When skin preparations come to mind, arenaceous (or sandy) concrete does not tend to be on the list. Unless, of course, your name is M.D. Gale.This advertisement dates from about 1845-47. Instead of the usual porcelain-skinned Victorian lady, it shows Zachary Taylor (1784-1850) and his horse - neither of whom, one would have thought, would be known for their fine complexions, particularly since Taylor's nickname was "Old Rough and Ready."
Zachary Taylor was a renowned general, the hero of the Mexican-American War, specifically of the Battle of Buena Vista in February 1847. In 1849 he would become the 12th President of the United States, though his tenure was short-lived, as he died the following year.
The only M.D. Gale in New York in the 1850 census was a soap maker named Moses D. Gale; presumably he made cosmetics (of a sort) as well as soap. The concrete cosmetics must not have sold very well, for Gale turned to politics a few years after this advertisement (perhaps inspired by Zachary Taylor). Gale was a member of the New York State Assembly, 8th District, in 1852-53. By 1860, he was a Clerk at the Marine Court in New York.
Gale was not a feminist in any sense of the word. In 1853, he commented upon women working in the temperance movement. He noted that temperance petitions signed by women were worthless because "the constitution of the female mind was such as to render woman incapable of deciding correctly upon those questions."
Which proves that he was exactly the sort of person to suggest that women use powdered concrete as a beauty aid.
Advertisement from the Library of Congress.
SOURCES
McMillen, Sally Gregory. Seneca Falls and the Origins of the Women's Rights Movement (Oxford UP, 2008), pp 55-6.
Moses D. Gale household, 1850 US Census, New York City Ward 10, New York, NY; #36/133, Series M653, Roll 798, p. 817.
Moses D. Gale household, 1860 US Census, New York City Ward 10, New York, NY; #91/144, Film #444261, Image #00308, Ref. #14, link here.
Moses D. Gale at The Political Graveyard.
5 comments:
LOL
Snake oil salesman to politician...how unusual!
LOL
You have to wonder why Cale's Arenaceous Concrete didn't become wildly popular, don't you. And what extraordinary hubris, to use an engraving of his own pompous personage to promote it.
Jayne - I thought it was funny, too!
And somehow not surprising.
bellanta - Yes, it is puzzling that this was nt a huge success! lol
What did Zachary Taylor have to do with this product? I missed that. Maybe just because he was popular when the cement guy was pushing his product? But he was dead though. Hmmmm. Maybe his horse.
The only thing I remember about Zack is that he was supposedly poisoned and they exhumed him a few years back (after he had been buried 125 years or so) to make some tests on his corpse to see if the poisoning story was true or not.
Someone obviously had too much time on his hands.
If you care whether President Taylor was offed with poison or not, you can read up on that part, because I don't remember the results of the test. They just stuck him back in his vault and commented that he was remarkably well-preserved for a 125 year old corpse. No photographs for sale as I recall, and that would have been the only thing I would have wanted.
One of the pathologists even remarked Zack looked so good, he must have been using cement cosmetics.
Maybe that last paragraph is a lie.
Max - It would be interesting if there really was a connection between the concrete and his death, wouldn't it? I have no idea while Gale used ZT as a celebrity endorsement (no doubt without ZT's knowledge)...maybe he was Gale's personal hero or something.
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