Charles Atlas

Charles Atlas

Charles Atlas , born Angelo Siciliano (born October 30, 1892 in Acri , Italy , † December 23, 1972 in Long Beach , USA ) was an Italian-American bodybuilder. He was the inventor of a bodybuilding method with a combined exercise program , best known for an advertising campaign using his name , which is considered to be one of the longest-running and most memorable advertising campaigns of all time.

According to his own statement, Atlas trained to develop his body from that of a “skinny weakling” to that of possibly the most famous muscleman of his time. He took the name "Charles Atlas" after a friend told him it resembled the Atlas statue on a hotel in Coney Island . He officially changed his name in 1922. His company Charles Atlas Ltd. was founded in 1929 and has marketed a "fitness program for the 97-pound weakling" to the present day. It now belongs to Jeffrey C. Hogue .

history

Born in 1892 as Angelo Siciliano (also called Angelino) in Acri, Calabria , he moved to Brooklyn New York in 1905 , took the name Charles and became a leather worker. Siciliano worked hard to increase his physical strength ; At first he tried a lot with dumbbells , expanders and gymnastic calisthenics. Atlas noted that these exercises did not really build his body, but that it was unlikely that his body would not have responded to the constant stress. Atlas was inspired by other fitness and health apostles before him, such as the renowned strongman Eugen Sandow and Bernarr Macfadden , the pioneer of "physical culture".

After he was bullied, the young Siciliano joined the YMCA and began a number of practice sessions. He became increasingly obsessed with strength. According to numerous sources, Siciliano observed a tiger stretching in the zoo and asked himself: “How does Mr. Tiger keep his physical condition? Have you ever seen a tiger with a dumbbell? ”He concluded that muscle against muscle made lions and tigers strong.

In 1921, Bernarr Macfadden, editor of Physical Culture magazine, called him “the most perfectly developed man in the world” in a competition at Madison Square Garden . Soon he took on the role of " Strongman " in the sideshow of the Coney Island Circus.

In 1922 Siciliano officially changed its name to Charles Atlas because it sounded more American. He met Dr. Frederick Tilney, a British homeopath and course writer who was hired as Bernarr MacFadden's "idea generator". Atlas and Tilney met through MacFadden, the Atlas as a model for a short film called "The Road to Health" ( English "The Road to Health") used. Atlas wrote a fitness course and asked Tilney to publish it. Tilney agreed, and Atlas opened its business in 1922. Tilney himself had an extensive history in weight training.

Dynamic tension

Atlas' "Dynamic-Tension" program (German as dynamic (An) voltage ) consists of twelve lessons and a final recurring lesson. Each of these is supported by photos of Atlas demonstrating the exercises. In Atlas' exercise books, he addressed the readers as friends and openly invited them to write him letters about their progress and stories. Its products and lessons sold millions and Atlas became the face of fitness.

similarities

In addition to photography, Atlas also posed for many statues throughout his life , including that of George Washington in New York's Washington Square Park , the Dawn of Glory in Brooklyn's Prospect Park, and Alexander Hamilton near the Treasury building in Washington, DC Atlas was also an inspiration and role model for later bodybuilders and fitness gurus like Arnold Schwarzenegger .

death

Atlas died of heart failure at the age of 80 after jogging on the beach every day; his family had a history of heart attacks. Letters were still being written to him at that time. He left behind his son Herc and daughter Diana.

The advertising

The ads of Charles Atlas became famous mainly for its publication in so many comic books since the 1940s until today. The typical scenario showed a skinny young man (usually accompanied by a woman) who is threatened by a rascal . The rascal slays the "97-pound weakling" and his companion falls into mockery. The young man goes home, gets angry (usually represented by kicking a chair) and orders the free Atlas book. A little later, the now muscle-bound hero returns to the place of his defeat, looks for the ruffian and beats him up. He is immediately rewarded by the return of his girlfriend and the admiration of viewers.

This ad should be based on real experiences of the young Atlas. In various variations, it was a mainstay of comic books and pulp magazines for decades . Most of the time, the ads close with the words: "As with all exercises in Atlas courses: You can do them almost anywhere".

