Charles Atlas
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Charles Atlas |
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![Charles Atlas c1920.jpg](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1d/Charles_Atlas_c1920.jpg/220px-Charles_Atlas_c1920.jpg) |
Born | Angelo Siciliano October 30, 1892[1]
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Died | December 24, 1972 (aged 80)[1]
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Occupation | Bodybuilder |
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Spouse(s) | Margaret Cassano |
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Children | 2 |
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Charles Atlas (born Angelo Siciliano; October 30, 1892 – December 24, 1972)[2] was an Italian-born American bodybuilder best remembered as the developer of a bodybuilding method and its associated exercise
program which spawned a landmark advertising campaign featuring his
name and likeness; it has been described as one of the longest-lasting
and most memorable ad campaigns of all time.[3]
Atlas trained
himself to develop his body from that of a "scrawny weakling",
eventually becoming the most popular bodybuilder of his day. He took the
name "Charles Atlas" after a friend told him that he resembled the
statue of Atlas on top of a hotel in Coney Island[4]
and legally changed his name in 1922. He marketed his first
bodybuilding course with health and fitness writer Dr. Frederick Tilney
in November 1922. The duo ran the company out of Tilney's home for the
first six months. In 1929, Tilney sold his half of the business to
advertising man Charles P. Roman and moved to Florida.
Charles Atlas Ltd. was founded in 1929 and, as of 2020, continues to
market a fitness program for the "97-pound weakling" (44 kg). The
company is now owned by Jeffrey C. Hogue.
Literature
- In the 1966 postmodern novel Beautiful Losers, written by Leonard Cohen, Charles Atlas is parodied as "Charles Axis."
- The short story "Charles Atlas Also Dies" by Sergio Ramírez
centers on the main character, a follower of Atlas's exercise program,
and his trip to the United States to meet Charles Atlas himself; written
from an ironic and dark-humored perspective. Among the numerous
references to Atlas's program/story/advertisements, the main character
describes having sand kicked in his face by "two big hefty guys" in
front of his girlfriend and later being compared to the mythological god
Atlas after undergoing the program. The story juxtaposes the superhuman
strength and notoriety of Charles Atlas—the symbol, with the fragile
and mortal aspects of Charles Atlas—the man. The story begins with the
quote: "Charles Atlas swears that sand story is true. – Edwin Pope, The
Miami Herald".[20]
- In Kurt Vonnegut's novel Cat's Cradle,
Charles Atlas is mentioned. When the narrator comes across the term
"Dynamic Tension" in a book about the mysterious cult leader Bokonon, he
laughs because he imagines the author does not know "that the term was
one vulgarised by Charles Atlas, a mail-order muscle-builder." However,
as he reads on he finds that Bokonon is an alumnus of Atlas's training
program, which has inspired his idea that "good societies could be built
only by pitting good against evil, and by keeping the tension between
the two high at all times."
- In Charles Bukowski's short story "Bop Bop Against That Curtain", part of the 1973 volume South of No North,
the main characters, a bunch of kids, tried Charles Atlas' Dynamic
Tension program to look tough, but they prefer lifting weights as it
seems to them "the more rugged and obvious way".
- In Michael Connelly's early Harry Bosch books (The Black Echo, The Black Ice, The Concrete Blonde, The Last Coyote),
Bosch's Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Harvey Pounds, is nicknamed "98"
as a reference probably both to Charles Atlas's "97 pound weakling" and
The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
- A Spitting Image annual parodies the Charles Atlas advertisement as "Charles Einstein", with the two protagonists competing not on muscular physique, but with their rhetorical skills and grasp of postmodernism.
Film and TV
- In the 1978 Vietnam war film The Boys in Company C,
Marine Vinnie Fazio complains during a force march that he is carrying
too much ammunition and gear for the platoon, shouting out "What am I?
Charles Atlas?".
- In the Futurama episode "When Aliens Attack,"
Fry gets sand kicked in his face by a "professional beach bully" who
asks for payment for his services after Fry has won the girl, Leela.
