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Author Topic: Dr. Berry's Freckle Cream  (Read 661909 times)

Joe Cerniglia

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Re: Dr. Berry's Freckle Cream
« Reply #480 on: February 09, 2013, 08:09:50 PM »

Common ingredients may be noted between the 2 products Dreskin and Italian Balm

Dreskin ingredients :
F. D. & C. Color
Essential Oils
Glycerine
Boric acid
Methyl parasept
Alcohol

from Marion Gleason, Clinical Toxicology of Commercial Products, 1957


Ingredients list for Campana’s Italian Balm :
Essential oils
Alcohol
Phenol
Benzoic Acid
Gum Tragacanth
Glycerin
Sorbitol

from Marion Gleason, Clinical Toxicology of Commercial Products, 1957

I suspect that when the test results from Dreskin are in, they may show a match for lanolin (oil of lanolin could be an "essential oil") and maybe some others.  However, Gum Tragacanth is a tie-breaker.  It was not listed for Dreskin.  It was found in Italian Balm, and it was found on the artifact.

Joe Cerniglia
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Joe Cerniglia

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Re: Dr. Berry's Freckle Cream
« Reply #481 on: February 10, 2013, 07:30:14 AM »

Here are some images of the 1934 bottle of Campana Dreskin.  In the first image, Dreskin front.jpg, note the white blob floating at the top.  I have never seen the "flakey white residue/accretion from the bottom of the bottle" described by Dr. Jennifer Mass in her initial 2007 report on artifact 2-8-s-2a, but the blob does appear flakey, and it's certainly white.

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« Last Edit: February 10, 2013, 11:33:49 AM by Joe Cerniglia »
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Joe Cerniglia

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Re: Dr. Berry's Freckle Cream
« Reply #482 on: February 10, 2013, 07:35:18 AM »

Here are a few more images from the Campana Dreskin 1934 bottle.

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Joe Cerniglia

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Re: Dr. Berry's Freckle Cream
« Reply #483 on: February 10, 2013, 07:42:49 AM »

Here is the last set of images I have from the 1934 bottle of Campana Dreskin.  The base dimensions are a good 1/4 inch smaller than the artifact's base dimensions.  I don't have the exact dimensions handy, but it's obviously smaller. Perhaps this bottle was for a trial size.

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Joe Cerniglia

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Re: Dr. Berry's Freckle Cream
« Reply #484 on: February 10, 2013, 03:16:29 PM »

I was browsing YouTube the other day and noticed the Oklahoma Historical Society had posted a new Earhart video, apparently not before widely available.  Moving image archivist Corey Ayers, while in the process of converting OHS film stock to high-definition, relates the story of coming across the film, which can be viewed here. It had been privately owned by an Oklahoma family named Colcord.  The film shows AE after landing her Pitcairn PCA-2 autogiro in an Oklahoma prairie in 1931.  She heads into what appears to be a tin shack and is then seen chatting with men in straw boater hats while preparing to take off again.  Could be just me, but I think 1:13 to 1:16 is interesting.  Maybe you can take a look and see.  Mirror, drink of water, jar perhaps?  The link above relates pilots of these contraptions had notorious sunburn problems, so a skin cream seems contextually "proper" at least.  The object seems a reflective thing with some depth to it.  Tantalizing, but probably beyond the reach of our speculation or skills.  I've ordered the hi-res version for a closer look. Regardless, the film is an interesting aviation history find about a less well-known part of Earhart's history, her short-lived flying career with the Pitcairn PCA-2 autogiro, a forerunner of the modern helicopter.

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Joe Cerniglia

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Re: Dr. Berry's Freckle Cream
« Reply #485 on: February 11, 2013, 05:10:37 AM »

Here's an interesting historical curiosity, a newspaper article out of Texas on July 11, 1937 claims Amelia Earhart used a "tallow preparation" to relieve sunburn.  It was given to AE as a gift from a host during her autogiro cross-country trip in 1931.  Also of interest are the contemporaneous post-loss comments about her fate.  One person states, "I don't know how many coral islands there are in the Pacific Ocean, but I'll betcha that if there's one, Amelia found it."

