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SPECTACLE CHARLATAN [1 record]

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Record 1 2002-01-04

English

Subject field(s)
  • Festivals, Carnivals and Social Events
  • Anecdotal History
  • Sociology of Medicine
DEF

A traveling troupe, esp. in the late 1800's offering entertainment in order to attract customers for the patent medicines of purported cures profered for sale.

CONT

P. Clifford Sifton, the Minister of the Interior from 1896 to 1905, was the driving force behind the greatest immigration scheme in Canadian history. Through his efforts, the Department of the Interior distributed tens of thousands of pamphlets similar to this 30-page atlas on western Canada. The atlas describes the opportunities and the free homesteads that were available for prospective immigrants in western Canada. The style is flamboyant and spectacular - not to mention overstated - and had some similarities to a travelling "medicine show."

French

Domaine(s)
  • Festivals, carnavals et fêtes
  • Histoire anecdotique
  • Sociologie de la médecine
OBS

boniment : Annonce orale faite à l'entrée d'un lieu de spectacle (baraque foraine, salle de cinéma muet, etc.) visant par son pittoresque et la faconde de celui qui la fait à susciter l'intérêt public.

OBS

charlatan : Marchand ambulant qui, après avoir débité un boniment, vendait des drogues, arrachait les dents, etc., sur les places publiques et dans les foires.

Spanish

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