How are your toes feeling?
If you're old and once went to Jerry's shoe store on Queen Mary, they might be falling off. That store was one of those shops that favoured an awesome X-Ray technology that allowed you to see the bones in your feet below the shoes you were trying on.
It's a rare case of a cool technology actually disappearing.Solid confirmation that blasting one's toesies with radiation might not be a great idea only came about in 1960 or so.
The fear of course, was that people would get various types of cancers or genetic mutations through exposure to radiation but according to Wikipedia the longstanding gimmick never led to any complaints or lawsuits.
So yours will be the first.
Tracking down Jerry might be troublesome as the store has not existed since at least 1970. (Thx to Bill Conrod's Memories of Snowdon in the 50s for the tip).
Eaton's had one too (1931, 1938) and surely other shoes shops in Montreal did as well.
They had one of these machines in D’Aoust's Dept Store in Ste. Anne-de-Bellevue as well. Because I have a slightly clubbed foot, my folks would take me there for shoe fittings regularly. I'm now in my sixties, and seem to have had no ill effects from my exposures.
ReplyDelete-Rob Gauthier SAB
Yes, like candy from the dentist bribe AFTER the tooth work with the old belt-drive SLOW dental drills in vogue pre-1960, getting your feet X-Rayed was part of the 'thrill' of the whole new-shoes-for-school experience.
ReplyDeleteSeveral shoe stores had the machines, and as I recall, there were usually two viewing ports, one for the new shoe person, and one for the parent or salesman, the image being green in colour which showed the shoes, their metal eyelets and lace ends the flesh and bone of the feet within.
You could wiggle your toes and see them move!
A procedure that went right to the sole!
The dentist also had a X Ray machine which was used to take images of the teeth with a T-Shaped film negative in cardboard clenched betwixt the teeth to be examined, the 'ray' issuing from a white cone touching the cheek.
The latter still in use, much modernized, including a lead belt for the lap.
Many years ago.
Thank You.
The risk would be far greater for salespeople that were exposed to radiation on a daily basis than for the clients who were exposed transiently and very intermittently.
ReplyDeleteYou will notice that health care workers in susceptible environments such as dental offices and x-ray departments wear lapel detectors that measure the cumulative exposure to radiation. They must follow strict CSST prevention procedures if the detectors indicate that the exposure has reached specific thresholds.
My mom talked about these, but I never saw them, only those metal measuring things with sliders, which you don't see any more either.
ReplyDeleteThe J. Walter Cross shoestore on Sherbrooke between Victoria & Claremont had the X-Ray machine. When we were kids we would go in the store and they would let us check out our feet. We did this quite a few times then suddenly one day the machine was gone. So far no problems with my feet.
ReplyDeleteAnyone remember the name of the shoe store on Ste. Catherine near Greene Ave.?
ReplyDelete