Leela hits on the bully, but the bully claims to be gay.
- In an episode of Johnny Bravo, Johnny explains that he achieved his muscular physique through the "Flex Bigarms" course, a parody of Atlas.
- The title song of the 1964 film Muscle Beach Party features the lyric "Cherry little woodies are the center of attention / Til the muscle men start the dynamic tension"
- In the Ren and Stimpy
episode "Ren's Pecs," Ren seeks counsel from the bodybuilder "Charles
Globe", who inspires him to get plastic surgery. Charles Globe and the
entire episode are obvious spoofs of the Charles Atlas story.
- In the Seinfeld episode "The English Patient", the character of Izzy Mandelbaum is said to have worked out with Charles Atlas in the '50s to which Jerry wryly replies, "1850s?", poking fun at Izzy's age.
- The Rocky Horror Picture Show (film, 1975), makes several references to Atlas:
- In "Charles Atlas Song / I Can Make You a Man":
- The title line exploits the grammatical ambiguity of Atlas's slogan[21]
"In just seven days, I can make you a man," between the meanings "...
cause you to become a 'real' man" and "... create a man for you."
- Both Charles Atlas and "Dynamic-Tension" are mentioned by name.
- It refers to a 98-pound weakling, a reference to Atlas' "97-pound weakling."
- The second line refers to the Charles Atlas advertising campaign with "Will get sand in his face when kicked to the ground."
- The mad-scientist character (Dr. Frank N. Furter) claims that his Frankensteinian creation "carries the Charles Atlas Seal of Approval."
- In an episode of That '70s Show, Eric's sister accuses him of being weak by saying he ordered a Charles Atlas video to buff up.
- In an episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus, Terry Gilliam creates an animation which is a visual spoof of Charles Atlas' ad campaign.
- In an episode of Punky Brewster, Punky asks Henry if he still has his Charles Atlas books after being bullied at school.
- In "Mild Mannered", an episode of Warehouse 13,
a pair of Charles Atlas's trunks imbue a character with superhuman
powers, including superstrength and the ability to alter his own
density.
- In "The Missing Page", an episode of Hancock's Half Hour,
Hancock reads the fictional detective novel 'Lady, Don't Fall
Backwards'. The final page has been removed, and Hancock reads the lines
'Men! Are you skinny?! Do you have sand kicked in your face?!', a
parody of Atlas' advertising in pulp novels.
- In an episode of the television show, What's My Line?, in 1956. Charles Atlas was the mystery guest, calling himself Mr. X.[22]
- In an episode of the television show, Red Dwarf,
season 3, episode 4, called "Bodyswap", Rimmer claims Lister was no
Charles Atlas to begin with. They had previously swapped bodies so that
Rimmer could make Listers body fit. Instead, he abused the trust.
- Robot Chicken
has a sketch wherein a weakling gets sand kicked in his face by a
bully. He then gets a shot of "Barry McGwire's Super Happy Fun Time
Anger Go Go Juice" which turns him into a huge muscleman and he tears
the bully in two.
- In the closing segment of Creepshow,
after noticing that the voodoo doll ad from the discarded comic book
has already been clipped out, one of the garbage collectors starts
reading the next ad aloud: "Tired of getting sand kicked in your
face..."
- The Triangle, a season two episode of The Waltons
which first aired in 1973, features Jim Bob secretly purchasing and
later reading and practicing the exercises in a Charles Atlas' exercise
manual in order to win the heart of a female classmate who favors a
bigger and stronger boy.
- In the movie Dead Poets Society, Professor Keating (played by Robin Williams)
describes his less-than-intellectual youth by saying "I was the
intellectual equivalent of a 98-pound weakling. I would go to the beach
and people would kick copies of Byron in my face".
- In the movie Motherless Brooklyn
the Ed Norton character and Ethan Suplee are sitting in the front seat
of a car reading a wrestling magazine. A Charles Atlas ad is shown on
the back cover.
