--- Edward Allen
 

Lincoln, Me. (DG)---

During the years of radio’s golden age, Dr. Lyon’s was a top selling brand of tooth powder.  For many years, it did its job in putting off the purchase of false teeth, while it cleaned and brightened the natural teeth of the product’s users to a glistening white.

Dr. Lyon’s will be remembered for its long time sponsorship of 2 popular and long running radio programs, the serial BACKSTAGE WIFE and the musical program MANHATTAN MERRY-GO-ROUND.  On these programs, the commercials were low key and to the point.  While the commercials were unassuming in nature, there was also a "do as you’re told" type of attitude--- in a nice way, of course! As an example, I’ll use a commercial heard on a 1936 broadcast of BACKSTAGE WIFE.

Announcer Edward Allen opened the commercial on how people with whiter, brighter teeth went further ahead with jobs and romance than people who had dull teeth.  He mentioned all listeners (with teeth) could also have whiter, brighter teeth--- all they had to do was to clean their teeth the same way as their dentist--- by using tooth powder.  Of course, since the commercial was in behalf of Dr. Lyon’s, Allen stated the powder the listeners should be using on their teeth was Dr. Lyon’s.  Oddly, Allen mentioned Dr. Lyon’s by name only once--- and that was at the latter stage of the commercial.  It was the "Do As Your Dentist Does" that was the main focus of the commercial.

In later years, the creator of Dr. Lyon’s Tooth Powder (believed to be Dr. J. W. Lyon) got a plug in the "Do As Your Dentist Does" commercials--- although his name wasn’t mentioned on the air.  On the December 7, 1941 broadcast of MANHATTAN MERRY-GO-ROUND, announcer Ford Bond stated that "a well known practicing dentist" developed Dr. Lyon’s.  Little did the good doctor know when he created his tooth powder that it would protect the teeth of millions of people for the next 75 years (up to 1941 when the commercial was originally aired).

As the 1940’s progressed, more and more people were taking their dentist’s advice seriously, because Dr. Lyon’s was the #1 brand of tooth powder sold in the United States.

The "Do As Your Dentist Does" ad campaign served Dr. Lyon’s purpose, but it was phased out in favor of commercials stating Dr. Lyon’s was America’s #1 tooth powder.  Of course, more dentists still recommended Dr. Lyon’s as before.

The "Do As Your Dentist Does" commercials of the 1930’s and early 1940’s might be a little bossy with the radio listeners, but for those people who wanted to keep their teeth intact for a lifetime, they didn’t mind a product and its commercials telling them what to do.