“IF THE SHOE FITS --“ 1945 THOM MCAN MEN’s SHOES PROMO FILM DRESS SHOE MANUFACTURING XD80615

Join this channel to get access to perks: Want to learn more about Periscope Film and get access to exclusive swag? Join us on Patreon. Visit Visit our website “If the Shoe Fits” () is a color, promotional film presented by the Institute of Visual Training. Narrated by actor Douglas Edwards, the film takes the viewer along for an insider’s guide to the many intricate manufacturing steps behind Thom McAn men’s shoes at a Thom McAn shoe factory in New Hampshire. Thom McAn is an American brand of shoes and was formerly a retail chain that saw massive growth over the course of the early 20th century to become one of America’s top shoe retailers. Title page, opening credits - white text on red background (0:06). CBS news anchor Douglas Edwards sits at desk in studio, speaks into 1950s news microphone (0:24). Close-up feet of men and women walking on city sidewalk - mostly 1950s brown leather oxfords, high heels (0:38). Thom McAn Shoes salesman in showroom using path-of-foot device on customer sitting on wooden chair to get accurate measurement of foot; close-up as salesman adjusts knobs, levers on wooden box (1:13). Customer lays foot flat on beige colored board while salesman traces foot outline to make a last (1:53). Pairs of wooden lasts lined up on green silk cloth (2:10). Manufacturing steps of a Thom McAn lace-up leather oxford at Thom McAn New Hampshire factory: worker inspects sole leather recently delivered from tannery, worker wears black apron over button up shirt and sifts through beige colored sheets of leather (2:32). Metal weight and pressure from machine cut outer soles from leather (2:50). Man inspects soles for imperfections (2:57). Machine rounds inner sole of shoe (3:06). Soles fed into channeling machine, close-up of leather cuts turned up to form lip (3:20). Jamming: woman cuts and cements canvas to inner sole, another woman then trims canvas to edge of lip (3:46). Man inspects brown calfskin leather hides, leather then cut by another worker for upper part of shoe “vamp” using cutting dies (4:03). Woman feeds upper through machine which preforates leather with decorative “wingtip” details, various parts of upper passed through assembly line of women who sew together different parts using Singer sewing machine (4:52). Eyeleting machine (6:18). Vamping: all parts of upper are conjoined (6:34). Assembly of finished shoe begins: inner sole tacked to wooden last, counter inserted, completed upper tacked to last and takes shape (7:08). Side-lasting, upper stapled to sole (7:56). Heel lasting, bed lasting machine (8:21). Goodyear Welt Inseam Sewing Machine chain stitches the welt on the rib of footwear (8:46). Shank inserted to support arch of foot (9:22). Ground cork filler added between inner and outer soles (9:28). Using pressure from machine, outer sole attached (9:35). Worker uses high speed rough rounding machine trims excess leather and shapes soles (9:45). Worker uses perhaps DCR-OS - Goodyear BHSS Outsole Stitcher Machine, close-up of needles stitching two threads from top and bottom (9:57). Finished shoes placed into heavy roller machine (leveler), molds sole to the bottom of the last (10:29). Close-up as two workers use machine to nail heel base and leather top together from below (10:34). Close-up steady hands guide shoe along edge trimming machine (10:50). Close-up machine polishing sole, black glossy finish (11:05). Wax and polish applied using finishing machine (11:17). Three men at work station remove lasts from finished shoes, place them on storage racks (11:34). Woman in polka-dot dress applies liquid wax with spray gun (11:46). Young woman inspects finished pair of shoes, other women package shoes into wood boxes (11:56). Back to Thom McAn store: parents sit besides son in wooden chairs, walls lined floor to ceiling with green shoe boxes, shoe salesman measures foot (12:18). Close-up of brown oxford’s as boy tests them out on his feet (13:02). Exterior Thom McAn retail store (13:19). Camera zooms into display window, different Thom McAn men’s shoes models (13:26). We encourage viewers to add comments and, especially, to provide additional information about our videos by adding a comment! See something interesting? Tell people what it is and what they can see by writing something for example: “01:00:12:00 -- President Roosevelt is seen meeting with Winston Churchill at the Quebec Conference.“ This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit