I found these pink shoelaces at an estate sale. Pinky Lee was a burlesque comic who hosted a kiddy TV show in the early fifties (a little before my time.) I guess it was a simpler era, when comics who hung out with strippers were deemed perfectly suitable for entertaining tots.


Allee Willis
If I didn’t already own a couple pairs of these I would shoot myself right now.
Pinky Lee was definitely of my generation. I absolutely worshiped him and ate my peanut butter and jelly sandwich and Bosco-laced milk to him every day.
When I first moved to LA, I spotted these shoelaces as well as Pinky Lee taps that go on shoe heels, fairly often. They’re definitely authentic, as are the pair you have here, but I have no idea why they popped up so often in stores the late 70s. I wish I had bought every pair I saw but I figured they’d always be around by how many of them were available back then. But as I’ve seen hardly any since I think someone just had a stash of Pinky shoelaces that never sold and I just happen to have stumbled on them.
I recently got a Pinky Lee xylophone that I’ll post one of these days soon. It’s MIB so I hate to disturb anything.
Douglas Wood
Do you think Pee Wee Herman was inspired by Pinky Lee? Would love to see that xylophone!
Allee Willis
Not sure, but I know he loved him.