Throwback Thursday: Don't Know What to Do With Dad? Drug Him!

How do you calm grandpa down when he gets in one of his moods? Well, in the 1950s, you cooled him out with some heavy-duty amphetamines. This 1959 magazine ad heralded the wonder drug Thorazine, a failed malaria cure later found to have major sedative effects. This ad also marked the start of the age when consumers began expecting cures for nearly anything from a pill bottle. In fact, later ads for Thorazine promised more than just peace for the cantankerous elderly, but relief from pain, anxiety, insomnia, stress, mania, menopause and even alcoholism.