I. Miller Shoes
March 16, 2014 § 14 Comments
In 1952 my grandfather Ben Benjamin became the General Manager for the I. Miller Shoe Company.
I. Miller – A Little Jewel Box of a Shoe Store, New York Times Feb. 10th, 2008
Follow up to the 2008 New York Times article: At Restored Landmark in Times Square, Mixing ‘Brash and Beautiful’
Andy Warhol
I. Miller Shoe Advertisement from The New York Times, April 17th, 1955.
Andy Warhol found early success as a commercial artist and was hired by I. Miller as their chief illustrator in the 1950’s.
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1954
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Courtesy The Library of Congress: Reproduction Number: LC-G612-T-36355-B,Call Number: LC-G612- 36355-B <p&p> [P&P] Date Created/Published: 1939 Oct. 21.
Women's Footwear in America 
It is amazing, but the people of the past made their imprint on us. I have stuff from my wife’s aunt who was an artist at the Worlds Fair in thirty four. I blogged on her and others of the past. It was interesting to note how and what they did.
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What an interesting story. http://barrywax.wordpress.com/2013/11/25/a-free-spirit/ You peaked my interest. I googled her name. Here is a link I found from the National Gallery of Art with a water color of a boot painted by Dorothy Dwin in 1941. http://www.nga.gov/content/ngaweb/Collection/art-object-page.14166.html.
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I forgot the boot. She came from Russia and traveled across the country with a female friend. She would go from town to town and do drawings of the mayor or major people of the town. Many times they would put the two girls up, sometimes in an empty jail cell. During the war (2) she worked for the army drawing pictures of weaponry for the war effort.
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What an interesting post, Julia! I own a pair of vintage I. Miller shoes. They’re gorgeous. I thoroughly enjoyed the write-up about your grandfather. “The most interesting of the many interesting people in the General Shoe family!” Also, thanks for the update on the building. Both New York Times articles were very interesting. Thank goodness they restored the building. So there was a ballot form. I love that. I would have voted for Mary Pickford! I’m off now to find my I. Miller shoes! T.
Clipping from The New York Times: In 1927, the public was invited to choose whom to honor in the four niches. “Who are America’s four best-loved actresses?” a ballot form asked. “Glance at the vacant golden niches! Perhaps you can instantly picture your favorite in drama, comedy, opera and screen, whose statue you would like to see in each of these niches, looking out on, and being observed by, Broadway’s marvelous throngs!” And the winners were: Ethel Barrymore as Ophelia, for drama; Marilyn Miller as Sunny, for musical comedy; Mary Pickford as Little Lord Fauntleroy, for the screen; and for opera, Rosa Ponselle as Leonora (later changed to Norma).
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As always Theadora, thank you for your thoughtful comments. I would love to see the shoes. 😀
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Love the articles. I Millers shoes were great. Are they selling any of them somewhere else. Like to get the Millikan sling backs.
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You could always try Etsy or Ebay for an original. I’m sure there are plenty of knock offs out there though. Thanks for commenting.
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I entered the shoe industry in 1971. I joined a great team of people at the I.Miller shoe salon on the mag mile in Chicago. Selling I.Miller shoes and David Evans shoes made me realize I was selling the best shoes in the market. I enjoyed serving the high class clientel and sending them home happy with a great par of shoes.
I also managed an I.Miller salon in Bonwit Teller on Fifth Ave. In Manhatton. I enjoyed working with Jane Evans, Dane Davis, Stanley Disenhof, Bob Trivers,Bill Ficken and Liz Goitia.
I was very sad to see this company go out of business.
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I entered the shoe industry in 1971. I joined a great team of people at the I.Miller shoe salon on the mag mile in Chicago. Selling I.Miller shoes and David Evans shoes made me realize I was selling the best shoes in the market. I enjoyed serving the high class clientel and sending them home happy with a great par of shoes.
I also managed an I.Miller salon in Bonwit Teller on Fifth Ave. In Manhatton. I enjoyed working with Jane Evans, Dane Davis, Stanley Disenhof, Bob Trivers,Bill Ficken and Liz Goitia.
I was very sad to see this company go out of business.
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Amazing. I would love to hear more. Please email me at info@womensfootwearinamerica.com Do you have any photos from that time?
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I don’t have any pictures that i can find. Actually, i do somewhere have some pictures of the Michigan Ave salon in Chicago. The pictures are from the 40’s or 50’s. Real classic pictures of a real shoe salon that looked like a living room parlor. I’ll try to find them.
My memories are so clear like i was there in the early 70’s.
I did have customers in my chicago salon like Cher Bono.
Also had waited on the Gabor sisters. They were in town performing somewhere.
After i was transferred to the New York stores in 1976, i had the pleasure of waiting on Jackie “O” at the I Miller salon at 754 Fifth Ave. The busy corner of 5th and 57th street. We closed the salon while Jackie shopped.
I remember she bought a ton of shoes.
A lot of great memories including working on the 8th floor of Bonwit Teller in the shoe salon there. Of course that building on Fifth and 56th street is now “Trump Tower”.
I could go on and on !!!!
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Thank you for commenting. My life has become very busy and I don’t come on here as often as I’d like. Sorry for the slow response. If you do find them email me? I would love to interview you and post them.
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I was so happy to see the background on I. Miller and Son shoes. I have a pair I purchased in Feb 1988 at Bonwit Teller. They are so beautiful, silver leather slingback and clear plastic w/strip of glitter across the toe part. I wore them to my sons wedding in 1988, next year I’ll be wearing them at my grand daughter’s.
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Interesting! Sorry for the late response. I haven’t been checking this very often during Covid. I wasn’t aware they were still making shoes in the 1980s. Now you’ve piqued my curiosity. I’d love to see a photo when you get a second.
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