Lately I’ve been enjoying finding vintage pictures and
newspaper ads relating to dieting and exercise. It just reinforces that whether it be for weight loss, appearance
or health it is not a new concept to keep oneself fit.
So let’s visit the 1930’s …
Mature women in the 30’s may have been born into a time when
corsets and bustles were still the norm, but that all changed in the 20’s with
the “flapper era” when the ideal woman’s figure was almost boyish. This look carried through to the 30’s when
dress styles were very sleek and hips almost non-existent.
And, actresses like Barbara Stanwyck began
wearing pants, another look that required a slim and sleek silhouette.
No wonder a manual extolling the virtues of exercising away
you curves would have been printed.
The “Hollywood machine” was also in full swing, pumping out
starlets with the same body types. They
even made it look glamorous to work out.
Imagine wearing high heels on a treadmill?
As Hollywood goes – so goes the populace and exercise
classes were held for working ladies.
These gals look like they just dropped in on their lunch hour to
exercise in their office wear, complete with hats.
Exercise classes were in full swing. This picture from the Bounds Green School in
London shows the Class of 1933 doing their slimming exercises.
Even the Arsenol Soccer Team got into the act with the
demonstration of the new “Gymo Frame”.
No doubt the precursor to the current day “Bowflex” all in one exercise
machine.
When sports teams and athletes use machines it soon becomes
available for public consumption as well.
Here is a woman using the “Fat Buster”.
It doesn’t look like any exercise is actually required on this machine
though … probably another one of those that supposedly “does the work for
you”. Even then!
And of course, when fitness and exercise is not your cup of
tea, there were always the snake oil salesmen around to promise miracles in the
form of a pill. Although they were
giving away “Barrels and barrels of free samples” it still cost you $1 to place
your order. That’s about $13.54 in 2014
currency. EVEN THEN!!
This last picture is here just because it tickled my funny
bone. “DOs and DON’Ts FOR HUSBANDS AND
WIVES” gives you some advice from days gone by. My favorite is “DON’T let your husband wear a violet tie with grass-green
socks. If he is unhappily devoid of the
color sense, he must be forcibly restrained”.
I chuckle, but in my opinion the advice on the “For Husbands”
side of the page still holds strong today!
