Hamlin's Wizard Oil
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Patent medicine |
| Founded | 1861 in Chicago, United States |
| Founder | John Austin Hamlin, Lysander Butler Hamlin |
| Headquarters | Elgin, Illinois , United States |
| Products | Liniment, patent medicine |
Hamlin's Wizard Oil was a widely marketed American patent medicine promoted as a universal remedy with the tagline "There is no Sore it will Not Heal, No Pain it will not Subdue."
History
Originating in 1861 in Chicago, the product was created by former illusionist John Austin Hamlin along with his brother Lysander Butler Hamlin. Although mainly sold as a liniment for relieving rheumatic pain and muscle soreness, it was also advertised as a cure for ailments such as pneumonia, cancer, diphtheria, earaches, toothaches, headaches, and hydrophobia. The formulation consisted of 50–70% alcohol infused with ingredients like camphor, ammonia, chloroform, sassafras, cloves, and turpentine, and was claimed to be suitable for both internal consumption and external application.
The product was promoted through traveling medicine shows across the Midwest, which sometimes stayed in one location for up to six weeks. These troupes traveled by horse-drawn wagons and presented themselves dressed in silk top hats, frock coats, pinstriped pants, and patent leather shoes with spats. During performances, songbooks were distributed both at the events and in local pharmacies. Notable entertainers involved included poet James Whitcomb Riley, Indiana-based singer and songwriter Paul Dresser, and southern gospel pioneer Charles Davis Tillman.
At these events, John Austin Hamlin delivered humorous lectures featuring material inspired by the writings of humorist Robert Jones Burdette.
Research from Grinnell College highlights that the Hamlins promoted Wizard Oil as effective not only for humans but also for horses and cattle; one advertisement even depicted an elephant drinking from a bottle held by its trunk. The product was sold in bottles priced at 35¢ and 75¢. Additionally, two versions of the song "Wizard Oil," accompanied by music, were included in Carl Sandburg's American Songbag (1927).
John Austin Hamlin invested the earnings from Hamlin's Wizard Oil into founding and managing Chicago's Grand Opera House.
In 1916, Lawrence B. Hamlin, Lysander's son and then-manager of the company based in Elgin, Illinois, was fined $200 under the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act for claims that Hamlin's Wizard Oil could "check the growth and permanently kill cancer."