How to keep healthy, bright-eyed and slim

I remember that some years ago, there was a commonly available ointment called "Zam-Buk" - my granny would nearly always have a tin of it in the bathroom. It was a sort of green-coloured emollient that you could put on grazes or scratches. It used to come in tins that looked a bit like this:

The ointment is still marketed today in some other parts of the world, and you can still buy it here in Britain - except that it now comes in "heritage style" tins that mimic the original packaging of the late Victorian period. It turns out that Zam-Buk (the origin of the name is not quite clear) was produced by a company based in Leeds, called C E Fulford Ltd, established in the 1890s. By the 1950s, the factory was in Carlton Hill, just off Woodhouse Lane - however the building and almost everything around it was completely demolished in the 1960s. You can see a picture of it here.

My reason for mentioning this was that it brings me in a roundabout way to the fact that the Fulford company also marketed several other products - their other offerings included "Peps, for coughs, colds & bronchitis" and "Guy's Tonic, for indigestion and nerviousness."

Yet another product was Ven-Yusa, "the oxygen face cream". In an advertisement of 1917, the heading referred to "The Lady Conductor" and went on: "None of the War occupations of women call for more exposure to the elements than that of the lady conductor on tram or bus. Unless proper measures are promptly taken, a painful roughness and discolouration of the skin are bound to result." Well, whoever knew that being a clippie could be so hazardous! But never fear, because: "For this trouble, Ven-Yusa is the favourite application because it gives the skin an invigorating 'oxygen bath'."

If you are sensing a hint of late Victorian quackery at work in the background, you may have a point, as will be seen shortly. However, the particular product that I wanted to discuss here should be familiar to anyone living in York, and possibly quite a few of those who have visited. I refer, of course to "Bile Beans", another flagship product of the Fulford Company.

York's famous "Bile Beans" sign in Lord Mayor's Walk

This famous "ghost sign" was actually repainted by public subscription after the York Civic Trust raised £1,600 back in 2012. As a point of interest, I suspect that it probably dates from after the Second World War and possibly as late as the 1950s, since the style of the sign is consistent with the company's print advertising at that time; and who could forget the snappy injunction that Bile Beans - taken nightly, of course - keep you healthy, bright-eyed and slim.

There is a slightly darker history behind this, which has its origins back in the 1890s. Strange as it may seem now - even the name would probably be offputting to the modern customer - this was once a highly-popular and widely-advertised product. The Fulford Company was established by Charles Edward Fulford, a Canadian emigré born in 1870. By 1895, he was in Australia hawking around a medicinal concoction of questionable value, "Dr Williams' Pink Pills for Pale People" on behalf of his uncle, George Taylor Fulford. Working with a colleague, Ernest Gilbert, in 1897 he launched "Bile Beans for Biliousness", which proved so successful that in 1899 he came to Leeds to set up the manufacture and marketing of the same in Britain.

The back story behind the product - initially described as "Charles Forde's Bile Beans", was that Charles Forde, an Australian scientist, had scoured the outback for medicinal plants previously known only to the aborigines, before carefully distilling them into the formula for the incredible cure-all: bile beans. Unfortunately the reality was that "Charles Forde" was a figment of the imagination - except inasmuch as he was a thinly-disguised alter ego of Charles Fulford, who was neither Australian nor a scientist.

A great deal of money was spent on advertising: according to Wikipedia the company was spending as much as £60,000 (perhaps at least £5 million today) per annum on a whole variety of different forms of marketing, including wall signs, print advertising, door-to-door leaflets, free gifts, the "Bile Beans Cookbook" and later on a "Bile Beans Puzzle Book".  In fact, even as late as the 1950s, advertisements seem to have been widespread - for example, there are records of several "Bile Beans" signs in Leeds around that period. One of these, in Hunslet, still survives:

The 'other' Bile Beans sign in Hunslet, Leeds

Advertising blurb often contained anecdotes, endorsements and purported scientific research, such as "The Verdict of Science on Bile Beans" (an article from 1907), proclaiming: " 'We have satisfied ourselves that Bile Beans are of purely vegetable origin,' says that leading London scientific journal, 'Science Siftings.' 'Our laboratory experiments and practical tests have disclosed to us a valuable preparation... excellent for constipation and as a regulator of the liver and bile.' "

The verdict of the somewhat better-known "British Medical Journal" contrasted rather sharply with this: in an article entitled "Patent Medicines" of December 26th 1903, the ingredients were shown to be a concoction of items commonly found in chemists' shops of the time. The laxative effect was real enough due to the presence of aloin, though it would not now be considered safe due to its side effects. The article warned: "It would not be unfair to describe most of the preparations of the patent medicine vendors as quack remedies. The chief means by which patent medicines were found to succeed is persistent and audacious advertisement."

