Songs, beer and medicine
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It’s not surprising that most of our old songbooks are associated with over-the-counter medicines. Gerald Doyle (1892 - 1956) was a wholesaler who knew how to put his products directly in front of Mr. And Mrs. Average. There they all were, his Brick’s Tasteless, Aspirin, Sloan’s Liniment, Scott’s Emulsion and Vicks Vaporub in free, give-away collections of Newfoundland songs. All the words, verses and even bars of music were collected, printed and sent out into coves, communities and outports, always at hand when an accordion, fiddle or out-of-tune piano pulled together our version of a backup singing group.
OF ALL CHILDREN’S LAXATIVES, only Castoria gives all three: 1. Mild, gentle action 2. Thorough, fast relief 3. The taste children love. An ideal laxative for all children from diaper stage to dancing age. DOYLE’S PURE Newfoundland Cod Liver Oil. Look better, live longer by preserving your health with Vitamins A and D.
PIMPLES. Skin eruptions of all kinds, from acne that comes to the young, up to rashes and even boils – they’re a mortifying experience, as well as painfully disfiguring. The remedy is MECCA Ointment.
If it wasn’t patent medicine and cure-alls that accompanied our folk songs, it was beer. Breweries seemed to relate to folk music and folk music seemed to go hand-in-hand with beer.
On the cover of Burke’s Ballads (compiled by John White), there was a fair-sized ad for Dominion Pale Ale. This 64page collection of songs and ads, although it bears no date, likely was issued in about 1963. Supporting it financially was A. Harvey & Company (among many others). Harvey’s advertised their coal: North Sydney coal, American steam coal (this is bituminous) and Reading Anthracite. There were also these advertisers:
Cross’s, “The Value Store since 1904” served form two locations, Duckworth street and Top Long’s Hill. They offered dry goods, men’s, women’s and children’s wear, footwear, household goods, infant’s wear and notions.
Free home delivery of India Beer and India Pale Ale was offered (“When good friends get together, they insist on the very best”).
At The Hub, F.M. O’leary Limited offered tile floors, Nairn linoleums, carpet cushions, canvas squares and institutional and commercial furniture.
In his acknowledgement for the help he received in compiling the ballads of Johnny Burke (1851 -1930), John White noted that “although the present collection is fairly large, I am of the opinion that an even greater portion of his work is lost to us.” J.H. Devine wrote the foreword, and in it, he said “this compilation, is, I believe, the first and certainly the most comprehensive collection of Burke’s ballads that has ever been presented to the public.”
Bennett Brewing in one of their series of little song books (words only) logically gave generous space to Black Horse Beer which was said to leave all the other beers behind, including, one must therefore conclude, others in the booklet, like Old Vienna, O’keefe’s Extra Old Stock (contains more than 10 per cent proof spirits) and Dominion which was said to have “a satisfying, all-male taste”.
The ninth edition of Newfoundland Songs put out by Bennett Brewing was on the occasion of Newfoundland 25th anniversary of Confederation — 1974. This effort was different. There were new songs in this one, such as Aunt
Martha’s Sheep by Dick Nolan and Ellis Coles. Nolan had a note in the booklet wherein he
said that when Bennett Brewing asked him to help choose the songs, he was delighted – “because I’m a Newfoundlander who has grown up on the salty, sassy and soulful songs that make up our rich heritage.”
One of Nolan’s songs in the booklet says that “we sit around and chew the fat, we drink our home-brewed beer” ... guess the Bennett editors missed that one!
Among a collection of Newfoundland song booklets, there should also be the 120-pager put out for Robin Hood Flour Mills in 1964. The only advertising is a two-page Robin Hood story (can you imagine reading an essay on a flour milling company?) and a song extolling the benefits of using not just any flour, but Robin Hood in your baking.
The collection was compiled by Omar Blondhal, a folksinger recognized Canadawide and who, in 1955, had chosen to marry and live in Newfoundland.
Now back to Gerald S. Doyle’s 1955 songbook for a parting retro-commercial. This one is for “RAZ-MAH”:
“Breathe comfortably, sleep restfully. You can be free of gasping — wheezing — fighting for breath: Mrs. Violet Escalliere, 76 Glenmore Road, Toronto, recently wrote to say, “I suffered from bronchial asthma, which made me wheeze, gasp and fight for breath both day and night. From my first box of Templeton’s RAZ-MAH I got great relief such as I have longed for.”
Paul Sparkes is a longtime journalist intrigued by the history of Newfoundland and Labrador. E-mail: psparkes@thetelegram.com.