Something About Whistles, Winks, and Wildroot

Heir apparent.

I thought I'd dive back into our archives and pull out another discussion about The House with a Clock in its Walls (1973).  This one is about product placement, of sorts.  Before the reader ever gets to know Lewis and realize the greatness he will soon perform, we know he has greased his hair down to keep it in place with Wildroot Cream Oil [3].

The SlickVille website explains how in the 1920s and through the 50s, "the standard haircut for young boys was a sharp part, short sides, and a small wave in the front held in place with lots of hair tonic."

This makes sense, as one would have a hard time picturing Lewis with a ducktail or butch cut. Yeah, that’s it – Lewis is a greaser. Anyone ever use any of these tonics in their own hair? Anyone have any hair-raising stories to share from using them? And I suppose if you did, you wouldn't have a "hair-raising" story.  But I digress.  (Let us not be silly.)

In its heyday Wildroot sponsored radio’s The Adventures of Sam Spade (1946-50) airing on CBS and later NBC; they also sponsored the radio program, Twenty Questions in the early 1950s. One wonders how often these programs were listened to by Lewis, or even Bellairs, for that matter.  After all, the author would have been in junior high and high school about this time.

The Wildroot Hair Tonic factory building stood on Bailey Avenue in Buffalo, New York, and ForgottenBuffalo.com shares some of the local history:

Wildroot Hair Tonic was introduced in Buffalo in 1911 with the trademark "Wildroot" registered in 1932. The company was locally owned and operated until 1959 when purchased by the Colgate-Palmolive Co. for $10.5 million dollars.

Knowing how timid and frightened young Mr. Barnavelt would become, I'm thankful he never wiped his hands through his hair when he gets scared or tongue-tied. Talk about greasy kid stuff.

Now here's a poorly dated commercial.