Dorothy Gray – Radioactive Cold Cream

Best Old Commercials ^ | current | Dorothy Gray Ltd.

[WhiskeyX]

Ah, the 1950′s. Scares of Commies, Atomic bombs, and blacks. However, we weren’t so scared of radiation, even rubbing it right into our skin. Dorothy Gray was the best cold cream at cleaning your face because it was imbued with the power of radiation, which would melt the dirty right out of your pores. Hilarious they even test the cold cream on the model’s face by reading it with a Geiger Counter. I’d call this product “Snake Oil” except I’m pretty convinced that it actually did work.

Radioactive products in the 1940s and 1950s were considered modern, powerful, wave-of-the-future type goods. They were used in creams, pills, toys, clocks, water, fertility products, and suppositories. Even more amusing was that there were all sorts of radioactive products at the time. Here are some more popular radioactive products.

[WhiskeyX]

What are your favorite commercials?

[Fear The People]

Reminds me of the Radium Girls.

[Telepathic Intruder]

In the early 20th century a company sold this
for drinking, because at the time it was believed that radiation was beneficial. It contained radium and thorium, and led to the death of one Eben Byers who drank 3 of them a day. The owner of the company insisted it had nothing to do with his product.

[knarf]

Don't know of any commercials, but the first two or three watches I ever owned had glow-in-the-dark dials which I was told later was radium paint.

It was on my left wrist so it didn't interfere with

[cripplecreek]

Va Va Vooooom

[Yo-Yo]

Link doesn’t lead to the commercial. I just looked through all of the commercials on that site and couldn’t find the one you posted.

[Yo-Yo]

Nevermind. Found it.

http://www.bestoldcommercials.com/dorothy-gray-radioactive-cold-cream/<.a>

[Yo-Yo]

As the other posters on the site pointed out, the cold cream wasn’t radioactive, the test “dirt” was.

[Telepathic Intruder]

"The worst idea in the long, sad history of bad ideas"

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Strontium 90 ?

[Maceman]

Best commercial ever, especially if you're a bebop lover like me:

1950s EZ-Pop Popcorn Commercial

[boop]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=i16kNUJKKjk

You might like this one, Maceman.

[boop]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=i16kNUJKKjk

[Maceman]

Thank you, Boop. I did enjoy that. I do so fondly remember the days of my childhood when all commercial music was jazz/swing-based, instead of rock-based, or (shudder) hip-hop-based, and you had to look really hard to find people who didn’t think that there was anything inappropriate about flying the American flag under any circumstances, or pledging allegiance to the flag and one nation under God.

[OldNewYork]

Interesting. 70 years from now, I wonder what ‘modern’ treatments used now will be looked on this way?

[Telepathic Intruder]

In all fairness, “Dr.” William Bailey who owned the company was not a doctor, medical or otherwise. More like a snake oil salesman. They once placed Eben Byers’ teeth on a photographic plate overnight to see what would happen. They glowed in the dark.