DR SHELDON'S

American chemist Samuel Sheffer, co-founder of the Sheldon Drug Company, began producing and marketing

the coughs and colds remedy known as Dr Sheldon's New Discovery in 1904. Later products marketed under the

Dr Sheldon's brand included Gin Pills (back aches, kidney and liver ailments), Magnetic Liniment (rheumatism,

lumbago, insect stings etc), and Digestive Powder/Tabules. Advertising for the various products often involved

testimonials from everyday users (including soldiers during the war years) and sometimes celebrities. Among the

latter were soldier/variety entertainer Harley Cohen, stage/film actresses Dorothy Cumming, Muriel Starr and

Sarah Allgood, actresses/variety entertainers Marie La Varre, Ada Reeve, Maud Fane and Pearl Ladd, songwriter

Marsh Little, and theatre-industry cartoonist Donald MacDonald (known professionally as "Pas").

In 1904 American chemist Samuel Sheffer co-founded the Sheldon Drug Company in

Sydney and immediately began producing and marketing its first remedy - Dr Sheldon's

New Discovery (for coughs and colds). Born in Iowa in 1873 to Canadian parents

Sheffer had trained as a chemist and after graduating started his own business in

Chicago. He came to Australia early in the new century and shortly afterwards went into

partnership with Sydney merchants Charles and Alexander Markell to produce

pharmaceutical products.1 Within a few years he acquired a controlling interest in the

company and under his direction it opened up offices in other Australian states and

expanded into New Zealand, South Africa and the East. The company directors

identified to date were Samuel and Alice Sheffer, and in later years their children H. M.

(Mel) Sheffer and Mary Alice Evatt.2

Later products marketed under the Dr Sheldon's

brand included Gin Pills (back aches, kidney and

liver ailments), Magnetic Liniment (rheumatism,

lumbago, insect stings etc), and Digestive Powder.

In 1908 Shaffer, in partnership with his wife Alice

founded a subsidiary company, Rexona Pty Ltd to

market a line of personal care products.

Advertising for the various Dr Sheldon remedies, as with Rexona line, often

involved testimonials from everyday users (including soldiers) and sometimes

celebrities. The company's first advertisements appear to have been published in

the Bendigo Advertiser (Victoria) in mid-June 1904. The initial campaign

comprised a series of short adverts placed within several sections of each edition.

1 "Mr S. F. Sheffer." Sydney Morning Herald 12 Nov. (1929), 15.

2 "Company News." Sydney Morning Herald 29 May 1929, 17.

S. F. Sheffer

Sydney Morning Herald 12 Nov.

(1929), 15.

Source: eHive

Top: Bendigo Advertiser 15 June (1904), 1

Middle and Bottom: Bendigo Advertiser 15 June (1904), 8.

Letters of thanks from the general public, including

pharmacists, began appearing in newspapers within a few

months [see below]. Under Sheffer's direction the company's

advertisements were also sometimes inserted into general news

columns [right].3

One of the first celebrities to endorse Dr Sheldon's New

Discovery was actress Marie D'Alton in early 1905.4

Goulburn Evening Penny Post 26 Oct. (1905), 4.

The use of celebrity endorsements continued throughout the

remainder of the decade, but from early in the 1910s the

strategy became more sophisticated, with some placements

taking up as much as half a page. Their frequency also

increased.

3 See also Goulburn Evening Penny Post 26 Oct. (1905), 4, [cols. 4 and 6]; or West Australian 12 Dec. (1905), 2 [col. 9].

4 The D'Alton testimonial is dated March 21, 1904 in the Goulburn Evening Penny Post. This is believed to have been a

typographical error and should read March 21st, 1905. There is no evidence that Dr Sheldon's New Discovery was available to the

public prior to June 1904.

Benalla Standard (Victoria) 5 Aug. (1904), 1.

Riverine Herald (Echuca, Vic) 3 Jan. (1905), 3.

In addition to Elwyn Harvey and Muriel Starr (above), the Sheldon Drug Company secured the endorsements and

testimonials of stage and/or film actresses Lizette Parkes, Dorothy Cumming, Muriel Starr, Sarah Allgood and Bertha

Riccardo; actresses/variety entertainers Marie La Varre, Ada Reeve, Maud Fane and Pearl Ladd; songwriter Marsh

Little; and theatre-industry cartoonist "Pas" (aka Donald MacDonald).5

World (Hobart) 15 Sept. (1923), 6.

The company also placed many thousands of small ads in

newspapers around Australia between February 1906 and

December 1915 with the title "A Great Lawsuit Decided."

Launceston Examiner 2 Feb. (1906), 4.

