OLD 1951 HADACOL PATENT MEDICINE CARAVAN SHOW PROGRAM BOOK - HANK WILLIAMS

Description

OLD 1951 HADACOL PATENT MEDICINE CARAVAN SHOW PROGRAM BOOK - HANK WILLIAMS
An interesting item for Hank Williams collectors and for collectors of Southern memorabilia and medical quackery.
This bright reddish-orange 14 page booklet (about 8 1/2 x 11") dates to about 1951. On the cover is printed: "Senator [of Louisiana] Dudley J. LeBlanc Presents the HADACOL CARNIVAL SHOW Souvenir Booklet." In the center is a half-tone photo of a smiling Senator LeBlanc
Inside are full-page photos and publicity bios of CARMEN MIRANDA, boxer JACK DEMPSEY, DICK HAYMES, singer RUDY VALLEE, ROCHESTER, and CESAR ROMERO. There are half-page photos and bios of: MINNIE PEARL, Country Music singer HANK WILLIAMS, and many other performers and groups. The two center pages of the program are illustrations of the Dorothy Dorben Dancers.
This interesting and quite EPHEMERAL old Hadacol Patent Medicine Show program is in quite good condition. There are a few small tears along the edges and the name and address of the original owner from Roanoke, VA is written on the left side of the front cover in ink.
On the right side of the front cover written in a different color ink is: "HANK WILLIAMS." Not sure if this is Hank William's signature / autograph or just his name written by the owner in a different color ink, but this ephemeral old program certainly unlocks some interesting history regardless.
The 1951 Hadacol Caravan Show was a multi artist traveling show promoting patent medicine Hadacol, and featuring many performers and celebrities of the period. Hadacol was a patent medicine marketed as a vitamin elixer.
Hadacol owner Senator Dudley LeBlanc promoted his product by sending the Hadacol Caravan Show around the country on a 17-car train called the Hadacol Special. The shows featured bicycle giveaways, beauty contests, and clowns selling Hadacol. Milton Berle, Jimmy Durante, Bob Hope and many others joined the show. In 1951 the show played in 50 cities in 16 states. It played for a month straight in Los Angeles. Hank Williams played the final act of the show and brought people to their feet every night.
According to Wikipedia:
Hadacol was a patent medicine marketed as a vitamin supplement. Its principal attraction, however, was that it contained 12 percent alcohol (listed on the tonic bottle's label as a "preservative"), which made it quite popular in the dry counties of the southern United States. It was the product of four-term Louisiana State Senator Dudley J. LeBlanc (1894-1971).
By the fall of 1951, LeBlanc had sold his interest in the Hadacol Corporation to investors for ,200,000. Soon thereafter, the enterprise collapsed under the weight of debtors. It was discovered all too late that LeBlanc was spending more for advertising than he was taking in as receipts.
In 1932, LeBlanc ran for governor of Louisiana, losing to the Huey Long candidate. One of Leblanc's planks was to pay a monthly stipend to the elderly. Huey Long subsequently adopted the idea in his nascent campaign for President. Franklin D. Roosevelt got the idea from Long, and it became the modern Social Security system.
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