Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 92.djvu/545

 Using Minstrels to Sell Automobiles

This is where the oldtime patent medi- cine quack is completely outquacked

���Top picture shows the stage all set for the show to com- mence to draw crowd

YOUR grandfather probably remem- bers the travel- ing patent-medicine "doctor" and his con- cert wagon. The "doctor" and his artists would locate themselves at some strategic point and after a few songs and perhaps a buck-and-wing dance, would draw a crowd of several hundred people to view the free show. A vivid burst of oratory, a glow- ing picture of what Ox-heart Pills would accomplish, a scramble to buy the precious medicine and the doctor would move on. He combined some of the delights of Coney Island with those of the modern corner drug store.

Although the traveling patent-medicine doctor has almost passed away, his principles have recently been applied by an enterprising automobile dealer in the Middle West to sell a particular high-priced car with a silent type of engine to small dealers in rural towns. He fitted one of the cars he sold with a body in which he stowed a piano as shown

��The lower picture shows the automo- bile with stage folded up ready for road

in one of the accom- panying illustrations. The entire side swings down as a platform on which the singer shrieks "Over ihe-e-re, Over the-e-re!" And now a demonstrator takes the place of the singer. He is not so seductive as he is forceful and convincing. Listen to him:

"Ladies and Gentlemen! You have heard the singer and you have heard the piano. Not a word escaped you. And yet all the while the engine of this car was running. There was no rattling of valve-tappets. There was no roaring ex- haust. There was no jingling of loose parts. That's the chief merit of this car — silence. It has an engine which is as noiseless as a cat and as powerful as fifty horses. Step up and get a catalogue."

One hundred and twenty-five cars were sold on one concert tour alone, and others were disposed of later through small- town dealers whose custom was secured as a result of the trip.

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