Charles Atlas
- This article is about Charles Atlas, the bodybuilder. For other uses see Charles Atlas (disambiguation).
Charles Atlas (1892–1972), "self-made man", trained himself to develop his body from that of a 'scrawny weakling', eventually becoming the most popular muscleman of his day. His company, Charles Atlas, Ltd. (founded 1929 and continuing today) markets a fitness program for the "97-pound weakling", a registered trademark.
Born Angelo Siciliano in Aci, in southern Italy, he moved to Brooklyn, New York at a young age. Initially a small, weak child, Siciliano worked hard to tone his muscles, using a variety of weights. He acquired a physique that earned him the nickname "Charles Atlas", after the mythical Atlas, the Titan who held up the heavens. He later filed for and received trademark status for the name. He soon took the role of strongman in the Coney Island Circus Side Show. Contemplating the strength of a tiger in a zoo, he had conceived the idea of working muscle against muscle, rather than working out with weights. This system was later dubbed Dynamic tension.
World's Most Perfectly Developed Man
In 1922, the publisher of the magazine Physical Culture dubbed him "The World's Most Perfectly Developed Man" in a contest held in Madison Square Garden. He was chosen by a cross-disciplined group of health and medical experts, educators, anthropologists, scientists and medical doctors who viewed Atlas as the "perfect male body" and placed his physical measurements on file for posterity. Atlas' physical measurements are buried in the Crypt of Civilization, a time capsule at Oglethorpe University.
Advertising fame
Atlas developed his own muscle-building mail-order business through the use of advertisements in popular periodicals. His first business partner was Dr. Frederic Tilney who wrote the course which first appeared in 1922. Tilney had discovered Atlas while Atlas was demonstrating spring exercisers in a department store window in New York. Tilney worked for Bernard MacFadden and introduced Atlas to MacFadden. MacFadden sponsored the two perfect man contests that Atlas won and his publishing empire helped promote Atlas and his course. In 1928 Charles Roman bought out Tilneys interest in the business and took over the marketing of the business and coined the term "dynamic tension" to describe Atlas' use of muscle-against-muscle resistance exercise, now generally known as Isometric exercise. Atlas had originally been introduced to that form of exercise when he took the "Conscious Evolution" course of Alois P. Swoboda which featured Dynamic Tension type of exercise. Atlas said "everything that I know I learned from A.P. Swoboda."
The Charles Atlas advertisements popularized the phrase "98-pound weakling". His most famous advertisement featured a weak scrawny kid who decides to bulk up after getting sand kicked in his face at the beach. Although the original ads stated "I turned myself from a 97 pound weakling into the World's Most Perfectly Developed Man", the phrase was most commonly rendered in the media as 98 pounds, possibly due to trademark issues. It may also derive from the British usage "seven-stone weakling"; seven stone is 98 pounds.
His company did so well that it emerged from the Stock Market Crash of 1929 unscathed. As many as 30 million people have bought his mail order course, which is still offered today. "Charles Atlas" was selected by Forbes Magazine as one of the 20th Century's "Super Salesmen", and named one of the Most Influential People of the Twentieth Century by Times Sunday Magazine. Known throughout the world as a strongman, he is considered a founding father of modern-day body-building and fitness, and of isometric exercise.
Likenesses
Besides photographs, Siciliano posed for many statues throughought his life, including, it has been said, the statue of George Washington in New York's Washington Square Park. He died of heart failure at age 79 after his daily jog on the beach. At the time, people were still writing to him requesting his picture, and soliciting advice on fitness.
Trademarks
Charles Atlas, Ltd owns the following trademarks: "Atlas"; "Charles Atlas"; "Dynamic-Tension"; "Atlas Nutrition"; "Mr. Atlas"; "The World's Most Perfectly Developed Man"; "97-pound weakling"; "Insult that Made a Man Out of Mac"; "Hero of the Beach" and "Hey Skinny!".
Pop Culture References
- The song "I Can Make You a Man" from the Rocky Horror Picture Show refers to Charles Atlas in lines such as "A weakling weighing 98-pounds/Will get sand in his face when kicked to the ground", "Makes me shake, makes me wanna take Charles Atlas by the hand/In Just seven days I can make you a man" and "He thinks dynamic tension must be hard work".
- Frank N. Furter referring to Rocky Horror: "He carries the Charles Atlas Seal of Approval"
- The song "I Can See For Miles" (The Who, on the album The Who Sell Out) is followed by a "commercial" for the Charles Atlas Course ("The Charles Atlas course with dynamic tension can turn you into a beast of a man.")
- The song "She's Your Lover Now (Just a Little Glass of Water)" by Bob Dylan, released on The Bootleg Series Volumes 1-3, refers to Charles Atlas in the line "Why must I fall into the sadness / Do I look like Charles Atlas?"
The song "Mr Apollo" by the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band on the album "Tadpoles" parodies the idea with lead singer/writer Vivian Stanshall affecting a gruff butch voice. The song involves members of the band singing a fictional body-builders praises while Stanshall alternately sings and offers no-nonsense advice "no tiresome exercises/no tricks/no unpleasant bending/wrestle poodles and win!"
- The comic book Flex Mentallo by Grant Morrison has several features that parody the Charles Atlas ads, including the costume of the hero and the text "HERO OF THE BEACH" hovering above the hero's head.