Overview

"Long before television and radio commercials beckoned to potential buyers, the medicine show provided free entertainment and promised cures for everything from corns to cancer. Combining elements of the circus, theater, vaudeville, and good old-fashioned entrepreneurship, the showmen of the American medicine show sold tonics, ointments, pills, extracts and a host of other ""wonder-cures,"" guaranteed to ""cure what ails you."" While the cures were seldom miraculous, the medicine show was an important part of American culture and of performance history. Harry Houdini, Buster Keaton, and P.T. Barnum all took a turn upon the medicine show stage. This study of the medicine show phenomenon surveys nineteenth century popular entertainment and provides insight into the ways in which show business, advertising, and medicine manufacture developed in concert. The colorful world of the medicine show, with its Wild West shows, pie-eating contests, clowns, and menageries, is fully explored. Photographs of performers and of the fascinating handbills and posters used to promote the medicine show are included."

Full Product Details

Author:   Ann Anderson
Publisher:   McFarland & Co Inc
Imprint:   McFarland & Co Inc
Edition:   New edition
Dimensions:   Width: 17.80cm , Height: 1.00cm , Length: 25.40cm
Weight:   0.363kg
ISBN:  

9780786422289

ISBN 10:   0786422289
Pages:   200
Publication Date:   24 December 2004
Recommended Age:   From 18 years
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Undergraduate ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In stock  
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Table of Contents

Table of Contents Foreword by Heinrich R. Falk      1. Origins and Influences      2. Colonial and Pioneer Medicine Set the Stage for the Patent-Medicine Industry      3. Patent Medicines: Good for What Ails You      4. Museums, Circuses, and the Wild, Wild West      5. Blackface and Slapstick      6. That Old-Time Religion      7. Street Corners and Big Tents      8. Medicine—Show Life and Tricks of the Trade      9. Yahoo, Hadacol!      10. The Curtain Comes Down      Appendix I: “All Run Down”      Appendix II: “Heart Failure”      Appendix III: Temperance Songs      Chapter Notes      Bibliography      Index     

Reviews

delightful, comprehensive, and well-documented --Choice; useful --Public Library Quarterly; well illustrated and documented, as well as entertaining --C&RL News; informative and entertaining...very readable...useful --Medical History; charming...amusing details --Fate; fascinating and well-written...excellent --Journal of the History of Medicine; complete and thorough --The Trade Card Place; a fascinating look at a bygone world --Ashe Mountain Times.

delightful, comprehensive, and well-documented --<i>Choice</i>; useful --<i>Public Library Quarterly</i>; well illustrated and documented, as well as entertaining --<i>C&RL News</i>; informative and entertaining...very readable...useful --<i>Medical History</i>; charming...amusing details --<i>Fate</i>; fascinating and well-written...excellent --<i>Journal of the History of Medicine</i>; complete and thorough --<i>The Trade Card Place</i>; a fascinating look at a bygone world --<i>Ashe Mountain Times.</i>

Author Information

Ann Anderson is a freelance writer, teacher, actor and director. Her articles and essays have appeared in Stage Directions, Prevention and Health, among many other publications. She lives in Portland, Oregon.

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