Another oddity from the side branches of my wife’s unusual family tree.
Reuben George Edwards was born Reuben Goldstein, but like many others changed his name to something more “I’m not Jewish” which was better for business. His wife’s family had changed from Nathan to Newton, and other relatives to Lewis, Lawrence, Harris and Ellis.
Reuben founded Edwards’ Harlene, manufacturers of hair restorers for men and women, in the 1880s. Bizarre and rather unsettling newspaper advertisements made claims that would be illegal today. One pictures a young mother with high-maintenance knee-length hair, standing at her dressing table, being asked by her daughter, “Mama, shall I have beautiful long hair like you when I grow up?”, to which she replies, “Certainly, my dear, if you use ‘Edwards’ Harlene’.” Another shows an improbably hirsute man with beard and handlebar moustache, and a woman with thick wavy locks:
Edwards’ “Harlene” positively forces luxuriant hair, whiskers and moustachios to grow heavily in a few weeks without injury to the skin and no matter what the age.
The world-renowned remedy for baldness, from whatever cause arising. As a producer of whiskers and moustachios it has never been equalled. As a curer of weak or thin eyelashes, or restoring grey hair to its original colour, it never fails.
My goodness! If only you could still get it. With some of that I could have been in Jethro Tull, or more likely Wizzard for which I’ve got the nose but not the hair. It would be Christmas every day.
The business was very profitable. When he died in 1943, Edwards left £86,500, equivalent to over £3m today.
They founded the Edith Edwards Preventorium at Papworth Hospital, Cambridgeshire, for the treatment of tuberculosis, in memory of a daughter who died aged 15 in 1914.
If they'd been in business a hundred years later, they could have used their name and the tune to "Jolene" for their advertising jingle.
ReplyDeleteOh no. What have you put in my head?
DeleteIt sounds as if, advertising claims set aside, they did some good with their ill gotten gains! That hair claim is hilarious. She'd hardly be able to get around with the weight of it.
ReplyDeleteI wonder whether people believed it then.
DeleteIf "Harlene" was still around today, I would suggest promoting it in TV commercials that used a new version of the hit song by Dexy's Midnight Runners...
ReplyDeleteI say toora loora toora loo rye aye
Come on "Harlene", oh I swear
At this moment, you mean everything to me
You mean everything.
No, Debra's suggestion has stuck in my head more firmly.
DeleteDid she apply Gorilla glue?
DeleteI wonder what as in it? Imagine rubbing it on your eyelashes only to find out it was made from some caustic or toxic substance.
ReplyDeleteProbably cat pee, or similar. I wonder what it smelt like.
DeleteHave you seen where Musk comes from Tasker? I saw Jethro Tull for the fifth time last year and none of your hair products would restore the lead singers hair. My hair line is getting that way. Grass doesn't grow on a busy street😊.
ReplyDeleteI doubt there is any hope for his voice, either.
DeleteI was OK with all the destinations of this concoction until I read "eyelashes".
ReplyDeleteI guess false lashes weren't as good then.
DeleteHonestly, who would WANT that much hair to have to look after?! I admit that I do get a little envious when I see people with beautiful hair, since I never had that. I had no hair on my head when I was born, and acquired a white-blonde fluff only when I was 2 years old - unlike the rest of my family who had heads full of curly, thick, abundandt hair.
ReplyDeleteBut I have the advantage of only taking two minutes to wash my hair, and maybe five or ten for it to dry without the need of a hairdryer.
I have those advantages too, but for different reasons.
DeleteJust like advertising today though isn't it? A pack of lies sadly but he made a lot of money out of it, well spent at the end.
ReplyDeleteIt's better regulated now, but they find clever ways round it, as in my post about farmwashing.
DeleteClever advertising can reap rich rewards.
ReplyDeleteEspecially when it misleads.
DeleteHair is a complex subject. My son (aged 50) has never seen me without a beard. He has great difficulty working out who I am in the wedding photos.
ReplyDeleteBut did you use Edwards Harlene?
DeleteAh...sad that such a marvelous formula has been lost to the ages.
ReplyDeleteThe Victorians knew things we don't.
DeleteWhat amazing family relatives you have. Now I've got Jolene stuck in my head too.
ReplyDeleteMy wife could have a whole series of "Who Do You Think You Are?" just to herself. I have barely touched upon it.
DeleteAt least they put their wealth to good use even if it was prompted by deep grief. The world needs charlatans otherwise what would all the gullible people do with the spare belief capacity they have swilling around? Our age has it's equivalents in online 'influencers' and creators of magic diet concoctions for example. Have you influenced anyone online lately?
ReplyDeleteI don't like to think I would influence anyone as it's not in my nature. But perhaps it would be good to persuade the gullible to be more discerning.
DeleteHi Tasker,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading this blog.
I thought you might like to know that when I was studying in Cambridge, I lived very very close to Addenbrooke's Hospital (which is in front of Papworth Hospital). I used to get the bus so very often and always went passed it.
So, it's nice that we are both connected through that hospital. Hehe!!
Liam
It is a very slim connection. Edwards' wife was something like a granddaughter of one of my wife's GGG grandfather's half-brothers. In looking into family history, you get intuitions about what might be interesting to look into further, and this was one. There are others amongst her Jewish connections, including one of the biggest swindlers in Victorian London - another post when I have the energy.
DeleteOh, and I just dropped in to say 'hairy Christmas to you and yours'.
ReplyDeleteNot sure whether I should return the greeting.
Delete