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Charles Atlas (born Angelo Siciliano; October 30, 1892〔 – December 24, 1972) was the developer of a bodybuilding method and its associated exercise program that was best known for a landmark advertising campaign featuring Atlas's name and likeness; it has been described as one of the longest-lasting and most memorable ad campaigns of all time.〔(Kannenberg, Gene. "The Ad That Made an Icon Out of Mac," ''Hogan's Alley''. ). Retrieved August 6, 2008.〕 Atlas trained himself to develop his body from that of a "scrawny weakling", eventually becoming the most popular muscleman 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〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=History, Travel, Arts, Science, People, Places – Smithsonian )〕 and legally changed his name in 1922. He marketed his first body building course with health and fitness writer Dr. Frederick Tilney in November 1922. Tilney wrote the original course "Health & Strength by Charles Atlas," and 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 Miami, Florida, where he operated a very successful health food business until his death in 1977. Charles Atlas Ltd. was founded in 1929 and, as of 2015, continues to market a fitness program for the "97-pound weakling" (44 kg). The company is now owned by Jeffrey C. Hogue. ==History== Angelo Siciliano was born in Acri, Calabria, Italy, in 1892. Angelino, as he was also called, moved to Brooklyn, New York at the age of 11 and eventually became a leather worker. He tried many forms of exercise initially, using weights, pulley-style resistance, and gymnastic-style calisthenics. Atlas claimed that they did not build his body. He was inspired by other fitness and health advocates who preceded him, including world-renowned strongman Eugen Sandow and Bernarr MacFadden (a major proponent of "Physical Culture"). He was too poor to join the local YMCA, so he watched how exercises were performed, then performed them at home. He attended the strongman shows at Coney Island, and would question the strongmen about their diets and exercise regimens after the show. He would read Physical Culture magazine for further information on health, strength, and physical development, and finally developed his own system of exercises which was later called 'Dynamic Tension,' a phrase coined by Charles Roman. A bully kicked sand into Siciliano's face at a beach when he was a youth, according to the story that he always told. At this time in his life, also according to the story, he weighed only .〔Dennis, Jeffery P. (Charles Atlas ). fau.edu〕 However, an early Atlas brochure from 1924 showed a 1903 picture of a small, thin Angelo Siciliano dressed in clothes for the period, including traditional knickerbockers. In later editions of the brochure, Angelo's age was changed to 15. According to several stories and claims, he was at the zoo watching a lion stretch when he thought to himself, "Does this old gentleman have any barbells, any exercisers?...And it came over me....He's been pitting one muscle against another!" None of the exercises in the Dynamic tension course could be attributed to an African big cat, but other exercise courses of the time contained exercises similar to Atlas's course, particularly those marketed by Bernarr McFadden and Earle E. Liederman. Were they all inspired by stretching lions at the zoo? He concluded that lions and tigers became strong by pitting muscle against muscle.〔Wallechinsky, D. (1996) ''The 20th Century History with the Boring parts Left Out''. Little Brown & Co.〕 Bernarr MacFadden, publisher of the magazine ''Physical Culture,'' dubbed Siciliano "America's Most Handsome Man" in 1921, and "Americas Most Perfectly Developed Man" in a 1922 contest held in Madison Square Garden〔〔(Charles Atlas section of R. Christian Anderson's Sandow Museum website ). Retrieved September 30, 2008.〕 He soon took the role of strongman in the Coney Island Circus Side Show. Nowhere did Atlas win a title proclaiming him to be the world's most perfectly developed man. In 1922, 30-year-old Siciliano officially changed his name to Charles Atlas, as it sounded much more American. He met Dr. Frederick Tilney, a British homeopathic physician and course writer who was employed as publisher Bernarr MacFadden's "ideas man." Atlas and Tilney met through MacFadden, who was using Atlas as a model for a short movie entitled "The Road to Health." Atlas wrote a fitness course and then asked Tilney to edit it. Tilney agreed and Atlas went into business in 1922. Tilney himself had an extensive background in weight training.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Charles Atlas」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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