Paul Parrott

Paul Nelson Parrott (1898-1986) was a boy from Oneida who witnessed the murder of his father and went on to establish one of the most famous children’s shoe brands of the 20th century.

Biography

Born April 24, 1898, Paul N. Parrott was the son of William Nelson Parrott (1865-1901) and Lucy Catherine “Cassie” Byrd (1878-1961). His father was a native of Campbell County, Tenn. His mother was from Scott County, the daughter of Milton Asbury Byrd and Nancy Chitwood of Helenwood.

Paul’s siblings included Pauline Parrott (1896-1897) and Beulah Parrott Pope.

Father’s death

On July 23, 1901, William N. Parrott was shot to death inside his Oneida general store by James West during an argument over chickens that West had sold Parrott. Three-year-old Paul Parrott witnessed the incident.

Following his father’s death, Parrott’s mother remarried to William B. Flenniken and moved to Knoxville, Tenn. Before she did, she sold the business — which included Oneida’s first hotel, “The Oneida House,” and the town’s first restaurant — to Eli Cooper of McCreary County, Ky. Cooper was the father of Horace Lafayette “H.F.” Cooper, who would take over the store and go on to become one of the most successful businessmen in Oneida’s history.

James West was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and sentenced to five years in prison. He appealed to the Tennessee Supreme Court but lost.

Adult Life

Paul Parrott married Neel Reynolds (1903-1955), the daughter of Edward Alexander Reynolds (1869-1964) and Besie McKellar (1875-1976). They had two children: Betsy Parrott McMurry (1931-1969) and Michael Paul Parrott (1937-1942).

Parrott opened a shoe store in Knoxville and played on his own name by keeping a parrot in the shop.

Eventually, Paul Parrott made began making his own brand of children’s shoes. He called them Poll-Parrots. By the late 1920s, Poll-Parrots were just as big as Air Jordans are today. The International Shoe Co. — which was that era’s equivalent of Nike — purchased the brand in 1928 and added it to its Roberts, Johnson & Rand shoe line that also manufactured the popular kids’ shoes called Star Brand.

By 1929, Poll-Parrot shoes were being advertised in newspapers throughout the country. One such advertisement, featuring the trademark brightly-colored parrot, boasted that “Properly fitted Poll-Parrot shoes will keep youngsters on their toes with pep every minute. Easily cleaned or polished, well made of fine leather and plenty flexible for growing little bones and muscles.”

In acquiring the Poll-Parrot brand, ISC was copying the marketing strategy of another shoemaking giant, Brown Shoe Co., which used a cartoon character (Buster Brown) as a mascot for its own children’s shoes. Other manufacturers were doing the same thing. Giesecke-D’Oench-Hays Shoe co. had Red Goose. Peters Shoe Co. had Weatherbird. And now, ISC had Poll Parrot.

In 1933, ISC began using Poll-Parrot Shoe Money, blanketing small towns across the country with currency-like coupons. They were targeting now just the adults who paid for the shoes, but the children who wore them. The concept was simple: Get free “money” with the purchase of Pol-Parrot shoes, and trade it in for prizes, like a baseball glove, roller skates, a pocketknife, or a watch.

For the next 25 years, Poll-Parrot Shoe Money was a marketing strategy throughout the United States. Kids were encouraged to save their vouchers and encourage others to save theirs, too. A kid could trade in $35 worth of scrip, for example, and get a baseball glove.

The marketing efforts didn’t stop there. Pol-Parrot began its own syndicated radio show — “The Cruise of the Poll Parrot” — which can still be found today on YouTube. And, in the 1950s, Poll-Parrot reached its greatest level of fame by sponsoring The Howdy Doody Show on NBC — the mega-popular series featuring the freckle-faced Howdy Doody and host Buffalo Bob Smith in the Western-themed town of Doodyville.

In time, the Poll-Parrot Shoe Money faded from the scene, but Poll-Parrot shoes remained throughout the 1960s, 1970s and even into the 1980s.

Death

Parrott died in Knoxville on Jan. 9, 1986, at age 87. He was buried at Woodlawn Cemetery, where his wife had earlier been buried in 1955. Both of his children are also buried at Woodlawn Cemetery.

See Also: The death of W.N. Parrott (Murders in the Heartland)