4" x 2-3/4" new refrigerator photo magnet of the cover from a 1920s advertising pamphlet for a franchise of addiction treatment centers, the Keeley Institutte. "The Beautiful Romance of life never blooms in the morass liquor or drug addiction."
Features an illustration of a cured woman peacefully sewing on her porch, relaxed in a wicker rocker, rose-covered trellis nearby. Her child plays with a red rubber ball at her feet and a black cat sun bathes on the window sill.
The Keeley Institute was a group of hugely popular franchised facilities for treating addictions. The first was created in 1879 by Dr. Leslie E. Keeley (1832-1900) and John R. Oughton (1858-1925) in Dwight, Illinois. Eventually there were Keeley Institute facilities in many major U.S. cities. Key to the Keeley treatment was injections of bichloride, nicknamed "the Gold Cure." The injections consisted of gold, alcohol, and strychnine.
With its 50% success rate, the treatment was so highly thought of that for a time Minnesota offered a state-funded credit plan to help victims afford a stay at a Keeley institute. In addition to the injections, group therapy and community support were part of the program.