Buster Brown

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Buster Brown was a comic strip character created in 1902 by Richard Felton Outcault which was known for his association with the Brown Shoe Company. (The name "Buster" came either directly or indirectly from the popularity of Buster Keaton, then a child-star of vaudeville.) This mischievous young boy was loosely based on a boy near Outcault's home in Flushing, New York. Buster Brown, his sister Mary Jane, and his dog Tige, a Boston Terrier, were well known to the American public in the early 20th century. Tige is thought to be the first talking pet to appear in American comics, and, like that of many of his successors, his speech goes unnoticed by adults.

Buster Brown is a young city-dwelling boy with wealthy parents. He is extraordinarily beautiful and charming (contrast him to The Yellow Kid, or Frederick Opper's creations), but his actions belie his looks. He might dress in a girl's outfit and have her wear his clothes, or break a window with his slingshot, or play a prank on a neighbor. The trick or transgression is discovered and he is punished, usually by being spanked by his mother, but it is unclear if he ever repents. Many strips end with Buster delivering a self-justifying moral which has little or nothing to do with his crime. For example, a strip from May 31st, 1903, shows him giving Tige a soda from a drugstore soda fountain. The drink splashes a woman's splendid dress, and the Buster's mother spanks him with a hairbrush. In the last panel the boy has written a message beginning, "Resolved! That druggests are legalized robbers; they sell you soda and candy to make you ill, then they sell you medicine to make you worse."

The comic strip began in the New York Herald on May 4, 1902. Outcault left for William Randolph Hearst's employ in 1906, and after a court battle, Outcault continued his strip, now nameless, in Hearst papers, while the Herald continued their own version of Buster Brown with other artists. The latter lasted until 1911 or so, and the former until at least 1921.

A series of live-action short subjects were produced in the mid-to-late 1920s by the Stern Bros. Pete the Pup (who played Tige) and director Gus Meins were both later associated with the popular Our Gang (Little Rascals) comedies.

Buster Brown's association with shoes began with John Bush, a sales executive with the Brown Shoe Co. He persuaded his company to purchase rights to the Buster Brown name, and the brand was introduced to the public at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. The logo is still used on Brown shoes today.

Midgets were hired by the Brown Shoe Co. to play Buster in tours around the United States. These little people, who were each accompanied by a dog, performed in department stores, theaters, and shoe stores from 1904 until 1930.