A Glimpse Back At Print Advertising

I found this old newspaper. It was being used to fill the space between an antique beveled mirror and its wooden backing. You can imagine my surprise at not only its discovery, but the realization it was dated Tuesday, March 22, 1927. While only the Sports and Ad sections remained, the partial three cent publication offered a wonderful look back to an earlier time.

In historical context, 1927 was a prosperous year for most Americans. The U.S. population was just over 119 million, and the unemployment rate was 3.3%. The average household income was $2,400.00, of which a family got to keep around ninety-two cents of each dollar. There was no FICA, city or state income tax, as well as no sales tax. The Feds took 1%, but only after you hit $10,000.00 of income.

Only about 60% of American homes had electricity, and coal was still the primary fuel for heating and cooking. A new car cost $495.00, and a gallon of gas twelve cents. A loaf of bread was nine cents, a gallon of milk fifty-six cents, and a postage stamp two cents. Generally, it was an upbeat time in America that lasted until the stock market crash only two years later.

As I perused the brittle pages, I found some interesting ads in what remained of the old newspaper. The biggest and boldest were those for cigars and cigarettes. Seems you could buy twenty Old Gold cigarettes for fifteen cents, with the assurance there was “not a cough in a carload.” And you could chose Lord Salisbury, instead, if you wanted “the finest Turkish tobacco” available. Of course, there was always the Chesterfield brand that boasted, “They satisfy… and yet they are MILD.”

If something larger was your smoking choice, for five to fifteen cents apiece you could buy Ricoro Cigars which were described as, “Fresh, mild, and fragrant.” I guess, unless you’re a cigar lover, that seems to be a contradiction in terms.

There were also a lot of “health remedy” ads scattered here and there. For example, there was the amazing Musterole, a non-blistering alternative to mustard plaster. According to the ad, it gave prompt relief for almost every ailment known to man, including sore throat, bronchitis, tonsillitis, croup, stiff neck, asthma, neuralgia, headache, congestion, pleurisy, rheumatism, lumbago, back or joint aches, sprains, sore muscles, bruises, chilblains, frosted feet, and chest colds. Wow, talk about a forty cent ointment being “all things to all people.”

Another ad promised you could “end foot torture forever” if you bought Tiz for tired feet. According to the text, you’d have “Happy Feet In 3 Minutes” because Tiz “draws out the poisons and acids that cause foot misery.” I wonder if it worked on snake bites?

You could use Calonite Powder for facial blemishes. All you had to do was put it on a cloth and rub it over unsightly blackheads. Then, as clearly stated, “In a few minutes every blackhead, big or little, will be dissolved away entirely.” Sounds like it may have been good for unblocking clogged drains, as well.

Then there was Tartaroff at twenty-five cents a bottle, that “makes your teeth so instantly white and glistening that it seems almost a miracle.” Or Fresca Bath Salts and Body Powder whose ‘After the Bath’ powder “imparts to the personality an atmosphere distingue and aristocratic.” And if all this primping gave you a stomach ache, Coco Cod was available. It was billed as “the cod liver oil that tastes like chocolate.” Sounds like taste bribery to me.

Of course, if you wanted a live person to improve your looks, Mrs. Duncan could make you “Look Ten Years Younger.” She offered a permanent $12.00, non surgical treatment which she touted as “the original and only system for lifting sagging faces and old necks immediately without injury.” This, of course, was by appointment only, at her hotel. Interesting place for an office, I must say.

And finally, once you got looking and feeling good enough by using all these remedies, an ad invited you and the kids to the Wieboldt Stores to enjoy the personal appearance of Buster Brown and his talented dog Tige. An advertising gimmick, the Brown Shoe Company hired “little people” and trained dogs to tour the country as the mischievous cartoon character and his Pit Bull Terrier sidekick. They put on a free show at department stores, while promoting the Buster Brown brand of shoes for kids. Looks like the Billy Mays pitch genre started long before modern television.

Everything considered, the ads I found seemed almost primitive and naïve by today‘s standards. And whether their claims were true or not, they capitalized on a basic human “want,” to improve the quality and enjoyment of one’s life. Eighty-three years later, that same desire persists. So, if anyone knows where I can get some of that Musterole stuff, please let me know!