By Karla Burkitt 

STEP RIGHT UP, LADIES AND GENTS! 
Dr. Acker's English Elixir, Boker's Stomach Bitters, Cooper's Magic Balm, Kickapoo Cough Cure, Roback's Blood and Liver Pills... 

Before the FDA and truth-in-advertising there was a time when anyone with an imagination and a bathtub or washtub could create a wonder drug and put it on the market. Following the Civil War hundreds of 'doctors' and experts sprang up, each with their special 'blend' of secret ingredients, to cure everything from hair loss to cancer. Patent medicine sales soared between 1870 and 1930 and most of those products were never patented at all. In 1905 a writer for Collier's Weekly estimated that Americans would spend about seventy-five million dollars purchasing patent medicines in that year alone.

At a cost of about one dollar a bottle, and before either radio or television, the clever inventors still managed to reach their public. Many made substantial fortunes off their 'cures'. Newspaper advertising and informative pamphlets blanketed the larger cities, but by far the most popular advertising method in the small towns was the traveling medicine show. 

Especially during the warm months, medicine shows hurried from settlement to settlement, entertaining, selling, and then moving on. There were small-time peddlers and large professional companies. Some groups traveled by wagon and camped in vacant lots, and others came by train and put up in hotels. All of them were welcomed by miners, ranchers and townspeople hungry for entertainment. 

A combination of circus, theater, and sales pitch, the medicine shows each had their own individual style. Any act that would draw a crowd was used. Many shows, of course featured an 'Indian' (A true Native American or otherwise). Also popular were singers, magic acts, sword swallowers, dancing girls, and 'freak shows'. Whatever talents the salesman had access to were put on display to attract an audience for the 'pitch'. Often additional thrills were available as the pitchman 'healed' members of the audience on the spot, or as in the case of "Painless Parker", extracted teeth on stage. 

It is impossible to make any hard and fast statements about the medicines or the shows. Some of the salesmen were swindlers or quacks, others sincerely believed in their product. Patent medicines ranged from healthful herb teas to concoctions loaded with opium, cocaine, or heavy doses of alcohol: Peruna-28% alcohol, Parker's Tonic-41.6%, Hostetter's Stomach Bitters-44.3% by volume. Many of the acts were explicit or bizarre, while others were just good clean fun. Hamlin's Wizard Oil Company of Chicago, for example, sent out twenty to thirty sales teams a season, each with a male quartet which sang not only in the shows but also performed for free at local churches and charity events. 

Some well-known names get medicine show credit. As late as the 1950's the Hadacol Caravan was touring and entertaining with stars like Harry Houdini, George Burns and Gracie Allen, George M. Cohan, Carmen Miranda, and Judy Garland. Price of admission: Hadacol medicine box-tops. 

Ninety-one years have passed since the Pure Food and Drug Act began to slow down the production of patent medicines. Digital recording, television, and movies have replaced a great deal of live entertainment, but the idea of the medicine show is still alive and well. When that acid indigestion commercial comes on in the middle of the big game or that guy on the info-mercial convinces us that what he has looks pretty good, we might just as easily be sitting in the showman's tent, astounded by the acts and swayed by the 'pitch'. It was a good gimmick then, and it still works today. 

To experience a real old-time medicine show atmosphere be sure to catch the limited engagement of Professor E.P.Truesdale and His Company appearing at The Sharlot Hall Museum Amphitheatre throughout July, 1997. Performances are scheduled for Fridays and Saturdays July 11, 12, 18, 19, 25, and 26 at 8:15 p.m. Afternoon matinees, Sundays July 13 and 27 at 2:00 p.m. Tickets are available at the museum at $5.00/adult and $2.50/child. 

Karla Burkitt is a resident of Prescott Valley and contributor to Days Past articles.


Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number:(elixer ads) Reuse only by permission.
These are typical medicine advertisements published in the journal Chatterbox in 1886. The journal is owned by the author of this Days Past article, Karla Burkitt.