also known as "Lily the Pink" (Roud number 8368). There is no definitive version, but one variant is known to have been in existence by the time of World War I (when it is ascribed to Canadian soldiers). Drinking songs describing the humorous invigorating effects of some food or medicine form are widespread, and the fact that Pinkham's medicine was marketed for "female complaints" made it especially vulnerable to ribald fantasies about what it might cure. A further reason that a humble women's tonic could become the subject of such a song – and an increasing success in the twenties and early thirties – was its availability as a 40 proof drink during the Prohibition era. A sanitized version, "Lily the Pink", was a number one hit for The Scaffold in the United Kingdom in 1968/69. The Irish Rovers also released the Scaffold version of the song in 1969, on the album Tales to Warm Your Mind and, as a single, it reached the Top 30 on the US Billboard charts. The song was successfully adapted into French in 1969 by Richard Anthony, humorously describing the devastating effects of a so-called "panacée" (universal medicine). Other In the film The Cameraman (1928), when Buster (Buster Keaton) shows Sally Richards' (Marceline Day) tintype portrait to a doorman asking for her identity, he sarcastically replies "Maybe it's Lydia Pinkham." In the film The Penguin Pool Murder (1932), crime sleuth Hildegarde Withers teases an office secretary about putting on too much make-up, to which the girl sarcastically retorts "Okay, Lydia Pinkham." In the film Footlight Parade (1933), Nan (played by Joan Blondell) retorts to a dubious claim "And I'm Lydia Pinkham." In the "Lovely But Lethal" episode of Columbo (1973), the Lieutenant says to the owner of a cosmetic company (played by Vera Miles) "You're like Lydia Pinkham." In Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale (1985), Aunt Lydia is named after Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound (as all Aunts are named after house supply or pharmaceutical brands). Notes References Further reading External links Historic Lydia Pinkham building official site Lydia Estes Pinkham (1819–1883) from Harvard University Open Collections, Women Working 1800-1930 Herbs Used by 19th Century Eclectic Physicians to treat Female Genito-Urinary Conditions Brinker, Francis. A comparative review of eclectic female regulators. Journal of Naturopathic Medicine, Winter, 1997, Vol. 7, (1), pp. 11–26. Lydia Pinkham Herbal Compound by Numark Labs Advertisement for Lydia E. Pinkham's