1936 Texas Centennial Red Goose Shoes Medal
Today certain brand sneakers are viewed as a status symbol for both kids and some adults. They cost hundreds of dollars and wearing them in certain places could put you at risk.
I do remember a simpler time when I went to school. Penny loafers, wing tips, and hush puppies were just footwear. You weren't allowed sneakers in school because they left white skid marks on the hallway and classroom floors. Sneakers were for gym class or if you were on the basketball team and your beat up gym sneakers became your play shoes for at home.
I wore them til they had holes in the bottom and then maybe just a while longer.
Long ago, before sneakers were everyday footwear there were Buster Browns and numerous other brands. All cleverly advertised in magazines for Mom to see and there were small promotional toys like "clickers", "top spinners" whistles and banks.
One slogan for a pair of Red Goose Shoes was
"Half The Fun of Having Feet".
I'm still trying to figure out what half the other fun was.
1936 Texas Centennial Poll-Parrot Shoes Medal
There are different accounts of the origins of the "Poll Parrot" shoe brand. In one version, the brand was named after a certain "Paul Parrott", who had been manufacturing shoes under the Pol Parrot name in St. Louis since 1922, and had been bought out by International Shoe Company in 1928.
Ted Hake, author of Hake's Guide to Advertising Collectibles, © 1992, Wallace Homestead Book Company, tells the story of how the Poll-Parrot Shoe Brand name was conceived. It seems the owner of the original Parrot Shoe Company, Paul Parrot, kept a pet parrot in his store. The bird inspired a salesman to suggest the name Poll-Parrot Shoes as a brand name. Obviously Paul Parrot agreed and the name was copyrighted in 1925.
According to Old Time Radio Researchers, Paul Parrot sold his shoe business to the International Shoe Company that already had the Red Goose and Weatherbird Shoes. The company sold men's women's and children's shoes and sponsored the "Cruise of the Poll-Parrot" a syndicated children's serial in 1937.
Howdy Doody teamed up with Poll-Parrot Shoes advertising.

The colorful red, green and gold parrot with the words "Poll-Parrot Shoes for Boys and Girls", became a popular logo throughout the 1930s 40s, and 50s. The shoe stores that sold the Poll-Parrot Shoes often had painted plaster or chalk- ware displays of the parrot figures in the stores.
While there are a number of other medals out there advertising children's shoes, I have found three advertised on and sharing this 1936 Texas Centennial medal reverse. They are
Weather-Bird Shoes,
Red Goose Shoes and
Poll-Parrot Shoes.
I think that would be considered a complete 1936 Texas Centennial set, having all three.
I have posted my first of these three, Weather-Bird Shoes earlier in this thread here.
http://goccf.com/t/301479&whichpage=144#30106091936 Texas Centennial Souvenir Medal Set