Late 1930s Bowling Shoes and the Bruno Athletic Shoe Manufacturing Co.

On a recent trip we were delighted by the hotel’s basement rec room, which included a two lane bowling alley. Growing up in the 1960s it seemed like everybody bowled, at least on a casual basis when there was nothing else to do. The bowling alley in my little town was always busy. But times change, and the alley went under. And even though I collect sportswear, I have few bowling pieces in my collection.

But we had so much fun bowling that I was inspired to go looking for some vintage pieces to fill the bowling void. What I discovered is that great garments are very expensive, but the shoes seem to be a bargain. So unsurprisingly, I now have three new pairs of bowling shoes. The clothing will come, but I’m going to have to spend a bit more time looking.

I’m okay with that. One can – and did – bowl in any comfortable and casual clothing, but bowling shoes are a specialized item that can greatly enhance one’s game. So maybe the shoes are actually more important than the rarer-than-hen’s-teeth two-toned gabardine bowling dresses.

I’ve had to educate myself on the ages of bowling shoes. They are not “fashion” items, but as in most cases of sports attire, you can find fashion influences. In the case of the shoes shown here, I had a bit of help with the dating. The seller got these from the original wearer’s daughter, who is now in her late 70s. The daughter knew these were the bowling shoes her mother had worn as a teen in the late 1930s. That was a great starting place.

I then went looking for photographic evidence on the WWW. I didn’t find what I needed, but in the meantime I ran across a catalog from the Bruno Athletic Shoe Manufacturing Company in Manchester, Ohio. There’s no date on the catalog, but the illustrations of mainly men playing various sports are typical 1930s. All I could really find was that the company was owned by Mike S. Bruno. All the information I could find locates the company in Cincinnati in the mid 1940s. Mike Bruno was described as “late” in a 1954 marriage announcement of his son, Joseph. That’s it, so I would appreciate any additional facts about Bruno.

I also found a very similar design in a 1935-36 Lowe & Campbell Athletic Goods catalog.

I would imagine that this basic design remained in place for some years. In both catalogs the shoes were described as made from elk leather.

The soles are suede, or more likely, buckskin. The heels have a rubber finish, for additional control over the slide of the foot.

Bruno was primarily a maker of ice and skate boots, but they also manufactured bowling, baseball, and basketball shoes. They also advertised the “Bruno Magic Toe Stop”, guaranteed to keep the toes of your skates from developing those unsightly toe wrinkles.

Shopping with the Vintage Traveler – Summer 2017

Could you use a diversion? I thought so. I need one too, and to get my mind off the sorry state of the world, let me share one of my true loves – vintage shopping.

I really haven’t been shopping much this summer, but the few trips I have made have been really, really good. Above, and in the next few photos, you see the Greenville, SC shop of Kate DiNatale. Kate has a full range of vintage clothing, plus home furnishings, all presented in a lovely old building.

It used to be that vintage clothing stores were stuffed to the brim, making finding anything a real chore. And while I do enjoy a good dig, I prefer the experience of shopping in a lovely space where everything is presented to its best advantage. That dress on the left came home with me.

I probably should have gotten this bathing suit, as it has a super Claire McCardell vibe. There was no label, though.

I was also tempted by the cutest giraffe pants ever.

I’m afraid I caught Kate’s two shop assistants sleeping on the job.

Here’s another view of this fabulous space, with lingerie and little black dresses in the background.

If you are in the Greenville area and plan to visit Kate’s shop, set aside a bit of time to also visit her mother’s antique mall, Old Faithful’s. Kate had a booth there as well, with even more great vintage clothing and accessories. Too bad I’m not a “cat person.”

A couple of weekends ago I took in the Virginia Highlands Antiques Market in Abingdon, VA. It’s held every July and August, and it is always an interesting show. Little Lizzie above is actually a doll printed on cotton for you to cut out and sew together. Or, you can paste it to a board and hang it on your wall.

I love old pennants. I don’t know why; I just do.

Here’s an example of my restraint in buying things I do not need, and for which I have no space. I love this little Scottie bookshelf, and seriously contemplated buying it, but I was a real adult and told myself I had nowhere to put it. When I went back to say goodbye to it, the piece had been sold. Not a surprise.

Old quilts always get my attention, if for no other reason than to appreciate the old textiles. I do love a good hexagon.

I was completely taken with this old canvas trunk. I wanted it, badly. I didn’t like the price tag.

No buttons were harmed in the making of these plastic bracelets.

Is this not the best salesman’s sample card ever?

Amazing, size 17 Pro Keds! I could get both my feet in one shoe. I’m pretty sure this is the largest vintage sneaker I’ve ever seen.

 

Women in Pants – The Aftermath of World War I

While my main focus is sportswear, I sometimes have to take a slight detour to see other forces that were at work in the journey toward women wearing pants. One such detour is the influence of World War One. Many articles about women wearing pants will bring up WWII as being a watershed moment in the movement toward females in pants, and that is a true depiction. But we also need to remember the woman workers of WWI, as it was they who were truly the pioneers.

