Before there was Big Pharma was there a little guy in an apartment somewhere with a sure fire cure for warts-aches-pains-lumbago-diabetes-rheumatism-moles-hair loss-asthma, etcetera, etcetera, ecetera? Looking through these ads from the 1931 issue of Comfort you'd think so. All you had to do was write them and they'd send you information about their miracle cure. Now we have big 4 color ads in magazines and nonstop tv commercials. Will any of today's ads be kept as ephemera? Will any of them be lumped in with old fashioned snake oil sales? I can think of quite a few.
Here, for your viewing pleasure, a variety of the tiny ads that were grouped throughout the back of this issue of Comfort. How many sick people were taken for a ride by these companies? How many people spent part of their meager income hoping for relief? Today instead of writing for information we're repeatedly told "Ask your doctor!" So start scrolling and scrolling and scrolling and then ASK YOUR DOCTOR!
My favorite line is "If you're feeling sour and sunk and the world looks punk..."
But I guess my favorite is just an old home remedy sent in by a reader, a cure for corns. It doesn't say what you do with the vinegar soaked bread after using. Perhaps bury it under a board then turn around three times and scream like a chicken?
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