The comics can be found on the web on the websites of Marvel and DC, among others .

"The insult did Made a Man out of Mac" ( The insult that made a man out of Mac )

In this ad, Mac, the protagonist, is bullied on the beach by a sand-kicking bully while his date watches. Humiliated, the young man goes home and - after kicking a chair and playing around with a ten-cent stamp - registers for Atlas' "Dynamic Tension" program. Later, the now muscular leading actor goes back to the beach and beats the bully, making him the "hero of the beach". His girlfriend returns while other girls admire the size of his muscles. (An earlier, otherwise almost identical version "How Joe's Body Brought Him Fame Instead of Shame", German How Joe's body brought him fame instead of shame , was introduced in the 1940s.)

"The Insult That Turned a 'Chump' Into a Champ" (The Insult That Turned a Fool into a Hero )

In this version, which came out in 1941, "Joe" is with his girlfriend at a folk festival when the bully, who has just proven his strength at Hau-den-Lukas , insults and pushes him. Joe goes home, hits the table with his fist, then orders the free Atlas book. Then Joe returns to the party, knocks Lukas and brings the bully to his knees while his girlfriend comes back and compliments him on his new powerful appearance.

"Hey, skinny! Yer Ribs are Showing! "( Hey, weakling! You can see your ribs! )

The shortened four-image version shows "Joe", although otherwise it is identical to Mac's story. Instead of “Hero of the Beach”, the words “What a man” float over Joe's head.

"How Jack the Weakling Slaughtered the Dance-Floor Hog" ( How Jack the weakling slaughtered the dance floor pig )

Another version of the ad shows a scenario in which "Jack" is dancing with his girlfriend Helen. They're bumped into by a bully who makes comments about how weak Jack is, not even worth beating up. Jack goes home, kicks a chair, and orders Atlas' free book. Later, the muscular Jack finds the bully, knocks him down and wins back Helen's admiration. This time the words “party hits” float over his head while he bathes in the admiration of the other dancers.

media

Atlas' print ads, particularly “The Insult that Made a Man out of Mac,” are cited in dozens of places including songs, comics, television shows, and films.

Video games

• The video game developer Valve released an update to its popular game Team Fortress 2 , which gave the sniper a pitcher of urine called "Jarate". The comic that Valve used to promote this sequel was a parody of the comic book "The Insult that Made a Man out of Mac."
• In early versions of Monkey Island , there was a statue in a voodoo shop that, on closer inspection, had the player character say, "Looks like a skinny Charles Atlas." This allusion was removed after LucasArts received a cease and desist notice.

music

• The "Charles Atlas Song / I Can Make You a Man" from the rock 'n' roll musical The Rocky Horror Show contains several hints:
  • The headline clearly makes the grammatical ambiguity of Atlas' slogan: "I can make you a man" can both I'm gonna make you a man and I make from you a man mean.
  • He calls both Charles Atlas and “Dynamic-Tension” by name.
  • He mentions a 98- pound weakling; a trick in order not to affect Atlas' trademark, the " 97- pound weakling".
  • The second line refers to the Charles Atlas advertising campaign "will get sand in his face When kicked to the ground" ( sand will get in the face when he is beaten ).
  • The " Mad Scientist " character Dr. Frank N. Furter also claims that his Frankenstein monster has the “Charles Atlas seal of approval”.

