Medicine show comes to Sandusky
By Jon Busdeker on Jun. 14, 2007
Ladies and gentlemen, step right up and witness the most exciting, exuberant, exhilarating, exhausting entertainment this side of the Mississippi River: Dr. Murdock’s Traveling Medicine Show.
Come one, come all to Historic Sandusky for Lynchburg’s Civil War Days to see Dr. Murdock’s Traveling Medicine Show and other 19th-century entertainment.
Here — live in Lynchburg for all ages — Dr. Murdock will show off his miracle elixir and Kentucky Indian sagwa.
“We got a whole bag full of things,” said Carson Hudson, the man behind the medicine show.
Hudson said there will be music, a puppet show and a “strong man.”
Hudson, the lead character in Dr. Murdock’s Traveling Medicine Show, has been entertaining audiences with the old time extravaganza for more than 20 years
In 1984, Hudson worked at a museum where he was asked to create a living history program.
Hudson soon discovered many people claiming to be “authentic period shows” were using modern-day equipment like guitars, puppets and techniques.
He thought he could make the show more authentic with a little research.
Hudson, a part-time history professor, began looking at old handbills and newspapers from the 18th and 19th centuries.
“We wanted to know what people were really looking at (in that time period),” Hudson said. “We wanted the show to be authentic.”
He built his own puppets and worked out his own shows.
According to Hudson, medicine shows were popular in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Groups of entertainers would travel around the United States and put on shows for free. Between shows, the entertainers would sell “miracle” drugs.
Before the creation of the Food and Drug Administration in the early 20th century, no regulations were in place to stop vendors from selling the drugs they claimed could fix almost anything.
Most of the drugs were made with alcohol, or in some cases, opium. The drugs didn’t cure anything, but “they made you feel good.”
Hudson said he doesn’t sell any drugs during his medicine show. He just recreates the entertainment.
“I get to dress up in clothes and be somebody that I’m not,” Hudson said. “Everyday is different.”
If You’re Going
WHAT: Lynchburg Civil War Days
WHEN: June 15 through 17
WHERE: Historic Sandusky
COST: Free
INFO: Visit http://www.historicsandusky.org or call 832-0162
Dr. Murdock’s Traveling Medicine Show will be performed at 7 p.m. Friday; and 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. Saturday.
Also, don’t miss Sandusky’s first mini-film festival in the new air-conditioned theater. Short historical films will be shown all day Saturday including ‘An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,’ ‘Ode to the Confederate Dead’ and a student film by Ryan Mix called ‘In This Life.’
House tours will be offered from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and at 1 p.m. Sunday.
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