Brownie Museum

The most popular photo of Brownie the Town Dog of Daytona Beach

Eddie James

This is, by far, the most popular photo of Brownie.

It appears to have been taken later in Brownie’s life, probably in the early 1950s, when Brownie started putting on weight from all the ice cream and steak that Beach Street merchants tended to feed him.

This is by far the most popular photo of Brownie and is the one that turns up in most history books.
This photo turns up in most history books that mention Brownie and is used on most publicity material created about Brownie today. It was likely taken in the early 50s a few years before Brownie’s death in 1954.

Notes

  • This photo is what I call the Brownie “publicity” shot. I haven’t found it used in any publication during his lifetime yet, but it is the photo used in every modern mention of Brownie in books about the history of Daytona Beach.
  • The Halifax Historical Museum (where Brownie’s bank account was held in the 40s and 50s) uses this photo in all it’s Brownie brochures and even has a framed copy in the museum.
  • Even though Brownie was probably one of the most photographed dogs in history, there are very few photos of Brownie that survive today. He was a popular tourist attraction and he appeared in lots of national publications, so the lack of photos is surprising. But Brownie lived before the internet and Facebook and sadly, many of the publications went out of business before all their archives were online and all those tourist and family photos were lost or are still waiting to be rediscovered in attics around the country. Many who have old photos of Brownie probably don’t even know they are historically significant.
  • I find it strange that this photo is used so often. Brownie is starting to gain weight at this point in his life and the photo doesn’t show him at his best. His private parts are very much on display, and his “Number 1” dog tag can’t be seen. It’s not even clear where the photo was taken, so you don’t get any sense of history.