A Bit of Pharmacy History - 1919

A couple of drug pages from the E. R. Squibb and Son's "Materia Medica" book of fine, pure products from 1919.  At this point, the FDA had been in place 13 years....

...I am pretty certain that by 1919, these products required a prescription...
The text on cannabis reads:

"Cannabis has been employed as a Sedative, Anodyne and Hypnotic, in cases where opium does not agree with the patient. Unlike the latter, it causes neither nausea nor constipation. It produces at first a mental stimulation, which is later followed by a calmer mood and finally by sleep. It is used in acute and chronic mental derangements, in neuralgia, migraine, gout and rheumatism. In combination with the bromides (see Tab­lets Triple Bromides and Cannabis Compound) it is employed in hysteria, delirium tremens and mild cases of mania. All patients do not respond to it alike; and while no doubt idiosyn­crasy plays a great part, yet the quality of the drug has much to do with its constitutional effect. In all our preparations of this drug the best quality of hemp is used. "

Benny Says HI! (ca 1995, via DOS 6)

Here's a clip I found while converting files from *.flc format from my old Autodesk Animator Pro program, something that should have become Flash, but nooooooooooooooo that would have been too easy!

A Moment of Snarkiness from the 2010 Edition...


 Because sometimes you can smell people before you see them.....



(c) MMIX The Animating Apothecary

        (well so much for making an animated GIF out of this one!)  

Images That Make a Collector Cringe

This came from a Popular Science issue in 1936.  With the Great Depression in full force, and radio being free, those clunky useless phonographs had to be put to some use.  After all, who'd pay money for music when you could get anything in the world for FREE on the radio? 

Now, let's jump to today and the news that electronic books are outselling paper-based books.

Sorry, gang, I'm not going to rely on perpetual easy-access to the internet or digital media.  The books are staying!

Celebrating 1911 and Winsor McCay

In 1911, Winsor McCay created his first animated film, Little Nemo, and things haven't been the same since. 
Click here to see Little Nemo (2 minute clip on youtube)

In 1930, he wrote and illustrated (at least some of it, the graphics seem a bit variable) a guide to animation for Modern Illustrating, an artist correspondance course from Minnesota.  Here are the 17 pages he created:

Jordan Belson (1926-2011), Abstract Animation Artist

From an email via CVM and Cindy Keefer:

We are sad to report that filmmaker/artist Jordan Belson died early
Tuesday morning, September 6, at his home in San Francisco, of heart
failure. He was 85. A memorial screening is planned for October 19 at
Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley. Other tribute screenings in several
other cities are being arranged, details will follow soon.

Jordan Belson created abstract films richly woven with cosmological
imagery, exploring consciousness, transcendence, and the nature of
light itself.

Born in Chicago in 1926, Belson studied painting at the California
School of Fine Art (now San Francisco Art Institute), and received his
B.A., Fine Arts (1946) from The University of California, Berkeley. He
saw films by Oskar Fischinger, Norman McLaren and Hans Richter at the
historic Art in Cinema screening series in San Francisco in the late
1940s. Belson was inspired to make films with scroll paintings and
traditional animation techniques, calling his first films "cinematic
paintings."

Curator Hilla Rebay at The Museum of Non-Objective Painting, New York,
exhibited his paintings, and upon Fischinger's recommendation awarded
Belson several grants. From 1957-1959, Belson was Visual Director for
The Vortex Concerts at San Francisco's Morrison Planetarium, a series
of electronic music concerts accompanied by visual projections.
Composer Henry Jacobs curated the music while Belson created visual
illusions with multiple projection devices, combining planetarium
effects with patterns and abstract film footage. His Vortex work
inspired his abandoning traditional animation methods to work with
real time projected light. He completed Allures (1961), Re-entry
(1964), Phenomena (1965), Samadhi (1967), and continued with a series
of abstract films. His varied influences include yoga, Eastern
philosophies and mysticism, astronomy, Romantic classical music,
alchemy, Jung, non-objective art, mandalas and many more.

