Fake spit?

• Author: Kaelble, Steve
• Position: Entertainer's Secret Inc. manufactures synthetic saliva to relieve dry, scratchy throats

An Indiana company supplies synthetic saliva to the entertainment industry.

When Paula Abdul needs some spit, she calls Indiana. So do the Beach Boys. And Dolly Parton, and Eric Clapton, and Kenny Rogers and a host of other stars.

They call to order some more Entertainer's Secret, an Indiana product that comes to the rescue when their voices feel like quitting. It relieves their throats when they get dry and scratchy, putting back the moisture that usually lubricates the larynx. The throat's natural moisture can dry up when voices get the kind of workout that entertainers give them, and the stars frequently have need for an artificial moisture supplement. Entertainer's Secret is just that, kind of like spit in a bottle.

Well, not exactly, says Gordon Schmitz. He's president of Carmel-based Entertainer's Secret Inc., which is owned by investors that include the Indianapolis advertising agency Montgomery Zukerman Davis Inc. Schmitz knows that Entertainer's Secret is a bit different from spit, because his company started out making artificial spit as well.

Schmitz, a pharmacist, was in his third decade at Eli Lilly & Co. when he got into an unusual conversation with a dentist friend. "He said that the world needs a synthetic saliva. My first reaction was that that's kind of a dumb idea, and kind of gross," Schmitz says. But he began to be intrigued by the notion, and did some research. He found that his friend was right. There are a number of medical applications for a saliva supplement; patients often need it after surgery or certain kinds of radiation treatment.

So Schmitz got started with his new product in 1980. About five years later, he heard from a physician in the country music capital of Nashville, Tenn. This doctor treated a lot of stars, and a frequent complaint they cited was a dry, scratchy throat. The doctor discovered that Schmitz's product could help, but...