The small band of researchers who are following up on the cosmetics angle will find it interesting. Those in between who have followed the hyped news accounts may be surprised to learn that this is the first secondhand account I've found stating Earhart used any kind of preparation for her skin. We know of her freckles, her concern with sunburn and with her overall appearance. The biographers agree these are not in doubt. We're pretty sure from photographic evidence and news accounts she brought a compact on the world flight. What we lack is something a little more substantial in the way of showing what else she was doing with her skin.

Newspaper accounts seem to me the hidden trove in this research.  No one has read them all, much less connected all the dots.  If there's a photo or a stray quotation that reveals more along this line of research, the newspaper accounts are where that find is most likely to turn up, in my opinion.

Due to apparent size limitations of the website, I will attach the article in 4 posts. 

Joe Cerniglia
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« Last Edit: February 11, 2013, 06:17:35 AM by Joe Cerniglia »
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Joe Cerniglia

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Re: Dr. Berry's Freckle Cream
« Reply #486 on: February 11, 2013, 05:11:45 AM »

part 2 of Abilene Texas news article

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Joe Cerniglia

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Re: Dr. Berry's Freckle Cream
« Reply #487 on: February 11, 2013, 05:12:46 AM »

part 3 of Abilene Texas news article

The first attachment of this post is where the tallow preparation is mentioned.

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« Last Edit: February 11, 2013, 07:44:47 AM by Joe Cerniglia »
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Joe Cerniglia

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Re: Dr. Berry's Freckle Cream
« Reply #488 on: February 11, 2013, 05:13:48 AM »

part 4 of Abilene Texas news article

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william patterson

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Re: Dr. Berry's Freckle Cream
« Reply #489 on: February 11, 2013, 07:17:45 AM »

Good work Joe. I didn't read the part of a "sunburn Tallow", so maybe that wasnt scanned?
It wouldn't surprise me in the least if she was worried about sunburn, as anyone staring at the sun for
hours might get burned. A pilot or fisherman would fit as potential users of a sun screen product.
With that said, of course it is a leap to assume some of Earhart's sunburn cream(or freckle cream) is the jar(s) found.
Anyone on a south pacific island of European origin might rightly be concerned of sunburn, the same as today if visiting the
beach and everyone is lathering on sun screen.
It's all interesting, and a part of the puzzle, but still a long way from putting it in Earharts plane as you know.
Until a plane part is on deck, it's all going to be puzzle parts no doubt.

It seems apparent that there is still indecision and uncertainty if dresden or campana balm was found as the bottles don't fit the known artifact, or that the so called freckle cream jar was even freckle cream let again a particular brand.
This is still a work in progress as you are providing now.

What does concern me is articles like this one at History.com
http://www.history.com/news/what-happened-to-amelia-9-tantalizing-theories-about-the-earhart-disappearance?cmpid=INT_Outbrain_HITH_HIS&obref=obnetwork

The reporter states that not only was freckle cream found, but a freckle cream product was found that
was quote "preferred" by Earhart.
Clearly this is a gross misrepresentation of the known facts.
1.We don't know Tighar found a freckle cream jar(or for that matter Campana balm or Dresden)
2.We certainly do not know if any particular product was preferred by Earhart. Though it does make for a more juicy story.

Perhaps these over aggressive writers are how stories take on a life of their own and your own work and Tighar's becomes expanded into historical realms not supported by Evidence.
While you can in no way write the articles, perhaps you can submit corrections to History.com as they are found in error?
They do ask for corrections from readers if fact checking is found in error.
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Joe Cerniglia

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Re: Dr. Berry's Freckle Cream
« Reply #490 on: February 11, 2013, 08:58:49 AM »

Yes. I agree with your sentiments on the over-hyping reporters.  Since first these sort of exaggerated accounts made their appearance, I have come to appreciate that those who too much play up a story are as detrimental to its reasoned consideration and analysis as those who seek by any means to shoot it down.  Both are distortions, and a disservice to TIGHAR's researchers, who require years in some cases to ferret out the information they painstakingly collect.  While I think it impractical to address every media distortion back to its authors, the case of the History Channel you've provided is particularly notable. They presumably should have had the means at their disposal to have done better research.  I will write to them in the next few days.

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Ric Gillespie

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Re: Dr. Berry's Freckle Cream
« Reply #491 on: February 11, 2013, 09:38:00 AM »

I have come to appreciate that those who too much play up a story are as detrimental to its reasoned consideration and analysis as those who seek by any means to shoot it down.

