Over 20 million visitors flocked to St.. Louis during the World's Fair's seven-month run. With the multitudes drawn to St.. Louis that magical summer came hundreds of America's leading businessmen. They were not there to taste the world's first hot dog or to sample the newest food craze, the ice cream cone. They were there to talk to a very unusual man.

He was Richard Felton Outcault, America's most famous comic strip artist. His "funny paper" heroes, The Yellow Kid, Pore Lil Moses, and Buster Brown were so well-known and beloved that his name had become practically a household word. Accompanied by a life-sized recreation of Buster, the country's current favorite, Outcault held court in a stall on the fairgrounds, engaging in endless rounds of negotiations with these captains of industry and commerce.

A shrewd businessman - indeed his talent in this regard was equal to or exceeded his artistic skills - Outcault was offering Buster, Mary Jane, and even Tige, to anyone willing to pay the price. The happy trio, resolutions and all, were being sold for use in advertising every product imaginable, from beer to socks, or as company trademarks. They were also franchised out as merchandise - toys, dolls, watches, and countless other products.

More than 50 companies signed on the dotted line. As an extra bonus, Outcault himself drew most of the illustrations and characterizations. Buster Brown thus became one of the earliest comic strip characters to be extensively commercialized in the marketplace.

In picking Buster Brown and his comic strip companions for their product line or ad campaigns, these companies chose well. Though introduced only in 1902, the mischievous and prank-playing, though well-meaning, youngster had quickly captured the fancy and affection of America. He was the new century's very first cult hero, and enjoyed greater popularity with youngsters and their parents than even Frank Merriwell.

The highly successful merchandising of Buster and his pals was not unexpected by Outcault. He had already made a small fortune in the fast-paced, somewhat sordid world of American advertising with his Yellow Kid. The kid, a jug-eared urchin had become an overnight sensation from coast to coast as the star of the world's very first comic strip, Hogan's Alley, Buster was the last - and greatest - achievement of his long and successful cartooning career. The artist was 39 years old when, on May 4, 1902, his immortal Buster Brown first appeared on the pages of the New York Herald. Buster, son of a prosperous middle class uptown family, along with sister Mary Jane and pet dog Tige, became an overnight success and earned Outcault a fortune in job offers and advertising contracts. 

Within a couple of decades, however, the strip had run its course and became out-of-date. In 1920, when Outcault retired, the last new episode appeared. Newer comics, such as the Katzenjammer Kids by Dirk, replaced the mischievous Buster in the public's favor. But, for a while, Buster was a rollicking sensation and his fame spread rapidly nationwide. For many decades afterward, though, he remained a cherished character for many Americans.

The Buster Brown craze resulted in a landslide of products bearing his or Mary Jane's image.

Collectors today eagerly seek everything related to Buster, his sister, and Tige. The list of treasures sought include clothing, various food products (coffee, candy, flour, etc.), posters, silverware, and postcards. Also toys, banks, and dolls of all types and compositions, as well s whistles, figural clothes buttons, and pencil boxes.

Then there are all sorts of books, the most desirable being the dozen or so large-sized editions with colorful cardboard covers, by Leon and Cupples Co. and Frederick A. Stokes Co., that, between 1903 and 1917, reprinted the Sunday comic strips. Stokes also printed many original story books, coloring books, and activity books.

Early in the century, Buster became associated with the Brown Show Co. (named after its founder, George Brown, not Buster). This St.. Louis firm is still active today and during the last 90 years has issued countless premiums. Among them, a seemingly endless series of heavily illustrated booklets - with such titles as "Buster's Book of Instructive Jokes and Jingles" and "Buster Brown's Book of Travel," shoe horns, blotters, dozens of different pinbacks, comic books (1940s) and even a kite (in the 1950s).

The craze for Buster Brown grips today's collectors as much as it did to folks back in the early years of the century. The hunt is on for anything about the kid with the Prince Valiant haircut, who always made amends for his bad behavior by "resolving" to be better.

And to think, it all began a long, lone time ago with a boy called Buster Brown, his sister, Mary Jane, and dog who answered to the name of Tige. All of this, thanks to an Ohio artists by the name of Richard Outcault who brought them to life on the funny pages back when the 20th century was just dawning.