5 All the artists mentioned here endorsed Dr Sheldon's New Discovery except Donald MacDonald, whose testimonial as "Pas"

appeared in advertisements for Dr Sheldon's Digestive Tabules.

Daily Herald (Adelaide) 1 July (1914), 6.

Punch (Melbourne) 14 Oct. (1915), 34.

Advertiser (Adelaide) 4 July (1917), 10.

Week (Brisbane) 10 Aug.

(1917), 2.

Age 5 Mar. (1918), 12.

Argus 4 May (1917), 5.

Week (Brisbane) 10 Aug. (1917), 2.

As with Rexona and many other Australian companies producing medications and remedies during the war years, Dr

Sheldon's used the endorsements of serving and returned soldiers to both promote its products and align its brand with

the war effort. Among the soldiers to appear in the company's advertisements were wounded servicemen like Privates

Jack Molloy, Roy Clark and Harley Cohen. The latter also carved out a career as a singer, elocutionist, songwriter, and

was a prominent member of the Gallipoli Strollers company.

Argus 30 June (1916), 5.

Bulletin 24 May, 1917, 22.

Dr Sheldon's also played on the heartstrings of parents with sons serving overseas, suggesting they buy two bottles

tonight - one for home and the other for their soldier boy.

Bendigo Advertiser 13 Nov. (1918), 7.

cont...

Another example of Dr Sheldon's

advertisements inserted as general news items.

This one combines war-related testimonials

with those from home.

Rochester Express (Victoria) 13 Oct. (1916),

4.

See the rest of this advertisement at:

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/page/13346018

Telegraph (Brisbane) 28 Apr. (1917), 15.

Mount Alexander Mail (Victoria) 11 Nov. (1916), 3.

Samuel Sheffer died in Brisbane in November 1929 following a holiday in Hawaii with his wife. During the return

home via China and Japan the ship called in to Thursday Island. It was during this stopover that the couple contracted

dengue fever and malaria. Samuel's body was transported back to Sydney for the funeral but Alice remained in

Brisbane hospital for some time. Although Mel Sheffer continued to run the Sheldon Drug Company following his

father's death, a decision was made to sell Rexona Pty Ltd to a company overseen by Lever Brothers Australia.

The Sheldon Drug Company's celebrity endorsement advertising strategy

appears to have been phased out during the 1930s. Testimonials from

everyday users continued to be used, though. As to the various Dr Sheldon's

products themselves, limited information is currently available regarding their

production and sale beyond the 1940s and 1950s.

Dr Sheldon's New Discovery

appears to have continued being

produced until at least April 1944,

after which time advertisements

for the remedy disappear from

Australian newspapers.

Advertisements for Gin Pills (also

known as Kidney Pills), continue

to appear in newspapers and

selected magazines well into the

mid-1950s.

The Sheldon Drug Company operated as a family business well into the

2000s, being still registered as late as 2006. The principal directors of the

firm at that time were being Helen Sheffer, Samuel F. Sheffer, and Samuel

Fuller Sheffer.

Sarah Allgood

Sunday Times (Sydney) 6 Aug. (1916), 20.

Advertiser (Adelaide) 5 May (1917), 5.

Last known advertisement for Dr

Sheldon's New Discovery

Morning Bulletin (Rockhampton, Qld)

21 Apr. (1944), 4.

Mercury (Hobart) 9 July (1949), 16.

Marie La Varre

Truth (Sydney) 15 June (1930), 22.

Bertha Riccardo

Daily News (Perth) 7 Apr. (1930), 8.

Sunday Times (Perth) 4 Apr. (1915), 4.

SEE ALSO

• Rexona

HISTORICAL NOTES AND CORRECTIONS

1. Samuel and Alice's daughter, Mary Alice married

lawyer Dr Herbert Vere Evatt in 1920. He was later

Justice of the High Court of Australia (1930-1940),

Attorney-General and Minister for External Affairs

(1941-1949), first Chairman of the United Nations

Atomic Energy Commission in 1946, the third

President of the United Nations General Assembly

(1948-1949), Leader of the Australian Labor Party, and

Leader of the Opposition (1951-1960), and Chief Justice

of New South Wales (1960-62).

FURTHER REFERENCE

Daley, Caroline. Leisure and Pleasure. Auckland, NZ:

Auckland UP, 2003.

"Sheldon Drug Company." Encyclopedia of Australian

Science (2015). [See also entries for J. Kitchen and Son, Lever

Rexona, Unilever Australasia, etc]

First published: 3/11/2015

NB: The URL for this PDF will change each time it is updated. If you wish to cite or link to this record please use the following:

Australian Variety Theatre Archive • http://ozvta.com/industry-misc-1/5/

Daily Herald (Adelaide) 15 Aug. (1917), 2.