Very true.  Media over-enthusiasm is a problem but misstatements and distortions are just as common in articles that are critical of TIGHAR.  (Of course, the naysayers are less eager to have those corrected.) With print and broadcast media you can gripe after the fact, but you can't un-ring a bell.  Television documentaries seldom re-edit and magazines almost never print corrections - and if they do, few people pay any attention to them. On-line news can be more easily corrected but there no way to send an "oops" message to all the people who read the faulty version.

In the end, it's best to heed the old saying, "Don't believe everything you read in the newspaper."
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Joe Cerniglia

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Re: Dr. Berry's Freckle Cream
« Reply #492 on: February 16, 2013, 10:32:08 AM »

Anyone on a south pacific island of European origin might rightly be concerned of sunburn, the same as today if visiting the
beach and everyone is lathering on sun screen.

Maybe. The island has harsh sunlight as anyone there could attest. We now know UV light from sun exposure is harmful to the skin.  Did they know it then?  If so, did they care and could they do anything about it?  William H. and Nancy K. Young in their book "World War II and the Postwar Years in America" (p. 687) say:
"In the 1940s, a good visible tan, the darker the better, represented robust health. (Emphasis is in the original text.) The notion of staying out of the sun because of its long-term injurious effects remained for future generations to discover.  In light of the positive attitudes tanning elicited, Miami-based pharmacist Benjamin Green in 1944 introduced a lotion designed to enhance (i.e., darken) one's tan.  He called his product Coppertone, and he placed the image of an Indian chief on the label with the slogan, 'Don't be a Paleface.'

"Not until 1953 did Green's company create the iconic Coppertone Girl for its advertising....

"In addition, Green reputedly concocted a primitive sunscreen lotion around this time. U.S. troops stationed in the South Pacific suffered from excessive exposure to the tropical sun, and welcomed Red Vet Pet (for Red Veterinary Petroleum), a red, greasy salve that probably blocked some rays if applied heavily enough. But the day for true sunscreens still lay in the years ahead." (Red Vet Pet was, so far as I can tell, sold in tubes, not glass bottles.)

When set against the context of contemporaneous attitudes to sun exposure, Amelia Earhart's off-the-cuff remarks in the Omaha World-Herald for Oct. 11, 1928 are surprising, and seem ahead of their time: "How do you prevent sunburn and keep that lovely complexion?" Miss Earhart wanted to know. "I get so burned and tanned that I'm sometimes ashamed of my weather-beaten appearance."

The 1937 Abilene Reporter News article cited earlier, wherein AE is said to have accepted a skin preparation from strangers for sunburn, repeats this theme.

What sort of product would an American in 1937 be using if that American thought the sun was, rather than a means to good health, a means to a "weather-beaten" complexion.  If it's a sunscreen you need, you're out of luck.  The best one could do would be to buy products that relieved the symptoms after the fact.  By coincidence, both Dr. Berry's Freckle Ointment and Campana Italian Balm claimed exactly that relief, as can be ascertained by reading the labels on the products from the attached photo.

Tuvaluans and i-Kiribati colonists, British overseers and Coast Guardsmen would seem unlikely candidates for these types of sensitivities, and even if they were, if Berry and Campana are the products they used to address them, we're stuck with the fact that both products have American women pictured prominently on their labels.

I would grant that we probably can't know what the artifact bottles contained, in the sense we can know Nikumaroro had Tuvaluans, and one can always imagine undocumented products as well as undocumented events that could bring them to that place and time.  It's simply part of a circumstantial case that I happen to find compelling enough to research.

Joe Cerniglia
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C.W. Herndon

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Re: Dr. Berry's Freckle Cream
« Reply #493 on: February 16, 2013, 10:57:45 AM »

Joe, here is a picture of at least some of the Coast Guard men stationed on Niku in 1944. While a few of the men have apparently worn some type of clothing to protect themselves from the sun it appears that most of them have gone for that dark, sun tanned look.
Woody (former 3316R)
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« Last Edit: February 16, 2013, 12:14:17 PM by C.W. Herndon »
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Ric Gillespie

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Re: Dr. Berry's Freckle Cream
« Reply #494 on: February 16, 2013, 11:14:57 AM »

The suggestion that a Pacific Islander on Nikumaroro in the 1930s or '40s would use any kind of skin care product is ludicrous. 
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