| NY York Times Review |
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The Moxie Mystique Book Review by Ray Walters -- New York Times THE MOXIE MYSTIQUE, by Frank N. Potter. (Donning Co., Norfolk, VA., $5.95.) If your memories reach further back than World War II, they probably include the poster reproduced above (not shown), showing a finger-pointing druggist directing you to "Drink Moxie." No matter what your age, you've certainly heard the expression "lots of Moxie" used to connote the possession of an abundance of pep and nerve. The pharmacist and his prescription advertised a soft drink that was America's favorite refresher north of the Mason-Dixon line long before that section was invaded by Georgia's Coca-Cola. Even today, Moxie is manufactured and widely sold in New England. This book, a labor of love by a professional antiquarian, is a grand jumble of Moxie memorabilia - -facts, anecdotes and pictures that have bubbled up in the course of the soft drink's 108-year history. Pleasingly nostalgic are its accounts of the posters, songs, phonograph records, vehicles bearing mounted horsemen and other gimmicks that were used to promote the drink during its heyday. For instance, there's the World War I song that ran; "She took him to her parlor. She cooled him with her fan. She wispered in her Mother's ear. 'I love the Moxie Man.'" Reprint from: New York Times Book Review - March 7, 1982 |