X-Raying my Feet

When I was growing up, I was in heaven when I got a new pair of shoes. I would love going to the shoe store whether it was my turn to get shoes or not. Just being there was so much fun. Why? It was the fun of X-Raying my feet. Yes, that is right, X-Raying my feet.

In the late fifties and early 60’s the shoe stores had X-Ray machines that were intended to help parents buy the perfect fitting shoes for their kids. Not all shoe stores had them but most of the better stores did.

The one I remember was at the C & H Shoe store in Marion, IN. It stood at the front of the store. I will describe it as best as my memory will allow. It was about 4 ½ feet tall and had two places that you could look into to see the feet. There was a viewer at the top for the parents to look into and one set lower that the child could peer into. I seem to remember this one being gold in color with ornate designs carved in the metal. There was a small step up and an area to put your feet into. When you would peer into the viewer you would be able to see the bones in your feet wiggling inside of your shoes. I found this photo as an example on the internet. It is not as I remember it looking but I am sure there were different models.

This was supposed to help the parents see exactly how much growing room was in the toe of the shoe. You could also see if it was wide enough and a good fit in other areas.

These machines were actual X-Ray machines. I do not recall having to wait until the salesman turned it on either, but there must have been an on/off switch. 

I think every kid who came into the store was fascinated with these machines. I know that I was. No matter who was getting shoes it was the first place I headed. I wanted to get up there and look at the bones in my feet. It was great fun to me.

Sometime in the sixties it was decided that maybe these machines were not such a good idea. That was because they started thinking about the amount of radiation they were exposing the kids to. The machines were removed from all of the shoe stores.

Of course the kids were not at all concerned about radiation. We were very sorry to see these machines go. Going to the shoe store has never been as much fun since then. I guess it is a miracle we didn’t get cancer in our toes, though.