Difference between revisions of "Traveling Medicine Show"
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A major reason for early bill failures at both the Federal and State level was combined efforts of the Proprietary Association and advertising industry. However, by 1905, the Proprietary Association began to divide into various factions. This led to the first piece of Federal legislation to be passed in 1906: The Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906. This bill stated that all addictive drugs be listed on the labels of food and medicine. Many patent medicine manufacturers actually saw this as a victory against a more strict bill, and listed all the laudanum, cocaine, opium, morphine, and alcohol on every medicine with no worry. (Anderson 157) | A major reason for early bill failures at both the Federal and State level was combined efforts of the Proprietary Association and advertising industry. However, by 1905, the Proprietary Association began to divide into various factions. This led to the first piece of Federal legislation to be passed in 1906: The Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906. This bill stated that all addictive drugs be listed on the labels of food and medicine. Many patent medicine manufacturers actually saw this as a victory against a more strict bill, and listed all the laudanum, cocaine, opium, morphine, and alcohol on every medicine with no worry. (Anderson 157) | ||
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| + | The patent medicine industry continued successfully in the early 20th Century until the 1930s brought new legislation and regulation. The most influential of these was the formation of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), two regulating bodies meant to curb false advertising and more honest labels. Other organizations that formed at this time that helped lead to the end of the patent medicine industry were the American Medical Association (AMA), American Pharmaceutical Association (APA), and Consumer's Research, a militant consumer advocacy group. (Anderson 158) | ||
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| + | The final nail in the coffin came with the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act of 1938, that required proprietors to list all ingredients and reveal all relevant facts. This also led to regulating medical devices, a long-time medicine show staple. (Anderson 159) | ||
=== New Technology === | === New Technology === | ||
Revision as of 10:44, 9 October 2010
This is the opening paragraph defining Traveling Medicine Shows and introducing the dossier
How much is your health worth, Ladies and Gentlemen? It's priceless, isn't it? Well, my friends, one half-dollar is all it takes to put you in the pink. That's right, Ladies and Gents, for fifty pennies, Nature's True Remedy will succeed where doctors have failed. Only Nature can heal and I have Nature right here in this little bottle. My secret formula, from God's own laboratory, the Earth itself, will cure rheumatism, cancer, diabetes, baldness, bad breath, and curvature of the spine. (Anderson 1)
Contents
Origins
Medieval Europe
Colonial America
Structure & Technique
The Art of the Sell
Ballyhoo: The Entertainment of the Show
Advice from a Showman
Notable Medicine Shows and Showmen
The Kickapoo Indian Show
The Oregon Medicine Company
Hamlin's Wizard Oil
Downfall of the Traveling Medicine Show
Legislation
Early 19th Century America was resistant to new economic legislation, as the colonial conception of less government and states' rights was still going strong. The first attempt to regulate medicine on a federal level came in 1892, when a law stating a medicine must be up to a "professed standard" passed the Senate; however, the bill failed to pass the House. (Anderson 156)
A major reason for early bill failures at both the Federal and State level was combined efforts of the Proprietary Association and advertising industry. However, by 1905, the Proprietary Association began to divide into various factions. This led to the first piece of Federal legislation to be passed in 1906: The Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906. This bill stated that all addictive drugs be listed on the labels of food and medicine. Many patent medicine manufacturers actually saw this as a victory against a more strict bill, and listed all the laudanum, cocaine, opium, morphine, and alcohol on every medicine with no worry. (Anderson 157)
The patent medicine industry continued successfully in the early 20th Century until the 1930s brought new legislation and regulation. The most influential of these was the formation of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), two regulating bodies meant to curb false advertising and more honest labels. Other organizations that formed at this time that helped lead to the end of the patent medicine industry were the American Medical Association (AMA), American Pharmaceutical Association (APA), and Consumer's Research, a militant consumer advocacy group. (Anderson 158)
The final nail in the coffin came with the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act of 1938, that required proprietors to list all ingredients and reveal all relevant facts. This also led to regulating medical devices, a long-time medicine show staple. (Anderson 159)
New Technology
Tradition Today
Traveling Medicine Show Glossary
Bibliography
Anderson, Ann. Snake Oil, Hustlers, and Hambones: The American Medicine Show. North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2000
Author. Book Title. Publishing location: Publisher, Date.
Author. "Article Title". Journal, volume, issue, page.
