The Brooklyn Eagle - a newspaper I believed had ceased publication a few months after publishing my grandfather's birth notice - just ran a very nice profile of Brooklyn native Angelo Siciliano, aka "Charles Atlas".
Bah! Charles Atlas was a phony. First, it's unlikely that Atlas' "dynamic tension" method was actually responsible for his physique - he probably worked out with weights. Thus he sold ineffective plans to tens of thousands of scrawny young guys who were desperately attempting to escape the curse of ectomorphism, which makes him a fraud. Second, Atlas was a misogynist. Unlike Bernarr McFadden, who predated Atlas as a fitness guru by twenty years, Atlas did not encourage women to lift weights and had retrograde opinions about women's capabilities and societal role. The Brooklyn Eagle quotes him as saying:
Our women are too selfish. Mothers going here and there, wearing pants like a man, showing their backsides to people. What is this? They should be home cooking real food and feeding their families instead of out showing their backsides.
Let us celebrate women's backsides, but not Charles Atlas.
...that it took all day to cook a meal? :lol: Also, until the invention of the low-slung jean, I can't see how women could wear trousers AND show their backsides at the same time. :0
Lingster
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When he was born...
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Super Administrator
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2007-10-31 08:56:51
In 1893, when he was born, it did take most of the afternoon to prepare dinner. Didn't you watch The 1900 House?
cpbell0033944
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How..
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Registered
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2007-10-31 14:37:25
did you know about that programme? :roll:
Yes, you're right, it did; it's just that, by the time women started wearing trousers, things had moved on
a bit. Seems that old Charlie was behind the times.
Lingster
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re: How..
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Super Administrator
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2007-10-31 15:18:11
cpbell0033944
wrote:
did you know about that programme?
On the rare occasion you Brits produce a watchable television show, it tends to be replayed here on PBS, BBC America, The History Channel, The Discovery Channel, or Bravo.
cpbell0033944
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re: re: How..
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Registered
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2007-10-31 16:05:17
Lingster wrote:
On the rare occasion you Brits produce a watchable television show, it tends to be replayed here on PBS, BBC America, The History Channel, The Discovery Channel, or Bravo.
How dare you sir! Why, we gave the World Big Brother! (OK, I see your point).
Lingster
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Father Ted
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Super Administrator
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2007-10-31 22:40:11
I am a huge "Father Ted" fan.
mortiskbailey
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No we certainly did not...
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Registered
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2007-10-31 22:46:35
give the world Big Brother, that would be the Dutch.
The point I came here to make was of the endless fitness machine infomercials that have been pouring from the worlds commercial orifice that we call "Va yoo essay".
It isn't just Atlas selling tripe.
Lingster
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Super Administrator
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2007-11-01 12:47:25
The only reason you see them is that your fellow Dutchmen buy the products.
cpbell0033944
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re: No we certainly did not...
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Registered
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2007-11-01 12:17:34
[quote=mortiskbailey
]give the world Big Brother, that would be the Dutch.
[quote]
