Simply the best advertisement in all of Omaha. February 27, 1927. The electric sink, which sounds dangerous to my ears, was “waiting now to do the dishes for you three times a day every day–as long as you live.” Mr. Cassette and I laughed and laughed about the innocence and darkness inherent to this ad. Meanwhile the illustration is absolutely the sweetest storybook ever. The leaded glass window, the curtains, the etching, the mother’s darling sailor dress collar or is that a pre-teen boy? Now why would he be doing dishes? He sure has a pretty hand…Oh well. Regardless, Miss Cassette just wants to hop into this ad and live in an unclouded black and white dream world. “To convince yourself that this blessing is really here for you to enjoy, come to our Omaha Showroom and see it with your own eyes.”

 

 

Kohler of Kohler Showroom was at 1907 Farnam Street. This address still exists (I love when that happens) and is now Oestmann & Albertsen Law. Yes, just one door west of Bangkok Cuisine.

 

 

 

 

Dr. Searles & Searles cured men of all sorts of unspeakable things. This ad was from December 1, 1906. For just $7.50 “all curable diseases and ailments of men, no matter how acquired or who has failed to cure them, cured for life.” This is serious stuff. Which reminds me, have you, by chance, read Charlatan: America’s Most Dangerous Huckster, the Man Who Pursued Him and the Age of Flimflam by Pope Brock? Such an amazing, true history of a snake oil salesman, among others, who performed back alley surgeries by sewing goat glands into the testicles of men seeking “rejuvenation.” Odder still, from the book, Outlaw Tales of Nebraska: True Stories of the Cornhusker State’s Most Infamous Crooks, Culprits and Cutthroats by T. D. Griffith, I learned that our Dr. Searles, Omaha healer of men and restorer of hope, was murdered by the Phantom Sniper. Also called the Maniac. The newspapers of 1926 (twenty years after this advertisement) announced, “Police said this morning that a maniac who had spread terror in an Omaha neighborhood bordering the downtown district shot and killed Dr. A. D. Searles, Omaha specialist, last night. Several persons in Omaha have been hit by mysterious bullets. Dr. Searles is the second victim to be struck fatally.”

 

 

 

Dr. Searles & Searles office was at 110 S. 14th Street, where the Omaha World Herald parking garage is now. The old “14th and Douglas Corridor.”

 

 

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