• The Who song “I Can't Reach You” on the album “ The Who Sell Out ” begins with a commercial for the Charles Atlas course: “The Charles Atlas course with 'Dynamic Tension' can do you make an animal of a man. ” On the cover, John Entwistle poses as a Charles Atlas student in panther skin clothing while the more muscular Roger Daltrey lies in a bathtub full of baked beans .
• The song "Mr. Apollo ”, recorded by the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band and released on the album“ Tadpoles ”, parodies Charles Atlas' advertisement with singer and lyricist Vivian Stanshall in a disguised gruff voice. The song involves band members singing praises of the fictional bodybuilder Mr. Apollo, while Stanshall takes turns singing and giving nonsensical motivational advice such as "no boring exercises / no tricks / no uncomfortable bending / wrestling with poodles and win!"
• The song "Sand In My Face" ( sand in my face ) on the debut album of 10cc is a detailed description of Atlas' legendary advertising.
• "We Are the Champions" by Queen contains the text line: "I've had my share of sand kicked in my face ..." ( I got sand kicked in my face ... )
• Wire Train's song “I Will Not Fall” describes: “And Charles Atlas stands, upon the beach, upon his head and says… I will not fall.” ( And Charles Atlas stands on his head on the beach and says… I will don't fall. )
• The band AFI has a song called "Charles Atlas" on the album "Very Proud of Ya".
• The Australian band The Fauves had a local hit with the song "The Charles Atlas Way".
• The Bob Dylan song “She's Your Lover Now” contains the text: “Why must I fall into this sadness? / Do I look like Charles Atlas? / Do you think I still got what you still got, baby? "( Why do I have to be so sad? / Do I look like Charles Atlas? / Do you think I still have what you have left, darling? )
• The Josef K song “Sorry for Laughing” contains the text: “When we groove on into town / Charles Atlas, he stops to frown.” (When we groove into town / Charles Atlas will stop frowning. )
• Roger Waters ' song “Sunset Strip” from “Radio KAOS” contains the line of text: “I like riding in my Uncle's car / Down to the beach where the pretty girls all parade / And movie stars and paparazzi play the Charles Atlas kicking-sand- in-the-face game. ”( I like to drive my uncle's car / down to the beach, where all the pretty girls strut / and movie stars and paparazzi play the sand-in-the-face game by Charles Atlas. )
• The song “On the Beach” by The Faces contains the line: “Though I may not be no Charlie Atlas, / Gonna take my shirt off anyway.” ( Even if I'm not Charles Atlas / I'll take my shirt off anyway . )
• The title song of the film “Muscle Beach Party” from 1964 includes the text excerpt: “Cherry little woodies are the center of attention / Til the muscle men start the dynamic tension”.
• The "Sorry for Laughing" Song of the Scottish band Josef K (later covered by propaganda ), the row is: "When we grooved on into town / Charles Atlas stopped to frown / cause he's not made like me and you" ( When we in the City grooved / smoothed Charles Atlas' forehead / because he's not like you and me. )

Movie and TV

• In the film "Book of Love" from 1990, Tom Platz plays a character similar to Charles Atlas.
• The British comedy group Monty Python created a comic parody of the famous beach advertisement animated by Terry Gilliam .
• An episode of the British satirical television show Spitting Image parodied the Charles Atlas advertisement with two protagonists who compete not in muscle power but in rhetorical skills and expertise about postmodernism .
• In the Futurama episode When Aliens Attack, Fry Sand is kicked in the face by a "professional beach bully" who asks for payment for his services after Fry wins the girl, Leela. Leela runs into the bully, but he turns out to be gay.
• In the " Ren and Stimpy " episode "Ren's Pecs", Ren seeks advice from bodybuilder "Charles Globe" who inspires him to undergo plastic surgery. Charles Globe and the entire episode are an obvious parody of the story of Charles Atlas.
• The 1975 film "Rocky Horror Picture Show" made references to Atlas.
• In an episode of The Roaring Seventies , Eric's sister accuses him of being weak by saying that he ordered a Charles Atlas video to perk himself up.
• The MAD magazine produced a by Don Martin animated comic parody of the advertising.

Books, magazines and newspapers

• In the postmodern Canadian novella "Beautiful Losers" by Leonard Cohen from 1966, Charles Atlas is parodied as "Charles Axis ".
• The novella "Katzenwiege" ( Cat's Cradle ) by Kurt Vonnegut mentions Charles Atlas. When the narrator comes across the term “Dynamic Tension” in a book about the mysterious cult leader Bokonon, he laughs because he imagines that the author does not know “that the term was vulgarized by a catalog-order-muscle- Makers ". As he reads on, he finds that Bokonon is a student at Atlas' training program that inspired his idea that “good societies can be built through the friction of good and evil alone, and by keeping the tension between the two high ".
• An article in a by-product of The Onion magazine called Our Dumb Century portrays a feud between Adlai Stevenson and General William C. Westmoreland , which is carried out in the same manner as in the Charles Atlas advertisement.
• An issue of Nickelodeon Magazine features a counterfeit advertisement parodying the Atlas Body advertisements; the difference is that the product promises to make you very smart. In this parody, a genius teases an incredibly strong but moronic man for his lack of intelligence. The man gets his revenge by scientifically proving that the bully genius does not exist, which makes it disappear.

