Figure 1.--Buster Brown usually wore a yellow or red Buster Brown tunic suit. This illustrator has dressed him in a fancy Little Lord Fauntleroy suit.

Although now known mostly as a coroprate symbol for a shoe company, Buster Brown was the best known boy character in 20th-Century America. He was also the subject of popular films.

Cartoon Character

Cartoons date to Wilhelm Busch's "Max und Moritz" which was introduced in German papers in 1865. This strip had a direct influence on Rudolph Dirks who would plagiarize the strip for the Katzenjammer Kids.

The origins of the newspaper comic strip itself can be directly traced to William Randolph Hearst and his fondness for this original American art form. Over a century ago, the San Francisco Examiner, where Hearst began his career, published what are possibly the first comic characters to regularly appear in a newspaper. The "Little Bears" were charming, playful little illustrations that appeared only in the Examiner.

Hearst acquired the New York Journal, his second newspaper, in 1895 and one of his first moves was to lure artist Richard Felton Outcault, creator of "The Yellow Kid" comic, away from Joseph Pulitzer's New York World. The Yellow Kid was a bald, grinning youngster who satirized current events.

R.F.Outcault's The Yellow Kid was enormously popular in America at the turn of the century. In 1895 at the same time that Outcault's first panels were being published, the newspapers were experimenting with four color inks. Quite a bit of experimentation is required to get proper colors and when an engraver for the World wanted to try a new yellow he chose to spot it in the coming Sunday's paper on the "kid's" frock, and the kid became known as "the Yellow Kid".

Figure 2.--Outcault usually drew Buster with a wide-brimmed sailor hat, red tunic suit and bloomer knickers, short red socks, and strap shoes.

Tired of the legal difficulties and looking for new avenues, Outcault left the Journal in 1901 and created for the New York Herald a forgotten strip called "Poor Li'l Mose" before finally creating the eternally famous "Buster Brown". Buster Brown the comic strip, first appeared in color in 1902. Buster and his dog, Tige, remained a popular comic and soon became even more famous as the emblem for a shoe company, a textile firm, and others. Hearst would lure him back to the Journal and he would remain there until 1920 when he discontinued the strip to concentrate his efforts on painting.

Having owned the rights to Buster Brown, he became an immensely wealthy man. He sold the right to merchandize an amazing diversity of products using the Buster Brown imagee. The most lucrative was the shoe compamy, but there were many other products. He exhibited his works in several galleries and museums.

Comics in America started as reprints of the Sunday "funnies". The Yello Kid, The Katzenjammer Kids and Buster Brown were a few of the earliest. The earliest comic publishers were the newspapers that published the original "funnies" The New York Journal and The Herald were two of these early publishers. In 1902 Cupples and Leon was founded, from this point they would grow to be the biggest Comic Book publisher in the first three decades of the twentieth century.

Figure 3.--The Buster Brown shoe company also sold stockings and stocking supporters. Note that Buster is wearing long stockings in this pin, given to children visiting the stores. His suit here has sailor styling.

Outcault pioneered the comic in both Pulitzer's World and Hearst's Journal, where "The Yellow Kid" proved to be immensely popular--and immensely effective as a circulation builder. Hearst aggressively expanded his comic roster, adding such artists as Frederick Burr Opper, creator of "Happy Hooligan," and Rudolph Dirks, creator of "The Katzenjammer Kids," the latter of which is the oldest comic in syndication today.

I believe Buster Brown was also drawn by Gus Meins, but I have few details on him.

R. F. Outcault's creation the Yellow Kid was the first important cartoon about a boy. He demonstrated that the Sunday comics could sell newspapers and other forms of merchandise, and firmly established the comics as a permanent part of the American newspaper. The Yellow Kid, coupled with the artist's subsequent creations, Kelley's Kids, Pore Li'l Mose, Buddy Tucker, and Buster Brown, has firmly established R. F. Outcault as one of the most important comic artists of all time.

Story Lines

I do not have good details on the kinds of story lines in the Buster Brown cartoons. I do know that they ometimes touched upon clothing and hair styles. I will try to look up some sample plot lines.

Figure 4.--A series of Buster Brown commedies were made in 1925-29. Buster appeared in a classic Buster Brown suit with short socks and strap shoes.

Movies

Buster Brown was also the subject of a popular series of films, the Buster Brown Commedies during 1925-29. They were all silent films. I do not know of any talkies. Buster was played by Arthur Trimble, he is a child actor I know very little about.

The series of "Buster Brown" comedies were sort-of low rent Our Gang films. Snapily attired Buster found himself in innocuous misadventures along side his faithful canine companion, Tige. (Petey to Our Gang/ Little Rascals fans.) Unlike Our Gang, the series was obviously aimed at very young audiences and offered very little for adults. I have no doubt that youngsters of the day were thoroughly entertained by Buster Brown. I'm not sure how our modern generaton would take to it, certainly they wouldn't be to impressed with his outfit.

One sample plot line is "Look Out Buster" in which Tige is being hunted by dog catchers for quarantine, and ends up foiling a gang of robbers in the process.

There were apparently other Buster Brown movies. Images exist of Jimy Marln who was another child star who played Buster Brown. Unfortunately I have no information about these films.

Costuming

Illustrations

Many Buster Brown illustratiins show him with Dutch boy bangs, wide-brimmed sailor hat, wide white collar, floppy bow, a Buster Brown tunic, short socks, and strap shoes. There were, however, many variations. Even the cartoonist sometimes gave Buster's tunic sailor styling. Some illustrators even put him in a Little Lord Fauntleroy suit.

Movies

Buster's costumes in the classic Buster Brown movies was very close to Outcault's costume character. The movie was in black and white, but his tunic suit was presumably red. He wore the knickers above the knee, although the cartoon character wore them below the knee. His short socks and strap shoes were just like the cartoon, although his cap was not the wide-brimmed sailor cap depicted in the cartoon. He was usually accompanied by his dog Tige which in the Buster Brown Commedies was the same dog that appeared in Our Gang as Petty.

Figure 4.--Jimy Marln was another child star who played Buster Brown. Notice his suit here has front buttons. The classic Buster Brown tunic was nver worn with front buttons.

Subsequent movie versions usually depicted Buster with his classic Dutch boy bangs. The wide white collar and floppy bows were also usually included. The tunic usually worn, however, is sometimes not depicted accurately. One movie version had buster in a kind of front buttoning outfit rather than a proper tunic.

Corporate Symbol

Beginning at the World's Fair in 1904, Buster Brown became a household name in children's footwear. Today, Buster Brown remains one of the most recognized children's footwear brands, and is featured at mid-tier and department stores across the United States. It was not just Buster Brown shoes that were sold, but related products like socks and stocking supporters. Buster Brown shoes were produced by Frank Maynard.

In addition to Buster Brown shoes, the marketing rights the popular character were licensed to a wide variety of other products. While not the first cartoon chracter, Buster Brown was the first one to be used for modern mass marketing--an early introduction to modern American mass marketing.