The company ran into trouble in 1905 after taking legal action against a chemist called George Davidson of Edinburgh, who started producing his own product called "Davidson's Bile Beans." The official records of the case note that: "The advertisements of the Bile Bean Company stated that the basis of their Bile Beans was an Australian herb discovered by Charles Forde, an eminent scientist. These statements and others in the advertisements were false." Lord Ardwall, the judge, stated: "There is no doubt in my mind that their business is based on fraud, impudence and advertisement." In the appeal case of the following year, Lord Kingsburgh the Lord Justice Clerk was even more explicit: "I agree with the Lord Ordinary [Lord Ardwall] in holding that the Complainers being engaged in perpetrating a deliberate fraud on the public, in describing and selling an article as being what it is not, cannot be listened to when they apply to a Court of Justice for Protection."

Despite this setback, it seems the public's enthusiasm for "Bile Beans" was scarcely dimmed. However, Charles Fulford did not enjoy the proceeds of his enterprise for very long - he died suddenly aged just 36 on a return visit to Australia, with "exhaustion" as the stated cause, leaving, by all accounts, an enormous fortune. At this point, his elder brother Frank Harris Fulford stepped in and took charge of the firm.

The Bile Bean March

This brings me to one of the Fulford Company's less orthodox forms of advertising. Frank Fulford's true interest in life was music - he was an accomplished viola player, having studied in Leipzig, and who was working as a music dealer in Canada. In 1898, he composed a jaunty piece called "The Bile Bean March", which could be obtained free by sending a letter of request to the Fulford Company's headquarters. The true objective, of course, was to obtain an address to which subsequent exhortations on the value of "Bile Beans" and other products could be sent.

A letter to the British Medical Journal from E P Edmonds of Aylesford near Maidstone in 1966 stated: "The account [referring to an article in a previous issue] of the piano teacher addicted to 'Bile Beans', prompted me to take a look at one of my prized possessions - a copy of the 'Bile Bean March'." The letter goes on to point out that "this moving melody has been 'rendered with immense success by leading artists & orchestras throughout Great Britain' [as stated on the front].

"Before propping this sheet on the piano we can read on the first page of 'One of the most miraculous cures of the century.'

" 'When ten doctors and infirmary staff have failed to do any good; when for four long years a young woman has been gradually sinking, when her own mother by sheer force of circumstances had to abandon all hope, nay, to go further and actually prepare her daughter's grave clothes, and in her mind to select the bearers for the last solemn ceremony, then it will be admitted such a case looks about as black as it possibly could.'

"Black indeed! But this young lady, Miss Annie Brook, was recommended Charles Forde's Bile Beans for Biliousness, and after taking five boxes she was completely cured. In a legally sworn statement she tells us that, 'My mother used to feel at me every five minutes to see if I was dead, for the doctors said I might go off at any minute'."

I have, courtesy of the National Library of Australia's online archive, managed to obtain a copy of "The Bile Bean March". As far as I can make out, there is no online recording of this piece anywhere. The full piece goes on for five pages, but I am able to present what is very possibly the internet premiere of the first movement of this piece below:

Frank Fulford went on to contribute much to the cultural life of the city of Leeds. In 1909, he moved into Headingley Castle (the building still stands but has now been converted into flats), and during his time there collected many pictures and interesting artefacts, and a fine collection of sheet music. Later on, he served for some years on the council's Art Gallery committee, and donated many items from his collections, including his sheet music which remains at Leeds University Library to this day. He died in 1943, still leaving a considerable fortune. It appears his personal generosity and good nature were well thought of in his lifetime and afterwards, but his true opinions on the nature of the remedies that brought him so much wealth are not recorded.

How to keep healthy, bright-eyed and slim

Personally, my advice would be:
1. Get your morning off to a good start by playing the invigorating strains of  the "Bile Bean March" on your piano.*
2. Stay well away from "Bile Beans" and other products of dubious medicinal value.

* Alternatively, you could enjoy listening to this ukulele ensemble from York, whose logo seems to have a distinct passing similarity to the iconic "Bile Beans" sign!