Electric health

"Electric Health", 1924
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A bigger version of the "Violet Ray machine", the "Elco Health Generator" has the added benefits of ozone generation and "mechanical vibration".

It claims to be useful to cure conditions so severe as "Deafness", "Pain" and "Obesity" - now, how it works to help restore hearing or to help lose weight, is not explained in the ad and the reader has to get the free booklet to find out more about this miraculous machine.

The most lifelike arm ever invented

Try inserting this ad in a modern magazine.

"Armless", 1924

You will be sued to death by everyone out there! But it does have a catchy heading, doesn't it?

Cooking with gas

A disruptive technology is an invention that turns the accepted standards into obsolescent memories. Usually in a very short time.

In the example at hand, we're talking about kerosene.

This ad sells conversion kits for stoves, and the premise is the same as today -better, hotter, more even cooking and "even a child can do it". Kerosene gas is the way of the future.

Hard to resist the line that says "No wood to chop or carry" - for a household in the 1920's, this kit must have been a revelation in simplicity.

"Burn gas", 1924
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Mind your posture

With thousands of remarkable cases, the Philo-Burt Appliance has healing properties that border on the miraculous.

Fifty thousand cases treated over twenty years -that's a mere seven cures a day. Helpless people, crippled by their "deformed spines" have seen themselves riding horseback or playing tennis, within a year.

The address of the firm, at "Odd Fellows Temple" is not that inspiring either.

"Deformities of the back", 1924
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Enjoy music outdoors

Portable technology is nothing to rave about now, but in the early 20th Century it was cutting edge and big money.

You think iPod is cool music on the go? Wait until you meet the "Ozarka" from 1924- with a name that brings up images of summer days on a fishing trip in the back of beyond, this amazing portable radio set weighs only.... 10 pounds. 

Yes sire, 5 kilograms only. As batteries at that time were lead-acid (like car batteries) this is probably where the weight problem was. So if you wanted music on the go in 1924, you had to go to the gym first.

"Enjoy radio on vacation", 1924
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No more bald heads

More remedies for men worried about their thinning mane - and again this one uses a vacuum cap. Can't really tell from the ad if this is a nice latex-like swimming cap or a more rigid and uncomfortable contraption. Like a helmet.

But rejoice: the ad boldly states that this "is the only reasonable HAIR GROWER known to science". Wtf?

Total and absolute quackery in its purest form.

"No more bald heads", 1924
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No effort at all

"Waistline reducer", 1924
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Some ads are way ahead of their time.

Take this Automatic Waistline Reducer for instance. It could be the main star of a late-night TV advertorial hosted by a lesser-known, evil-twin of a reality-show débutante.

The same empty promises and dubious facts that grace your LCD-screen TV were already there in 1924: Rid yourself of the paunch. Check. Flabby flesh will vanish. Check. Absolutely automatic. Check.

There's no mention at all about keeping a good diet and doing exercise. The Waistline Reducer works almost by magic.

Think about it the next time you do some late-night TV shopping. It's all magic.

The Violet Ray is coming to you

Behold! For one dollar. The Violet Ray.

What? You've never heard of The Violet Ray? You kiddin' me?

The universal miracle cure for whooping cough, eye diseases, insomnia, lumbago and many, many more ailments of our modern way of life?

"Violet Ray", 1924
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The advertising industry in the interwar years had a tremendous role in the reach and popularity of all sorts of treatments, preparations and patented devices that belong to the realm of pseudomedicine and quackery. Probably the growing economy and the scientific advances of the time led many people to believe that anything that came out of a laboratory was good.

Some, like our Violet Ray here, have morphed into toys for Bondage and Submission, whilst others -like the toiletries with radioactive components, are outright dangeous and disappeared altogether after World War II.

Constipation kills

No shit kills. Serious.

"Constipation", 1924
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Love that ending - "BLAME YOURSELF if this message does not bring you Strength, Health and Happiness".