Belson produced an extraordinary body of over 30 abstract films,
sometimes called "cosmic cinema."  He produced ethereal special
effects for the film The Right Stuff (1983). His last completed film
was Epilogue (2005), commissioned by The Hirshhorn Museum. He is
survived by his long time partner, Catherine Heinrich.
  (Revised bio by C. Keefer, originally for Guggenheim Museum's "The
Third Mind" catalog, 2008.)

More information about Belson and his work can be found on his
approved research pages, at
www.centerforvisualmusic.org/Belson

Earlier in 2011, Belson wrote a statement asking people not to put his
films online, as it did not do justice to his work.

In lieu of flowers, Belson's partner Ms. Heinrich requests that
donations be made to Center for Visual Music's preservation and
digitization work to continue preserving the legacy of Jordan Belson.
Contact cvmarchive (at) gmail.com (or paypal to cvmarchive (at)
gmail.com).


Cindy Keefer
Center for Visual Music
453 S. Spring Street, Suite 834
Los Angeles, CA 90013
213-683-1514
cvmaccess (at) gmail.com
www.centerforvisualmusic.org

1993 - Pre HIPAA and Mandated PharmD Degrees....

Here's a pilot that never got airborne, from 1993.  After about 5 months of meetings, a complete pharmacist recast, and three days of shooting video at pharmacies and laudromats that are no longer in business, I assembled this linear editing exercise with a pair of S-VHS players and lots of tachyarrhythmia.  And coffee...did I need to mention coffee?

Needless to say, the 10-episode series never went beyond these 6 minutes, and nobody gets to come around the pharmacy counter anymore without a supoena.  The "even longer for a clinical degree" - the PharmD - is now the only bona-fide entry card to "Behind the Counter" these days.

Snagged this to digital just before the original from 1993 began crumbling.  Lots of color shifts and sound drops..... egad....

PBS and History Detectives in Battle Creek!

PBS’ "HISTORY DETECTIVES" MAKES SECOND VISIT TO CEREAL CITY
While going through her mother's collections, a Virginia woman uncovered a box of old shellac records from the 1920s. Her mother purchased the records at a garage sale a generation ago because they featured the image and name of her father-in-law, Wallace Rogerson of Chicago. Her quest for details about Wallace and the records led her to the PBS program "History Detectives," and their investigation brought them to Battle Creek for the second time in the program’s ninth season.
One of the few online sources of information for these records was written by Jim Middleton, Battle Creek pharmacist, animator, and collector of audio artifacts. So in April, the History Detective Tukufu Zuberi came to Battle Creek with the PBS crew and spent a weekend conducting an interview with "The Animating Apothecary" and scrutinizing his collection.
Was Wallace Rogerson the Jack LaLanne of the 1920's? The mystery will be solved Tuesday, September 6, at 8pm on PBS!

                                                                 (second photo from PBS History Detectives site)

and here's a link that may work: History Detectives - Exercise Records

AND

the webpage that helped get it started: Exercising to the REAL oldies!

Pharmacognosy

(c) 1984 The Animating Apothecary

(c) 1988 The Animating Apothecary

Graphic explanations for how we get drugs from natural sources.  I'm animating the one with the fish.  The Piscean in me!!

Slide Show Experiment

Random drawings from the past several years....

Conscience in the Drug Industry?

copyright (c) 2001 The Animating Apothecary

More Animal Pun Fun!



copyright (c) 2009, The Animating Apothecary



copyright (c) 2009, The Animating Apothecary

Illustration compilation at lulu press.  Here's the link:  http://ar.gy/3UB9



So....when is a generic drug not a generic drug? When it's a BRAND NAME drug!

Two examples of companies selling the exact same drug as a "brand" and a "generic" at the same time, at vastly different prices!
Press Here for the Youtube video I built....

Just in case this doesn't upload proper-like....

Pharmacists Never Retire....




"Oh that's just Charley. He died five years ago but
nobody's had the heart to tell him."
copyright (c) 1994, The Animating Apothecary

  When I graduated in 1978, I was given a diploma, and with a hearty handshake from the Dean for Pharmacy, was told the Secret Of The Profession: "You'll never retire, and it's all aspirin."

