Buster Brown shoes are still sold, but it’s been a while since Buster and his dog, “Tige,” an American Pit Bull Terrier, have been seen as the company logo. There was a time in the early 20th century when the pair was very well-known to the American public, as was Buster’s catchphrase: “I’m Buster Brown, I live in a shoe. That’s my dog, Tige, he lives there too!”
Buster had his roots in a comic strip character, The Yellow Kid and Buster Brown, created by Richard F. Outcault. The rights to the Buster Brown character were bought by the Brown Shoe Company in 1904 which made Buster and Tige (short for Tiger) the emblem for its children’s line. The Buster logo was printed on all its shoe boxes, and the company hired 20 little people to dress as Buster Brown and appear in department stores, theaters, and shoe stores across the country.
A profile and more history of Buster Brown and the Brown Shoe company can be found here.
There was a time when a boy could own a pit bull and the dangers we speak of noe were minimal
Love those shoes and those timed
Agreed, Robert. The times in which we live are a challenge….
It’s not the breed. It’s the owners. Pits are still considered great family dogs in the UK.
Completely agree, Bill.
Pitbulls, and for that matter, any dog that is a terror is because of the owners, not the dog.
It’s not the breed. It’s the owners. Pits are still considered great family dogs in the UK.
I loved the Radio Program, “Let’s Pretend.”
The sponsor was The Brown Sonora Company, “Buster Brown and His dog Tige
Tige is not an American Pit Bull Terrier; he is a Staffordshire Bull Terrier. They are the “parent breed” behind the Pit Bull and the AmStaff (once dual registerable with AKC and the UKC). The Stafford is smaller than the AmStaff and many Pit Bulls, and its ears are never cropped. In England, Eastern Europe, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand, in particular, the breed is known among other things as the “Nanny Dog” because of its great love for children. With character dogs like “Tige”, “Stubby”, and “Jock of the Bushveldt”, both Stafford and Pit Bull / AmStaff people usually seek to claim them. What you read by way of designation will be wishful thinking on the part of any or all of these groups.
Hi Michael, a number of sources maintain that Tige was an APBT including the Michigan Humane Society, but it is the Buster Brown Shoe Company, itself, that says “Tige” was an American Pit Bull Terrier and that’s what we’re staying with.
By the way, does anyone known what the “5” with stars on either side means? I’ve tried to find out and have always wondered. Pages dedicated to the Buster Brown history and mythos never address it.