster Brown characters on the cover, but contained different adventure features, such as Robin Hood. Shoe shop endorsed copies of Buster Brown comics (Custom Comics and Dell Comics) were used as promotions at shoe stores from 1945 to 1959. (Buster Brown comics Image via M圜omicShop) The rider stuck in the air is brought back to the ground safely after offering an imaginary payment of grandiose proportions. 'Buster, Buster, Buster Brown, what will you give me if I let you down?'

One rider would stop the seesaw with the other rider in the air and chanted, 'Buster Brown | Went to town | With his pants | On upside down.'Ī seesaw game was also popular. Children played Buster Brown playground games, including skipping to Buster Brown rhymes

#Buster brown mary janes series

A Buster Brown radio series with new characters began with Smilin' Ed McConnell on the West Coast NBC Radio Network. for Universal Pictures produced a series of live-action two-reelers (movies). In 1905, a Broadway production of a Buster Brown Musical Comedy starred a 21-year-old adult little person actor called Master Gabriel (Gabriel Weigel), and continued to play and tour the country for many years afterwards. Buster Brown shows were held in department stores, theatres and shoe stores. Adult little people were hired to play the characters in shows that toured around the United States from 1904 until 1930. The Buster Brown name was used to promote the brand. (Buster Brown Shoes Image via pinterest )