The parrot
One bird, many feathers.
The parrot has been drawn, cast, printed and stitched more times than anyone kept count of. This gallery gathers the figurative marks side by side — signs, displays, packaging and premiums — so the family resemblance shows.
Painted artwork
The painted script parrot
A bold hand-painted macaw in red, blue, yellow and olive, gripping a perch under the red script reading Poll-Parrot Shoes.
Enamel storefront sign
The shoe-wearing sign parrot
The green bird laced into black shoes, standing over the brush-script wordmark on the butter-yellow flange sign.
Decals & window display
The perched decal macaw
A scarlet-and-green macaw on a gold perch, set between the two halves of the wordmark.
Painted display artwork
The painted macaw
A tall painted bird gripping a knotted gold perch, with the name in red serif capitals.
Later graphic mark
The flat-colour macaw
Cleaner shapes, flat colour and a registered mark — the bird redrawn for modern printing.
Later trademark
The blue registered mark
The macaw in a single rich blue, gripping the perch bar under the script Poll-Parrot Shoes — the registered mark as it appeared on later printing.
Label & packaging
The oval label bird
A lifelike parrot on a branch inside a blue oval, with the banner reading for boys and girls.
Die-cut store display
The display-stand parrot
A tall arched counter stand — the red-and-yellow macaw on its perch above Poll-Parrot Shoes, for boys, for girls.
Die-cut window sign
The circle-backdrop macaw
The bird cut out and set against a great red circle, over a deep blue banner reading Poll Parrot Shoes.
Printed card
The black-on-yellow parrot
A single black impression on butter yellow — the parrot, the name, and the Reg. U.S. Pat. Off. line beneath.
Shoe-care tin
The supply-tin parrot
All leather in vital parts, the tin promised — a red-and-blue parrot presiding over counters, insoles and heel bases.
Door hanger & keepsake
The slogan hanger
A green parrot on a yellow die-cut card carrying the line we still use: They Speak for Themselves.
Star Brand tin
The flying macaw tin
Wings spread across a yellow tin, beside the Star Brand star — a product of the Star Brand shoe makers.
Leather wall plaque
The tooled leather oval
A yellow-and-orange parrot modelled in coloured leather on a pebbled black ground, the name tooled in gold.
Moulded store sign
The shoe-shaped plaque
The mark pressed into the outline of a shoe — red ground, yellow face, the green parrot perched between the words.
Painted easel display
The easel-stand macaw
A hand-painted scarlet macaw on a wooden easel, the name in rounded red letters and For Boys and Girls beneath.
Round enamel disc sign
The deco disc macaw
A white-headed macaw with a sweeping red, green and yellow tail on a black ground, the name in gold deco lettering.
Embossed tin store sign
The embossed ring-perch macaw
A full-colour macaw on a brass ring perch, over the green and yellow panel reading Pre-Tested in Actual Wear, to protect growing feet.
Dealer storefront sign
The Dillard's store sign
The macaw on a white splash beside a red panel — Poll-Parrot Shoes for boys and girls, over the black band naming the Dillard's Dept. Store in Nashville, Arkansas.
Print advertisement
The label-ad parrot
Look for this label in every pair of shoes you buy — the big flat-colour macaw over the ad copy, with the label bird shown inside a Narrow Heel insole.
Painted wooden store sign
The painted tree sign
A scarlet macaw in a painted tree, over the hand-lettered Poll Parrot Shoes board — mushrooms, cattails and all.
Die-cut counter display
The perch-and-script sign
A scarlet macaw with a blue tail perched on its wooden stand, above the name in white script on a green board.
Archive piece to come
In-store display
The counter display bird
The lifelike shop parrot that sat by the fitting stool, not a cartoon.
Archive piece to come
Shoe Money & gift stamps
The premium parrot
The small engraved bird printed on Shoe Money notes and later stamps.
Archive piece to come
Current
The parrot today
The mark we use now — the same bird, still speaking for itself.
Adding to the gallery
Send the photographs of each parrot mark and they go straight into these frames, shot the way the rest of the archive is: the object itself, on linen, nothing distressed or filtered. Dates are left open where the sources disagree.
Send an image