page_title: Medicine show
section_title: Origins
hierarchical_section_title: Medicine show / History / Origins
caption_attribution_description: English: The color cover for Clark Stanley's Snake Oil Liniment. It features a description of the product's uses, and mr. Stanley wearing a hat with two snakes surrounding him.
context_page_description: Medicine shows were touring acts that peddled "miracle cure" patent medicines and other products between various entertainments. They developed from European mountebank shows and were common in the United States in the nineteenth century, especially in the Old West. They usually promoted "miracle elixirs", which, it was claimed, had the ability to cure disease, smooth wrinkles, remove stains, prolong life or cure any number of common ailments. Most shows had their own patent medicine. Entertainments often included a freak show, a flea circus, musical acts, magic tricks, jokes, or storytelling. Each show was run by a man posing as a doctor who drew the crowd with a monologue. The entertainers, such as acrobats, musclemen, magicians, dancers, ventriloquists, exotic performers, and trick shots, kept the audience engaged until the salesman sold his medicine.
context_section_description: While showmen pitching miraculous cures have been around since classical times, the advent of mixed performance and medicine sales in western culture originated during the Dark Ages in Europe after circuses and theatres were banned and performers had only the marketplace or patrons for support. Mountebanks traveled through small towns and large cities, selling miraculous elixirs by offering small street shows and miraculous cures. Itinerant peddlers of dubious medicines appeared in the American colonies before 1772, when legislation prohibiting their activities was enacted. Increasingly elaborate performances were developed to appeal to a largely rural population.
caption: Advertisement for Clark Stanley's Snake Oil Liniment
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