I’ve written a lot about how bloomer gym suits and knickers on the hiking trails helped ease women into pants. But we need to remember that these were mainly women with money. What about the working class woman who had little time for leisure pursuits and no money for college? It’s likely that the first pants experience of most working class women was with a bathing suit, but it was during WWI that so many women took over jobs traditionally done by men. It made sense to adopt the working attire of men as well.

The young workers above are wearing overall suits, and you can tell they have seen some very hard days. But note the shoes on the woman on the right. It looks as if she has pressed into service an old pair of dress shoes. One had to make do with what was available.

WWI ended in 1918, but work overalls continued to be offered to women. The illustration above is from a 1921 Montgomery Ward catalog. I have seen ads for sewing patterns for similar garments into the 1920s.

The wearing of overalls for work during WWI and the years immediately afterward did not directly lead to women taking up trousers for regular wear. It was, however, one of the many steps that allowed women to see the practicality of pants, and which got people used to the idea of women wearing pants.

This is a card advertising a calendar for 1919. It’s most likely that WWI was still going when the card was distributed to the customers of Swift & Company. Women working – and wearing pants while working – was depicted as the patriotic thing for women to do.

In writing about my photo I got to thinking about how history is taught. So often we look at WWI as a time period from 1914 to 1918, with battles from trenches, and poison gas, and No Man’s Land, and then the Armistice on 11/11/18. If individual people are considered at all, it is usually in anecdotes of Christmas Day cease fires or stories of heroic officers leading charges across barbed wire.

But how much more interesting history becomes when people, both men and women, are put into the big picture. By this I mean not just political changes brought about by war, but more importantly, the social changes. When you stop and think about it, your life today is influenced more by the social changes (including the beginnings of working women wearing pants) than by some of the political ones. (The formation of Czechoslovakia comes to mind, that is unless you live in the former country of Czechoslovakia.)

Looked at it this way, the history of clothing takes on a significance that is often overlooked.

 

Vintage Miscellany – August 6, 2017

I found a set of photos showing early 1940s women modeling sportswear. There is no indication of the company that made the garments, but they are all top-notch. This playsuit and skirt, with the bias cut fabric is one of my favorites.  The stripes work so well with the pleated shorts. No wonder these sets are currently highly sought out by the vintage-wearing set.

And now for the news…

•   I knew that chemists experimented with making fabric from milk, but the connection to Mussolini is a new one on me. Thanks to Beth for the link.
•   Fashion waste continues to plague the Earth.
•   Fashion company Vetements took the campaign against over-consumption to the Saks Fifth Avenue windows, which seems like an odd thing for a business in clothing retail to do.
•   A new book explores what the clothing of writers says about them.
•   What happens when someone tweets a clever phrase, it is sent to a maker of tee shirt who uses the phrase without considering the source, and the tee shirt is then worn by a famous singer in a concert?
•  My new favorite website.
•  Project Runway returns August 17.
• No link, but I have it on good authority that there will be no fashion exhibition this fall at the Met’s Costume Institute.

 

Young Victorian Croquet Player

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People who are not collectors sometimes think collectors are hoarders. That is simply not true. A collector does not want things simply for the desire of ownership. A collector uses her (or his, if that applies) collecting because of an interest and a desire to learn more. Okay, I am speaking only for myself. I know that some “collectors” are pretty much glorified hoarders, but I am trying to justify the piles of paper everywhere around me as I try to do some cataloging of my print resources.

The image above is a new addition to my collection. It’s from the last half of the nineteenth century (more on that later) and is a chromolithograph, an early type of color reproduction. After the process was invented around 1845, people started collecting these prints. Companies began producing them as a part  of their advertising. These “scraps” of colored images led to the hobby of keeping scrapbooks. It was the Pinterest of the Victorian age.

Keeping a scrapbook remained a popular past time through the 1950s. Scraps were replaced by color illustrations cut from magazines. Some scrapbooks were more personal and contained the ephemera of a person’s life. To see lots of great old examples, check out #vintagescrapbook on Instagram.

My card was at one time glued into a scrapbook, as is evidenced by the traces of old glue and torn paper on the reverse. It’s possible that the rip occurred when the card was removed from the scrapbook.

I bought this card because of the subject matter. Images showing women playing croquet are a bit hard to find, so I was happy when this one materialized in a box of old paper stuff.

Croquet became very popular in the years after the American Civil War and was one of the first outdoor games in which it was socially acceptable for women to participate alongside men. While it may look to us that her ensemble is too fancy for sports, croquet was considered to be a social activity and as such women dressed for mixed company. Who knew but that a potential suitor was in the playing party?

