Yellow Fever 1 of 3

[write-light.livejournal.com]

In one of the stories I wrote, yellow fever played a key role; specifically, the yellow fever epidemics of the 1870s, which nearly wiped Memphis, Tennessee off the map.  It wasn't until nearly the end of the 19th century that anyone even knew how it was transmitted, or that mosquitos were the vector, so it was truly a hideous plague.  I highly recommend The American Plague by Molly Caldwell Crosby. 

Early ads promised all sorts of things as curatives, like this one from 1880:

Warner's Safe* Cure, 1880  
 


*safe, here, refers to the metal safe in which they kept the cures - you didn't think ad doublespeak was a recent invention, did you?  Read more about Warner's HERE.

A further ad for a quack blood oxygenator device I've posted about before:

Comments

[misstia]

i suddenly wanna watch the movie Arsenic & Old Lace!

[bradygirl_12]

*grins*

I love that movie! They did a great job with it.

I read the play, too. In high school I took an Advanced English course and we read plays by Eugene O'Neill and other classic playwrights (Harvey was one of them!) and I loved them. I love the famous old plays and movies. :)

[misstia]

i love that movie too!! it's just so charming and funny!!! i prefer older movies anyway! :-)

[bradygirl_12]

I've always loved old movies. Black-and-white doesn't bother me like it does some people. While there are 'modern' movies that I enjoy (The Artist, Public Enemies, the upcoming The Dark Knight Rises), I enjoy watching movies filmed in a different time. I also admit to liking not being bombarded with four-letter words and buckets of gore, too.

[misstia]

i have no issue with black & white movies and many of them used the black & white to enhance the story (ie: citizen kane, he used the shadows, etc).....i love love LOVE silent movies and was entirely enthralled through all like 600+ minutes of Les Vampires a French weekly short film from 1915/1916......(yes i watched it over several days).....Dr. Mabuse, The Strange Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Chaplin's movies---Modern Times could be released today and still be considered current, the melo-dramas of Gloria Swanson, Erich Von Stroheim's movies.....oh how i love the silent era!!!!

then the 30s thru 50s had many wonderful films also! and whereas i can make a sailor blush with my language, i prefer movies that don't insult my intelligence nor have gratuitous violence or sex.....the innuendo, the hint of suggestion---what is left to the viewer's imagination is far more powerful than anything that can be created on the screen, in my opinion.....

[pikkewyntjie.livejournal.com]

A few months ago I found myself reading about Yellow Fever, though I can't quite remember why.