- In the 2020 Netflix mini-series Hollywood season 1, episode 2, Charles Atlas is referenced as an aspirational figure for Rock Hudson by his agent Henry Willson.
Music
- The song "Sand in My Face" by 10cc, on their debut album, is a detailed description of Atlas's legendary ads.
- The band AFI have a song called "Charles Atlas" on their album Very Proud of Ya.
- The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band
song "Mr Apollo" is a parody that includes the lines "Five years ago I
was a four-stone apology ... Today I am two separate gorillas!"
- The Darling Pet Munkee song "Charles Atlas (Hey Skinny...Yer Ribs Are Showing!)" is specifically about the Atlas ads.
- The Bob Dylan
unreleased song "She's Your Lover Now" from 1965 contains the lyric:
"Why must I fall into this sadness? / Do I look like Charles Atlas? / Do
you think I still got what you still got, baby?"
- The Faces song "On the Beach" contains the line "though I may not be no Charlie Atlas, / Gonna take my shirt off anyway."
- The Australian band The Fauves had a minor local hit with their song "The Charles Atlas Way."
- The Josef K song "Sorry For Laughing" (made popular in the U.S. by Propaganda) contains the line "when we grooved on into town / Charles Atlas stopped to frown / cause he's not made like me and you"
- "We Are The Champions" by Queen includes the line, "I've had my share of sand kicked in my face..."
- The Who song "I Can't Reach You", on the album The Who Sell Out,
is preceded by a "commercial" for the Charles Atlas Course. ("The
Charles Atlas course with "Dynamic Tension" can turn you into a beast of
a man.") John Entwistle poses on the cover as a panther skin-clad Charles Atlas alumnus, as the more muscular Roger Daltrey
was otherwise occupied in a bathtub filled with baked beans. (After
this photo session Daltrey caught pneumonia through the beans being ice
cold at the end of the shoot.)
- Roger Waters' song "Sunset Strip" from his album Radio K.A.O.S.,
contains the line "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."
- In the song "I Will Not Fall" by Wiretrain/Wire, these lyrics
appear: "And Charles Atlas Stands, upon the beach, upon his head and
says ... I will not fall."
- The Statler Brothers song "Do You Remember These" contains the line "Charles Atlas course, Roy Rogers' horse, and 'only the Shadow knows'..."
- The Rocky Horror Picture Show song "I Can Make You a Man" references both "Charles Atlas" and "dynamic tension."
- Gama Bomb
CD titled "Tales From The Grave in Space" features a booklet in which
several graphics with song lyrics were designed to resemble Charles
Atlas'ads'..."
Art
- The artist David Hockney, included a print entitled 'The Seven Stone Weakling' in his 1961-3 series, The Rake's Progress.[23]
Magazine and newspapers
- A Canberra Times cartoon features the athletic Tony Abbott having his comeuppance against policy heavyweight Kevin Rudd.[24]
- An issue of Nickelodeon Magazine
features a fake advertisement that parodies the Atlas body ads; the
difference is that the product promises to make a person extremely
smart. In this parody, a genius man picks on an incredibly strong yet
slow-witted man for his lack of intelligence. The man gets his revenge
by scientifically proving that the genius bully does not exist, making
him disappear.
- An article in The Onion spinoff Our Dumb Century portrays a feud between Adlai Stevenson and General William Westmoreland being carried out in the same vein as illustrated in the Charles Atlas advertisement.
- A 1993 Entertainment Weekly video review of the films Hard Target and Last Action Hero depicted Jean-Claude Van Damme as the bully on the beach and Arnold Schwarzenegger as the weakling. In the illustration, Van Damme harasses a scrawny Schwarzenegger, claiming that Hard Target,
unlike Schwarzenegger's movie, was well-received by both audiences and
critics. Instead of ordering Atlas's program, Schwarzenegger calls his
agent and orders Last Action Hero to be released on video
immediately. Schwarzenegger, now with a film doing well as a video
rental (despite its theatrical failure), returns to the beach and
punches Van Damme out.
