Friday, June 11, 2021

CURE-ALL

 Open Link #74 Submitted to Poets & Storytellers United, June 13, 2021. Vintage advertising has always fascinated me, with its use of  words lost in the pages of time.  The word "costiveness" in this ad is one such word...one to be listed in my book of oddities.


CURE-ALL

Browsing the antique shop, I came across one of those vintage advertising fans they used to hand out in funeral homes.  This one featured a couple of adorable kittens and was presented by  Carter’s Little Liver Pills.  “LIVERITA“, it says on the back “Best for Stomach, Liver and Bowels.  $500 REWARD.  We will pay the reward for any case of Liver Complaint, Dyspepsia, Sick Headache, Indigestion, Constipation or Costiveness we cannot cure with Liverita, the up-to-date Little Liver Pill, when the directions are strictly complied to.  They are purely vegetable and never fail to give satisfaction.  The 25 cent boxes contain 100 pills, 5 cent boxes contain 15 pills.  Beware of substitutions and limitations.  Sent by mail. Stamps taken.”  Of course I bought this bit of history. 

Imagine!  A $500 reward if cure fails.  Try to get such a guarantee from  your friendly physician today.  Wouldn’t that shock him right out of his stethoscope! A hundred pills for a quarter!  Seems like the cost of feeling good has certainly escalated. Megabucks are spent annually on the  health care industry in the United States today.  The cost of health care is prohibitive and politicians are debating solutions.  They should ask me.  I have the solution right here at home….on the back of a fan.   

11 comments:

  1. Ha! My mother used lots of colloquialisms and one of them was "....so and so has more so and so than Carter has liver pills." I never understood what it meant exactly.

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    1. Well, now you know. Carter apparently had lots of pills!

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  2. Interesting reminiscing ☺ happy Sunday, thanks for dropping by my blog today

    Much💛love

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  3. I wonder if anyone ever took them up on their guarantee--$500 wass a lot of money then

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  4. Oh, what a delightful piece! Of course you bought it – I would have, too. I wonder if anyone ever tried to claim the reward.

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  5. I'd have bought it too! What a delightful souvenir of time past by, even if it is from a funeral home! I used to hear expressions using "Carter's Little Pills" in reference to having a lot of something.

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  6. An adorable piece. That must have been miracle pills. Wonder if anyone ever claimed the $500 as that is good money. You won't get a guarantee from your GP lol. If they misdiagnosed you Bad luck

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  7. vintage art certainly is in a class of its own. i like the artwork on match-boxes, see what the artist can cram into that small space.
    i remember a brand of little black pills for stomach upsets & fevers, super bitter but works like a charm. the company is still around. :)

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  8. These were neat, Beverly. I don't think we have any of those left. Air conditioning did away for their usefulness but now they are antiques and desirable again.
    ..

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  9. A nip of brandy and three prunes per day....cures everything :)

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