Illustration compilation at lulu press.  Here's the link:  http://ar.gy/3UB9

Explaining the Immune System

copyright (c) 1996, Jim Middleton, Animating Apothecary

OK, this really means something.  Not sure what, but it means something.  All right, since you asked nicely, this is an example of antigens attaching to Immune Globulin E, which then locks into a mast cell causing the release of histamine which then leads to vasodilation of nasal capillaries, ultimately causing rhinitis secondary to allergies.  Either that, or I watched 2001 just once too often.....

Pharmacy Trolls - collect the set!

I enjoy documenting the more entertaining visitors to the retail realm.  Sometimes the calendar drawings create themselves - this is something I overheard during a diabetes consult, and the customer didn't leave before requesting some iodine and Sudafed.  Fifteen minutes later he came back in and asked again - when we told him he was just here, he "thought the place looked familiar."

Another cartoon from The Archives

From the 1994 Uncle Stan Calendar.

Copyright (c) 1993 The Animating Apothecary

How the Calendars Began....

I drew a series of cartoons for a coloring book that never "came to fruition" as they say in the trade.  Not  being one to throw things away, I put the first dozen drawings to use, and before you could say "1984" the first Uncle Stan Pharmacy Calendar was born. 

"Oh by the way - this medication may cause drowsiness, blurring of vision, urinary retention,
some dementia syndromes, gastric ulceration, renal and cardiovascular
collapse, myocardial infarctions, Paget's Disease, impotence, and almost
certain death...that'll be $8.50"

                                                     

Post #11 - And now, my aunt as well....

Big Rapids – Pauline Leone (Middleton) Hicks, of Big Rapids, passed away on Sunday July 3, 2011, at Mecosta County Medical Center.  Pauline was born in Detroit on June 30, 1930, the daughter of James G. and Viola (Kotke)Middleton. She graduated from Big Rapids High School in 1948 and attended Ferris Institute in the fall of 1948-49 in the School of Business. Pauline started working at Ferris in January of 1964 and retired after 28 ½ of service in the Housing Office. She was a devoted member of the First United Methodist Church since 1948. For many years she loved playing golf at Falcon Head with her women’s morning league. She met with her Big Rapids High School classmates almost every Saturday at Szot’s for lunch. Pauline loved to socialize and exercise. She was a member of PT Plus, Big Rapids Senior Recreation and TOPS. She was an avid world traveler and was known in her later years as Traveling Grandma.  Pauline is survived by her three children; Peggy Leone Congleton (George Fox) of San Diego, CA, Deborah Ann (Dennis) Knopf of Big Rapids, and Daniel James (Connie) Hicks of Fort Myers Beach, FL, her grandchildren and great grandchildren, Jason (Megan) Knopf and their two children, Jake and Kayleigh of Big Rapids, Scott (Lisa) Knopf and their two children, Alexandria and Carter of Davison, MI, Christopher Congleton of Davis, CA, Patrick Hicks of Fort Myers Beach, FL, and Candice Hicks (Kyle) Ballard and their two children, Carina and Blake of Cape Coral, FL, her younger sister Barbara (John) Foust of Big Rapids, sister –in-law Irma Middleton of Six Lakes, MI, plus many nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents, one brother, Harry Middleton, and a grand daughter, Stacy Ann Knopf. Pauline was the sweetest Mom, grandmother and GG (greatgrandmother) who will be dearly missed by all.  A Memorial Service was held 11:00 a.m. Friday July 8, 2011 at the First United Methodist Church of Big Rapids, with Pastor Becky Morrison officiating. Visitation was Thursday July 7, 2011, from 6-8 p.m. at the Mohnke Funeral Home in Big Rapids.  Memorial contributions may be made to the First United Methodist Church or the American Macular Degeneration Foundation.

And to add to the unexpected nature of her passing, I just got a greeting card from her yesterday, the 5th....

A Quiet Moment from 1989

Sometimes the most ordinary moments can be the most memorable.  So save those videos! Now that we can do nonlinear editing, we can condense the past and create our own world... 22 years in the making... woosh!

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0D7sXvuhxiM