I have a cold and it sucks and I’m trying to weather the storm but as it lingers on and on and on and on I’m starting to believe no end is in sight! So I’m turning to some vintage cold ads for help, well not literally but I thought it would be fun to see what kind of 1940s and 1950s vintage ads for cold remedies were out there when dealing with a pesky cold.

1920s vintage ad for Aspironal: Better Than Whiskey -1928 vintage ad. — 1928 vintage ad

Let’s take a look!

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Vintage Advertising for Cold Remedies from the 1940s & 1950s

Vintage Ben-Gay ad. “When Peter Pain smack you with Head Cold Misery….Rub in Ben-Gay quick”.

1940s ad for ‘666’ Cold Preparations. “666 Eases these 6 cold miseries quick!”.

1940s cold medicine ad-1940s vintage ad for'666' Cold Preparations. "666 Eases these 6 cold miseries quick!".

1940s ad for ‘Tabcin’, “ease cold misery”. Yup that is me..”Cold Misery”

1940s vintage ad for Cold medication -Tabcin.

1950s cold medicine ad for Candettes… cough-jel is a new way to cough relief.

1950s cold medicine ad for Candettes cough-jel new way to cough relief featuring a 1950s mother taking care of her child.

1950s ad for ‘Dristan’ decongestant tablets.

1950s cold medicine ad -1950s vintage ad for Dristan decongestant tablets.

1950s vintage ad for ‘Smith Brothers Assorted Fruit Cough Drops”.

Such a fun and colorful ad! I feel better already from just looking at it. Is that Abraham Lincoln handing out cough drops?

1959 ‘Vicks Vaporub’ Cold Relief vintage print ad.

1950s Vintage Ad: 1959 VICKS VAPORUB Cold Relief Sleeping Medicine Medication Health Vintage Print Ad

Source: Etsy

March 1942, Better Homes & Gardens magazine had an article on “How to Dodge a Cold – or Lick One” that I thought would be fun to share here. Hope it helps!

1940s vintage magazine article - March 1942, Better Homes & Gardens magazine had an article on "How to Dodge a Cold - or Lick One"

To end, lets listen to poor Miss Adelaide from Guys and Dolls talk about her cold, brought on by a certain someone not giving her a ring (I can totally see that happening lol).

Question: What do you do to fix up your colds my vintage friends?

Further Reading: Vintage Advertising 1920s -1960s (Archived Blog Posts)

Liz 🙂

Toronto’s Annual Santa Claus Parade is a yearly traditional that originally started on December 2, 1905 by the Eaton’s chain of department stores, and had just a single float. It now has over 25 floats, 24 bands, and 1,700 participants (Wikipedia).

With that much history lets take the Vintage Inn Time Travel Bus and see what past parades looked like from the 1920s-1950s.

Note: Vintage Fashion Lovers-The crowd pictures when you look close enough have some lovely vintage fashion.

Vintage Photos of Toronto’s Santa Claus Parade

1920s Photos

Santa and his Reindeer on the final float of the parade.

Further Reading: Images Of Toronto Christmas Seasons Gone By

Vintage Toronto: 1920s Vintage Photo: Eaton's Santa Claus Parade, Santa Claus & reindeer on curve. - November 20, 1926

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The crowd of 1920s parade viewers. The Cloche hats and coats are just lovely in these pictures.

Vintage Toronto: 1920s Vintage Photo: Eaton's Santa Claus Parade, Noah's ark & animals. - November 20, 1926

Source

1930s Photos

History Note: To escape from the realities of the Great Depression, families pressed their ears to the radio. Starting in the early 1930s, CFRB radio began broadcasting a month of dramatic programming that followed Santa’s journey from the North Pole to Toronto. By the time the Parade took place, children and adults alike were beyond excitement. Santa brought with him a magic and mystery that gave everyone hope (Source).

1930s Santa and His Reindeer float.

History Fact: In 1939 when the Second World War brought on shortages, organizers were forced to make the elaborate costumes out of paper (A Century of Memories by Citynews).

Vintage Toronto: Toronto Santa Claus Parade 1930s vintage photo

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I love that the road is dirt in these two pictures, hard to imagine that this was even so in a city with concrete and asphalt everywhere now.

Source

1940s Photo

History note: During World War II when materials were scarce, most of the Parade costumes were made of paper. A big draw during this period was for children to watch the Parade from office buildings along the route. All the windows facing South were crowded with children, including the Park Plaza Hotel (today’s Park Hyatt) (Source).

Here is a great video of the Santa Claus parade in the 1940s.