Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 about 50 arcseconds long and 10 arcseconds wide. Brian G. Marsden of the Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams noted that the comet lay only about 4 degrees from Jupiter as seen from Earth, and that although this could of course be a line of sight effect, its apparent motion in the sky suggested that it was physically close to it. Because of this, he suggested that the Shoemakers and David Levy had discovered the fragments of a comet that had been disrupted by Jupiter's gravity. Orbital studies of the new comet soon revealed that it was orbiting Jupiter rather than
The Elves and the Shoemaker cartoon short "Holiday for Shoestrings". In the "Due South" episode, "The Deal", Det. Ray Vecchio vaguely recollects this story when discussing a poor cobbler with his partner, Constable Fraser. In "", a spinoff miniseries of the Vertigo comic-book series "Fables", the shoemaker appears as an employee in Cinderella's shoe store, while the elves are the builders and suppliers of the store's inventory. "Muppet Classic Theater" had a version where a shoemaker (played by Kermit the Frog) faces ruin until his livelihood is saved by a group of philanthropic entertainers (played by The Elvises) who, naturally, make only blue suede shoes.