Shoes: What did we do before mobile phones?

The penny loafer with a band and signature opening was first introduced in 1936 by The G.H. Bass shoe company. These were called “Bass Weejuns” after the flat Norwegian Peasant slip-on shoes brought back to the US by tourists. These proved popular with young adolescents and by the 1940s, hip-kids slipped dimes into the band across the shoe. These coins were the price of a pay telephone call. Carrying a coin was always thought to bring good luck and in the next decade the dimes were replaced with shiney pennies.