Document text
FOLKLORE
Forms to be Filled out for Each Interview
NEW YORK
STATE
New York
FORM A
Circumstances of Interview
NAME OF WORKER Earl Bowman
ADDRESS
86 W. 124th St. New iork City
DATE November 211 1938
SUBJECT MEDICINE SHOW P -AL S: "TJNCLE ZED'S INSIDE FROG
1. Date and time of interview Nov. 18, 1938
2. Place of interview INTERVIEULD IN MY TARTERS, 86 W. 12th St.
3. Name and address of informaat William D. -_:aylor
See "Medicine Show" 9/19/ 10/51 117,9) for information on
Willja41 D. Naylor.
4. Name ana aadres5 or person, if any, WAO put you in
touch with informant.
5. Name and address of person, if any, accompanying you
6. Description of room, house, surroundings, etc.
(Use as many additional sheets as nocessary, for any of the forms, each
bearing the proper heading and the number to which the material refers.)
FOLKLOPE
FORM C
*Um*
NEW YORK
Tr?xt of Interview (neditef.3)
New York
STATE
Earl Bowman
NAVE OF W02,KER
ADDRESS 86 W. 12th St. New York City
DATE November 21, 1938
SUBJECT MEDICINE SHOW TALES, "UNCLE ZRBPS INSIDXSA04
!\1 C 47.1 --yc.,tt P 0
of the tricks that Doc Porter used to work on the
old Medicine Show to stimulate sales of his l"Klokapoo Indian remedies')
when I was with him, was the psychology of suggestion. Doc had it
down fine.
He would always wind up his lecture by a detailed
description of the isympt4S) of all the diseases the Nickapoo Indian
medicines were supposed to cure. And the way held describe those
diseases, how anybody would feel when they were getting them, or had
them or were about to have them was enough to make anybody shiver.
His method was something like the old.fashioned ('hell and brimstone
preacher') bearing down on 'future punishmentt till the most of his
audience could feel themselves already sizzling.
the time Doc got throughdoscribing 4symptoFs1
practically everybody in the neighborhood would be imagining they felt
some of the 000symptolrlsOat toast and would be convinced that theylithad
it,t whatever it was. Why, I used to sit and listen to Docls nhorror
stories!' of diseases till I'd get to foiling the Orspiptocial"myselft
"Doc was a foxy old bird and I guess he wasn't far off his
54,
base when held say, 4most diseases people get are just imagination,
anyhow& 0'
-2.
any rate, Doc 's system of describing symptos helped
stimulate sales of hisikIndian Remedies', wonderfully.
I've seen the same idea worked in old.time newspaper
advertisements of l'patent medioines.1, And there are lots of people
who may be feeling perfectly well when they start to read isymptoTtstf
described in patent medicine advertisements but by the time they're
M 4
through reading the darn thing they have the isymptons, bad enough
that they rush right out and buy the lecture':
----"Even otherwise educated people and who are supposed to
be intelligent are like that; let them hear enough about isymptolisi
and they will get those Ploympto;Soe or let them have a queer f4iing
and they'll imagine they've got some sort of a i'queer'l disease.
*We ran across one queer, get-whatever.they.imageine
disease cases down in the back.woods hill country of Virginia when
I was with Doc Porter's Kickapoo Show.
--"The people in that section were pretty poor and on most
of the farms they used water from shallow open wells* natural springs,
or creeks. Naturally the springs and creeks and even the open wells
were often infested with frogs, water skimmers, beetles and things
like that.
*Well, one night at one of our shows a young fellow asked
Doc if his Indian Medicines would cure an tinside frog.0
"It sort of stumped Doc Porter for a minute and he said$
"Cure a inside.whatY0
"Cure a 'inside ftegorI said,0 the young backwoods native
repeated kind of worried. "My Uncle Zeb Hurst, out on Deerlick Creek*
has got a inside frog. He took a drink of water down at our spring in
the dark one night a couple of weeks ago and he swallored a frog by
mistake, at least he says he did. Anahe also says it's still in him
and still alive and he can fop it kickinl and 'WU:thin" around in his
stomach. He's getantlighty• pet:WO and thin from worryino about it.
He's afraid it will grow and get so big it will kill him."
idea of a man having an 4inside frog,' was so novel
it intrigued Doe Porter and be told the young fellow hood go out and
see his ('Uncle ZebOpersonally, then he'd be able to tell for certain
just which Indian Medicine would be the right one to give him to get
the frog out of him*
-"The young fellow took Doc and me out to see Minato Zebu
and we found the old fellow in pretty bad shape* just barely able to
hobble around, around* and he'd idoep holding his hands over his stomach and
swearing that every once in a while he could feel the cussed frog he'd
swallowed kicking and jerking inside of him:
put his hand on the old fellow's stomach and kind of
pressed down on it for a minute.,)!There* he kicked:0 the old mma said,
9Didn't you feel hi?'
Doo looked solemn and said: wYeah* I sure as hell felt
something jerkin' inside of you* but are you sure it's a frog you
swallowed?'‘ Doc said.
-44Course I am shore's, the old man replied. 41 went down
to the spring to tote a pail of water up to the cabin and thought I'd
take me a fresh drink While I was down there. It was sort of dark and
I didn't notice much* snO well before I knowed it I'd sucked the danged
frog in my molLth and felt him slip down my throatill
Doc said he'd go down to the spring and look around a bit*
it might be something else Uncle Zeb had awallowedj anyhow* he'd
want to see what sort of frogs there were in the spring so he could tell
better which variety of Indian Medioine would be best to use to make
the frog come out...
.4.
Doc came back from the spring he was grinnint with
that wise grin he used to have when he'd get a big idea and felt
confident of what he was about to do; and he told Uncle Zeb he'd
found out the kind of frog he'd probably swallowed and that he had
to work on to get him out of Uncle Zebts stomach. He said it wouldn't
be any trick at all to make the frog come out and for Uncle Zeb to
not worry, but he had to work a certain way to get the frog out.
had Uncle Zeb lie down on the ground under a tree out
in the yard, close his eyes, and open his moth, then Doc squatted
down by him, put his silk hat over Uncle Zebts face and told the rest
of us to stand back, he had to have plenty of room. Then he said:
'New, Uncle Zeb, keep your eyes shut tight and stick this medieine
under the hat, slush a little of it in your moth and when 'the frog
smells it he'll come out of your stomach in a hurry. He'll 00MA up
40 damn quick you won't hardly feel him until he hits your mouth, then
I'll grab him and pull him on ou...-Now hold still, I'm goin" to do it.
"Doc run his hand under the hat...Uncle ZEb sort grunted
and gagged; roc jerked his hand out...and damned if he didn't pull out
a little green -back bull frog about an inch and a half or two inches
long!
"Now you can open your eyes, 0 Doc told Uncle Zeb, 'here's
your cussed frog...- I knowed my Kickapoo Medicine would bring him upl
*Uncle Zeb opened his eyes and heaved a sigh of relief*
'I Gawd, you shore got him, Doc, didn't you-. I feel relieved already!
An' I'll never take another drink of water out of that damn spring, in
the dark, you can depend on that!...
don't know whether he ever did or not; but if he did
and swallowed another frog...it probably wasn't serious. He bought
three bottles of Doe's Kidkapoo Rhemuatiam Rubbing smelled
10,5410
like hell...so held have it on hand just in case he did aooidentally
get another 'inside frog.'
*Yeh...Doo Porter was versatile alright, and nothing ever
seemed to stump him.w-