The Rexall Story: A History of Genius and Neglect

THE REXALL STORY: A HISTORY OF GENIUS AND NEGLECT covers the rise and fall of a pharmacy which became a name brand across the country before big business was a common name. Rexall was the brain child of genius Louis Liggett, who began the company in 1903. The Rexall name grew to become an accepted institution of families across the country until drug manufacturers entered the business and sunk them. Learn about not only Rexall's business and health importance, but about the marketing strategies and ideas that made it a respected name. Diane C. Donovan California Bookwatch

I remember the Rexall stores in the late Fifties, not here in Knoxville, but doted around in the small towns of Middle Tennessee. Louis Liggett started the company in Boston in 1903 and they compounded drugs back then, as aspirin was almost the only thing available in pill form. When I was in my young teen years, the only thing I could swallow was Carter's Little Liver Pills. I still can't get the generic Calcium down! The Rexall products were all high quality and inexpensive. Then the drug manufacturing companies came along and, after 75 years, put them out of business. That's why prescription medicines are so expensive today, and why we have to depend on them. The generics are worthless as far as I'm concerned as they are not regulated and not the same as brand names -- no way! If they were, they would cost more. Everyone knows you get what you pay for. On radio in 1937 there was a Rexall Magic Hour. In 1949, they presented the 'Phil Harris/Alice Faye Show.' It included a full cast with two young girl singers and ten men doing sundry things in addition to the two stars. Something like Garrison Keilor's 'Prairie Home Companion' show. In early television, NBC sponsored the half-hour program, 'The Rexall Theatre' on Sunday nights during the summer months which starred Pat O'Brian as your corner drug store pharmacist. The had a 'talking penny' in some of their ads. Comedian Louis Nye advertised their products on t.v. with the motto: "All for One and One for All." Edgar Bergen and his dummy, Charlie McCarthy, appeared on the cover of 'The Rexall Magazine.' The streamlined Rexall Train criscrossed the United States from Boston to L.A. and served most states (exceptions were Nevada and West Virginia) but skipped Knoxville for a route going from Chattanooga to Nashville to Memphis. We had the Southern and L & N railways for this area; the ticket shown was similar to mine every summer to Washington, D.C. on Southern Railway. We still have an active freight railroad in Knoxville, locally owned and making noise day and night. Sometimes, it wake me up as I sleep with my window open as I did in the old days. It works out of the old L & N terminal renovated for the 1982 World's Fair. In place of Rexall, we now have Walgreen's; the thing I dislike the most about this firm is the problem of "substituting" for the medicines your doctor prescribes -- not generic, but something totally different with unnecessary ingredients added. This could cause harm to a person's health. There are a handful of small locally owned drug stores, Long's in west side of town being the most popular. In Pulaski, Reeves's on the Square will still sell a nickel coke. Gregory Macdonald wrote about it in one of his books, A WORLD TOO WIDE. Check it out.