Picturing Disability by Bogdan Robert; Elks Martin; Knoll James

Author:Bogdan, Robert; Elks, Martin; Knoll, James [Bogdan, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Syracuse University Press
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

7.2. Buster Brown appearance in Hartford, Wisconsin, ca. 1914. Photo postcard. Joel Wayne, Pop’s Postcards.

Another local photographer in Cherokee, Iowa, produced the studio portrait close-up of William Ray playing Buster Brown in illustration 7.3. Buster Brown is shown in full costume perched on an ornate chair lecturing “Tige,” who is standing attentively on his hind legs looking directly into his master’s face.

Notice how the caption states that this Buster is “THE ORIGINAL.” As the story goes, prior to his employment by the shoe company, William “Major” Ray owned a clothing store that sold Buster Brown shoes. It was Ray who had brought the idea of using midgets to the company. At the beginning of the campaign, the company had used children as Buster Brown look-a-likes, but it had become difficult to recruit kids to go on the road. Ray was the first dwarf to play the role. Interestingly, the employment of dwarfs started as a matter of convenience rather than as a ploy to use their drawing power as what were considered human oddities, which they soon became.

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