Some of you might be able to look at this image and immediately place an accurate date on it. I’m still learning about pre-1915 clothing, so I’ve had to spend some time analyzing the woman’s attire. The skirt is quite short. It could be a concession to the game, or it could be that the woman is very young and is still in short skirts. The fact that her hair is loose might be another hint that she is a younger teenager. Or it could be that this was made in the early 1870s when women wore the back of her hair down. So many things to consider! No wonder a novice student of Victorian fashion is confused!

The hat is also confusing to me. I found similar ones with a brim turned up at the side in fashion plates from the 1870s, but also spotted this style in the 1880s. The red apron effect over her skirt is seen in the 1870 and into the 1880s. I did see more of that shorter sleeve length in early 1880s plates. And in photographs and plates of the early 1880s, many skirts are trimmed at the hem with a row or ruffles or pleats.

I also have to keep in mind that my card is not strictly a portrayal of fashion. This could have been merely the artist’s idea of what a fashionable young lady would have worn for croquet. Thoughts?

I love that she has her dainty foot on her ball, and is about to knock her unseen opponent’s ball into the bushes just beyond. A true sportswoman!

 

 

1960s Kleinert’s Beach Bags

Things seem to come in bunches, as I recently found two really great Kleinert’s beach bags from the 1960s. Kleinert’s was/is a maker of rubber products, and so was a big player in the swim accessories market. I’ll share more about the company at the end of this post.

The bag above is canvas that has a layer of rubber fused to it. You can see it on the left along with the label. This bag dates to 1963.

I can say that with certainty as I found it in a catalog from 1963. In the description it is mentioned that the bag was also available in black, white, and tan.

The second bag is, according to my guess, a bit older, and may possibly date from the late 1950s. I love the design of this one, and the fact that it was never used and still has the hangtag.

When not in use, this bag stores flat. When being used, it takes the shape of a diamond.

The tag had a great late 50s or early 60s look. When was orange combined with pink hip? That might help nail down the date on this one.

This bag has the same label (with the addition of the copyright symbol) and the same rubber lining as the 1963 duffel. It looks like the rubber is degrading, but that is actually the original cardboard liner.

The following history is copied from a post I wrote in 2011.

Kleinert’s was started in 1869 as I.B. Kleinert’s Rubber Company .  The owner,  Isaak Kleinert, started the company to produce his many inventions, all consisting at least in part of rubber.   The company’s fortune seems to have been made on the dress shield, little rubber crescents, covered with cotton, that were basted into the underarms of one’s frocks.  In the days before antiperspirants, these little shields saved many dresses from ruin, and many misses from embarrassment!  I’ve found many vintage dresses with the dress shields still in place.

But Kleinert’s was not just about dress shields.  According to the Kleinert’s website, Isaak Kleinert also invented the shower cap, rubber baby pants, and the shower curtain.  For many years they also made rubber swim accessories, such as bathing caps, shoes and totes.  They even produced a limited line of swimsuits.  I’ve seen Kleinert’s ads for rubber-lined swim caps as early as the 1910s, and they were made at least into the 1960s.  But by the 1970s, the swim cap was old-fashioned, and rarely worn except by grandmas and competitive swimmers.

This business is still in operation, still making shields and other moisture protection products.  And, quite nicely, still made in the USA.

The Summer Girl at Carson, Pirie, Scott, Circa 1895

For several years I’ve been without a photo scanner. My old flatbed died, and I just could not justify the cost of the new huge boxes that did everything except mop the floor. But then my printer died, and it was time to bite the bullet. So I went to the computer place and was pleasantly surprised that not only had the boxes shrunk to a manageable size, they were also much more affordable. So I’m hoping you will see an improvement in the photographic quality of paper items.

I posted this little (smaller than the scan, actually) brochure on Instagram yesterday, and it was quickly noted that I am showing off a lot of new to my collection brochures. Yes, I have been on the lookout for additions to the sportswear archive, and I hope some more come my way soon.

The Summer Girl would more accurately be described as the New Woman. The brochure is not dated, but my best guess, based on the shape of the sleeves, is 1895.

Inside the folder Carson, Pirie, Scott details all the ingredients for a successful summer look, starting at the head…

and ending at the toes. By today’s standards, this is a lot of clothing for a summer outfit, but this “uniform” of sorts must have felt quite liberating to late Victorian women unused to clothing of such a practical nature.

What really sold me on this piece (besides the bathers on the front) was the concept of the complete outfit. Catalogs are so often an assemblage of bits and pieces, that it’s interesting to see what would have actually constituted an ensemble. Maybe it is because this is how I try to build my own collection. Having a pair of 1920s hiking knickers is not enough. I must also have the hat and blouse and socks and boots.

This is not collecting fashion as “art”. I’m interested in the things women wore and why they wore them. It’s hard to get the whole picture with only half the ensemble. At least that’s what I tell myself as I continue to look for the perfect 1930s beach sandals and the matching bathing suit to go with my favorite 1950s Ceeb swimming cover-up. The search continues!