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Hark! The herald angels sing
Killem's pills are just the thing;
Peace on earth and mercy mild,
Two for man and one for child.
--Song Performed During Medicine Shows- (BM)

"Step right up-here you are! You may not have cinderella but if you haven't it's a cinch you've got something else and no matter what it is this little box will save your life one dose alone irrevocably guaranteed to instantaneously eliminate permanently prevent and otherwise completely cure toothache sleeplessness clubfeet mumps stuttering varicoseveins youthful errors tonsillitis rheumatism lockjaw pyorrhea stomachache hernia tuberculosis nervous debility impotence halitosis and falling down stairs or your money back"
- e. e. cummings, Him

Unlike the pitchmen or lone performer, medicine shows were more theatrical productions which often packaged sales pitches in between songs, dances, and acts. Shows carrying as few as two or three performers and as many as forty, operated throughout the United States and Canada from about 1870-1930, and even later in some out of the way areas. Smaller professional troops were able to travel locally, but most large professional groups gave shows year round, playing halls and small-town opera houses during the winter and in tents or on open-air stages during temperate weather. They were selling health, or at the very least emancipation from disease.

Many medicine shows had no admission charge and generally were selling not only magic cures, but candy. A surprisingly large amount of money was made from prize candy that often was a part of medicine shows. Once lured inside, patrons were presented with the "real" product: usually an herb compound or oil and some sort of medicated soap. Like the pitchman, medicine show owners prepared their own cures or ordered them from patent medicine manufacturers. Strangely, though, relatively few patent medicine houses actually sent out sponsored troupes because of the expense and management problems involved. Two of those that did - Kickapoo Indian Medicine Show and the Hamlin Company produced the best known and the most popular American Medicine Shows. Click on the links to find out more.

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Site by: Kendra Marie Young. [youngk@grinnell.edu]. All photos courtesy of the National Library of Medicine