Comics
- In an issue of the DC Comics title Mystery in Space,[volume & issue needed]
the main character, Comet, referring to an army of super-powered
clones, says, "Physically those clones may make me look like a
98-pound-weakling, but psychically I'm the Charles Atlas of this beach."
- The January 1974 issue of the satiric magazine National Lampoon was dedicated to animals: Pets, circus, wild beasts, evolution, law, etc. A fake advertisement in the article 'Popular Evolution', a parody of the magazine Popular Mechanics,
presents in the three-stage comic strip manner a Charles Atlas-style
commercial. A little skinny mouse suffers the humiliation of being
kicked at the beach by a bully, some sort or medium-size carnivore.
Little mouse, goes home, kicks a chair, fills the form and sends it to Mr. Charles Darwin, Galapagos Islands. "After a few millions years of evolutionary exercise"
little mouse has developed fangs, and ugly scary face, wings, amongst
other attributes; goes back to the beach, bites the bully predator in
the neck, Count Dracula
style and is declared the "heroe of the habitat" by the admiring
females. Unfortunately the issue is out of print and cannot be seen
online anywhere.[25]
- The "kicking sand in the face" image has been used many times in Archie comics.
- 2000AD featured The insult that made a robot of 'Walt', featuring Droid Atlas and Walter the Wobot
- Marvel Comics' humor series What The--?! used Atlas parodies regularly, as in "The Insult that Made Mac a Blood-Sucking Freak!" (What The--?! #23, November 1992).
- Minicomics pioneer Matt Feazell uses the sand-kicking bully to represent the Etruscan attack on Rome in Not Available Comics #25, 1993.
- "The Hold-Up that Made a Hero Out of Mac", from Radioactive Man #1 (Bongo Comics, 1993), blends Mac's story with Batman's origin.
- Cartoonist Chris Ware appropriated Mac's "chair-kicking resolve" in a Jimmy Corrigan story from Acme Novelty Library #1 (Fantagraphics, Winter 1993).
- Cartoonist Josh Neufeld used the ad to spoof business writer David A. Vise in a piece done for Fortune Small Business magazine in 2002.
- In the June 4, 2007, edition of "This Modern World," Tom Tomorrow uses the ad to make a point about how President George W. Bush pushes around Congressional Democrats.[26]
- New Orleans cartoonist Caesar Meadows spoofed the ad—substituting zine-making for bodybuilding—while advertising the 2008 Alternative Media Expo.[27]
- The Strange Talent of Luther Strode by Justin Jordan
and Tradd Moore features a dark parody of Atlas's Dynamic Tension
regimen, one which bestows superhuman strength, durability and reflexes,
but at the cost of gaining an aggressive nature and seeing people as
their musculature.
- One chapter of manga Ranma ½
has minor antagonist Hikaru Gosunkugi buy a suit of powered armor from a
parody of the "Beach Bully" advertisements. While it does make him
stronger, it comes with a couple of drawbacks: it renders him immobile
if he is not chained to a person he hates, and it self-destructs if he
is unable to knock out the person he is chained to.
Video games
- In early versions of the game, The Secret of Monkey Island,
there was a statue in a voodoo shop that when inspected would make the
character say "Looks like an emaciated Charles Atlas." The reference has
since been removed due to Lucasfilm Games receiving a cease and desist letter.[28]
- Video game developer Valve released an update to their popular game, Team Fortress 2
that gave the sniper class a jar of urine called "Jarate". The comic
strip that Valve used to advertise the update is a parody of the strip
"The Insult that Made a Man out of Mac".[29] A later update that introduced the ability for players to give and receive high fives was promoted with similar comic strip, this time spoofing the strip "Hey, Skinny! Yer Ribs Are Showing!"[30]
- The physically unimposing "Little Mac" character in Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! and the Punch-Out!! franchise is named in homage to the "Mac" of Atlas' best-known comic-book advertisement.
- The game Kingdom of Loathing contains a reference to the sand-kicking campaign.[31]