Page 13 - Pharmacy History 32 July 2007

The wizard oil man
By Geoff Miller
Most of us have a picture in our minds of the traveling salesmen who peddled quack remedies around the countryside in the old days, appealing to the ailing, the optimistic and the gullible in the times before such remedies were legislated out of existence in the early 1900s.
Around Christmas 1880,
Geraldton and the nearby towns
of Northampton and Greenough.
in Western Australia’s mid-west,
were visited by a traveling medicine salesman who was at the same time
a great showman, in the person of
Mr Frank Weston, maker and sole proprietor of Weston’s Wizard Oil, Weston’s Magic Pills and Mexican Mustang Liniment.
For some weeks prior to his appearance the Victorian Express was advertising his product thus: -
He used to plod along with a painfully methodical action of one leg, like a mechanical man in a diorama, and
his eyes fixed to the ground. But now, he steams ahead at five knots, meets a friend, pulls up with a galvanic jerk, pours out the story of his wonderful cure, and points his tale by yanking his recovered limb up and down like the driving piston of a locomotive ..... Lordy, Lordy, won’t Weston be proud” But, that was not the end of the story. Soon after another convert wrote that ‘he had drawn a horse in a sweep.
He had carefully rubbed both sides of his ticket with Mexican Mustang Liniment and the horse came in, winning him a substantial prize.”
THE GREAT AMERICAN REMEDY
WESTON’S WIZARD OIL
Composed of the choicest Aromatic Herbs healing balsalm with) miraculous power in raising the bedridden, crippled, rheumatic cures, toothache,
asiatic cholera, burns, pains, sore breasts, spasms ....
and so on.
Weston had already toured New Zealand and the rest of the Australian States and wherever he went the crowds flocked to hear him speak.
His approach was to hire the best venue available and to advertise free admittance to his show. As the people arrived they were given a 32 page brochure entitled Frank Weston’s Australian Companion – full of helpful hints to make life easier in this great land of ours, with the help of the various Weston remedies, of course.
The front seats were all reserved for the ladies, and when the show began, it had ‘em rolling in the aisles.
For two hours this showman went through his repertoire of jokes, American witticism, songs and tales, most with a theme of praise for his products.
He alternatively sang, preached, whistled (‘with rare skill’) and twanged away on his banjo.
(‘an accomplished performer’), and Lordy, Lordy, the crowd loved it. Fo1lowing his visit he was referred to as ‘that grand old gentleman’ and ‘the most amusing, the most eccentrically entertaining, the most indefatigable’. A few weeks later a Mr Morgan wrote to the paper to say that ‘he had been
a long-time sufferer from rheumatism and that he had been cured in a
week and that his limbs now had the elasticity of a youth of 20.’
The columnist Odites picked this
up and wrote ‘There seems to be something in Weston’s Wizard Oil after all. It’s quite refreshing to see old Morgan prancing along the street since his rheumatism has been exorcised by the magic lotion.
During a visit to South Australia
in 1917, Weston had been arrested and charged with selling medicine containing methylated spirits
contrary to the provisions of the Commonwealth Spirits Act 1906. Under this Act the use of methylated spirits was prohibited to be used in the preparation of medicines for internal or external application other than in liniments and veterinary medicines unless a higher rate of duty had been paid.
Weston was found not guilty and the case dismissed.
volume 3 ■ no 33 ■ NOVEMBER 2007
Pharmacy History Australia ■ 13