Medicine Show
MEDICINE SHOW
MEDICINE SHOW, an early-nineteenth-century technique for selling patent medicines. To sell this bottled magic, the showman provided a free show at town squares, street corners, or wherever he could draw a crowd. Claiming special herbal knowledge, he claimed to be Indian or part Indian, or was accompanied by someone of complexion and garb professedly Indian. He employed black-face comedians. Songs and repartee jokes were his stock in trade, and he was an artist at "kidding" the crowd while he mixed in praise of the supernal drug.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Anderson, Ann, and Heinrich R. Falk. Snake Oil, Hustlers, and Hambones: The American Medicine Show. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2000.
J. FrankDobie/c. w.
See alsoMedicine, Alternative ; Minstrel Shows .
More From encyclopedia.com
Indian Medicine , Medicine, Indian
MEDICINE, INDIAN, an ancient, intact, complex holistic healthcare system practiced and used by indigenous peoples worldwide, is more… Patent Medicine , Patent medicines first appeared in England in the 1600s. When a medication was patented, its formula was owned by the patent holder. No one else coul… Tropical Medicine , tropical medicine (trop-ikăl) n. the study of diseases more commonly found in tropical regions than elsewhere, such as malaria, leprosy, trypanosomia… Holistic Medicine , Definition
Holistic medicine is a term used to describe therapies that attempt to treat the patient as a whole person. That is, instead of treating a… Internal Medicine , in·ter·nal med·i·cine • n. a branch of medicine specializing in the diagnosis and nonsurgical treatment of diseases. Medicine Man , med·i·cine man • n. (among North American Indians and some other peoples) a person believed to have magical powers of healing and of seeing into the…
You Might Also Like
NEARBY TERMS
Medicine Show