Mary Janes have been used with professional attire, winter jackets, spring dresses, and school uniforms. The era for unisex shoes for children was over and Mary Janes represents the first example of sexualised footwear for children based on commercialism.One of the most popular and well-known shoe styles ever is the Mary Jane. The decision to market "Mary Janes" as a girl’s shoe style was due to the rising popularity of the Oxford style shoes for boys (and men) as the English Style prevailed. Needless to say they were an instant success and still sell well today. The company followed this up with a unique marketing promotion and sent performing midgets, each dressed as Buster and accompanied by a dog (Tige), to tour the US, promoting Buster Brown shoes and Mary Janes. They bought the name rights from the artist and trademarked “Mary James.” Mary Janes were introduced to the public in 1904 during the St. A US shoe company, ironically called the Brown Shoe Company, were quick to see the market potential of Buster Brown. Buster and his sister were drawn wearing strapped sandals and the hero had a tailored suit with short bloomer type trousers. Tige is thought to be the first animal to talk in a comic strip. Buster had a long-suffering mother, a sister called Mary Jane, but his best friend was a dog called, Tige. The comic strip ran until 1921 in one guise or another and may have inspired kiddie buddy moves including the films of the Young Rascals and the Bowrie Boys. The Buster Brown comic strip was as well known in the US in the early 1900s as Homer Simpson is today. He was similar to Little Lord Fauntleroy is dress and custom but a little livelier. Buster was a charmingly and likable young fellow who had everyday adventures. The inspiration Mary Jane shoes (strap shoes) was a little girl who appeared in an early comic strip in The New York Herald (1902) The comic strip was called Buster Brown and created and drawn by Richard Fenton Outcault. Neither was Christopher Robin Pooh Bear’s friend who remains the best known example of boys wearing strap shoes at the turn of the century. The popularity of the Scots ‘, children’s’ writer may account for the why the name became even more common in the early twentieth century, but this Mary Jane was not the source of the shoes. She twitches and jerks like a doll on a chain,Īnd still no improvement, it all seems in vain,īut now she won’t ever be quite right again, We’ve given her therapy, shocks to the brain, The poor girl’s deluded, completely insane, She’s begging and pleading and crying again, ![]() We’ve asked her and asked her to try and explain,īut she wants to go home, we may have to restrain, ![]() ( Jessica Cunningham Image via pinterest)īy the early 20th century Mary Jane was a common enough name in the early and when in 1924 Alan Alexander Milne (1882-1956), author of Winnie-the-Pooh and The House At Pooh Corner, published a set of poems in ‘When we were young’ a rather mischievous girl called Mary Jane emerged in ‘Rice Pudding’. Mild by comparison to their public school equivalents. Naughty boys in mixed schools run by the state might have to sit in the girl’s section of the class or in some instancesbe given a dummy to suck. Older children could also expect similar treatment at public school. ![]() The child was then expected to behave like a baby with Dummies (pacifiers) until they stopped wetting their beds or corrected whatever abhorrent behaviour. Bed wetting often resulted in punishment which required boys were dressed in nappies (diapers) and baby clothes. As part of their punishment boys were paraded in front of their family and friends who in turn were expected to demean and degrade them as part of behaviour control. If wearing female attire alone failed to curb abhorrent pubesent behaviours then more lace and ruffles were added. The very idea of a pre-pubescent drooling over girls in public was quite unacceptable in Victorian times and male masturbation and loss of semen were thought to cause poor health and insanity.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |