Geritol

Geritol is the name of an American vitamin and mineral supplement.

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The name is derived from the root "geri-", meaning old (as in "geriatrics") with the "i" for iron. The product has been promoted from almost the beginning of the mass media era as a cure for "iron-poor tired blood". In the early 20th century, many medical doctors and other health professionals felt that much of the tiredness often associated with old age was due to iron deficiency anemia. This theory was later discredited, but Geritol was already well known and continued to be marketed, in both original liquid form and in tablets.

In the early days of television the marketing of Geritol was involved in the quiz show scandal, as the sponsor of Twenty-One. After that, for many years Geritol was largely marketed on television programs that appealed primarily to older viewers, such as The Lawrence Welk Show, Hee Haw, and Ted Mack's Original Amateur Hour.

Geritol was originally manufactured by the J. B. Williams Co., which was founded in 1885 and bought out by Nabisco in 1971. The product is now owned by the multinational pharmaceutical firm GlaxoSmithKline.

Trivia

Geritol and its advertising were the inspiration for the Vitameatavegamin commercial in the classic I Love Lucy episode Lucy Does a TV Commercial. The liquid Geritol tonic contained alcohol (and still does) and in the episode Lucy gets drunk after sampling the product during rehearsals.

In the 1970s, Geritol was famous for a series of commercials in which a man boasts of his wife's seemingly limitless energy and her many accomplishments, concluding, "My wife...I think I'll keep her." This was the inspiration for Mary Chapin Carpenter's 1992 hit, "He Thinks He'll Keep Her". [1]

American Country music artist George Jones sang a song called "I don't need your rockin' chair", the first line of the chorus being "I don't need your rockin' chair, your Geritol or your Medicare."

Martin Scorsese is in the cast of the movie Quiz Show, as Martin Rittenhome from Geritol that sponsors Twenty-One.

In the episode of Family Guy titled "Let's Go To The Hop", Peter Griffin thanks Geritol after learning that he not only lived long enough to see his daughter attend her first school dance, he was also escorting her to it.

In the song "You're Timeless To Me" from the musical version of "Hairspray", the characters of Edna and Wilbur sing about growing old. Edna sings a line "You'll wear a wig, while I roast a pig, Pass the Geritol!"

The name of a shot/mixer containing Grand Marnier and Red Bull energy drink.