comics

• In his interpretation of the antihero series Doom Patrol, the Scottish author Grant Morrison has a hero figure named Flex Mentallo who is a parody of the Charles Atlas advertisements, but can change reality through muscle contractions alone. In Doom Patrol # 42 (1991) the "Man out of Mac" display is re-enacted panel by panel.
• In an issue of the comic book Mystery in Space , lead actor Comet says of an army of overwhelming clones, "Physically these clones may make me look like a 98-pound weakling, but mentally, I'm the Charles Atlas of this beach."
• Marvel Comics' humor series "What The-- ?!" regularly featured Atlas parodies, such as in episode 23 of November 1992: "The Insult that Made Mac a Blood-Sucking Freak!" ( The insult that made Mac a blood-sucking freak did! )
• The minicomic pioneer Matt Feazell used in episode 25 of the "Not Available Comics" from 1993 the sand-kicking bully to depict the attack of the Etruscans against Rome.
• "The hold-up did Made a Hero Out of Mac" ( The robbery, which made a hero of Mac ), from Radioactive Man , Issue 1 (Bongo Comics 1993), Macs mixed with Batman's story.
• Cartoonist Chris Ware adapted Mac's chair-and-step solution for a Jimmy Corrigan story from Issue 1 of the Acme Novelty Library from 1993.
• Cartoonist Josh Neufeld used the advertisement in 2002 to caricature journalist David A. Vise in a play for Fortune Small Business magazine.
• In the June 4, 2007 issue of This Modern World, Tom Tomorrow uses the advertisement to make fun of President George W. Bush pushing Democratic Congressmen around.
• New Orleans-born cartoonist Caesar Meadows parodied the advertisement in an advertisement for the 2008 Alternative Media Expo.

Web links

• Charles Atlas in the database of Find a Grave (English)
• CharlesAtlas.com
• Sandow Plus

Individual evidence

1. ^ Charles Atlas in the Find a Grave database . Retrieved April 14, 2016.
2. ↑ ^{a b} Gene Kannenburg: The ad that made an icon out of Mac , Hogan's Alley ( Memento of the original from January 30, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Accessed August 6, 2008.  
3. ↑ ^{a b} Obituary in the New York Times (December 24, 1972).
4. ↑ Arnd Krüger , Bernd Wedemeyer (Hrsg.): Kraftkörper - Körperkraft: To understand physical culture and fitness yesterday and today. Booklet accompanying the exhibition in the entrance hall of the new university library; 3.7. - July 31, 1995. Göttingen: SUB 1995, ISBN 3-930457-06-7 .
5. ↑ D. Wallechinsky: The 20th Century History with the Boring Parts Left Out . Little Brown & Co., 1996.
6. ^ Section on Charles Atlas in R. Christian Anderson's Sandow Museum website . Accessed September 30, 2008.
7. ↑ Jay Maeder: "Charles Atlas Body and Soul", New York Daily News , May 16, 1999. Accessed September 30, 2008. ( Memento of the original from August 25, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
8. ^ "Federal judge: Parody of Atlas man protected by First Amendment," Associated Press August 31, 2000.
9. ^ Charles Gaines and George Butler: Yours in Perfect Manhood, Charles Atlas: the Most Effective Fitness Program Ever Devised . Simon & Schuster, 1982.
10. ↑ ^{a b} Classic Ads: CharlesAtlas.com ( Memento of the original dated August 6, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .  
11. ↑ www.teamfortress.com : illustration . Accessed July 29, 2009.
12. ↑ grumpygamer.com: Stuff and Things and Monkey Island . Accessed July 29, 2009.
13. ↑ James Woycke: Au Naturel: The History of Nudism in Canada , p. 3 .