Beatle Boots

I wore Beatle boots. I wore them for a couple of years. They hurt my feet.

After the Beatles hit Ed Sullivan in 1964 and watching the girls screaming, every boy wanted to be ‘a Beatle’.

The hair had to grow and put up with the parents and teachers. The collarless suits were too expensive for teenagers and unavailable in most cities department stores.

Then there were the boots.

The Spanish leather heeled black boots with the pointed toes. The first ones had zippers on the sides and later had expandable elastic to slide them on. They just came up over the ankle and slide under tight pants.

Living in a conservative southern town the normal stores for men’s wear only carried wingtips, loafers or tennis or sailing shoes. There were no mail order or online merchandising so creativity took over.

Crossing the main street in town that separated the two skin tones there were a series of shops that marketed to different taste. The same Jewish merchants who ran established department stores also owned little boutique shops and pawn broker establishments on the other side of the street.

For the adventurous one could pick up some colorful accessories and mingle with people you normally see in white aprons in the kitchen.

As the story goes I found a store that carried these Italian pointed boots. Not sure if they were even the right size, I bought them.

With my black socks I squeezed into the soft leather and stood up. The wooden heel pushed your toes down into a wedge but it didn’t matter. Just putting them on was to become a Beatle.

Walking across the room was the same as Paul or kicking up the heels was the same as John or a quick little slide was just like George in the movies. Didn’t have to worry about Ringo because you couldn’t see his feet behind the drums.

Not driving much and then none, I walked. As painful as those boots were they made me feel cool and felt so good when I took them off.

The plus side of looking cool was the leather soles were great for dancing. The down side was the soft leather wore out quick.

I bought at least two pair and they were part of my band uniform until the next fashion craze came along.