Charles Atlas

<html> <head> <title>Charles Atlas</title> <meta name="googlebot" content="noodp"> <meta name="robots" content="noodp"> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" href="/silly-nndb-icon.png" /><style type="text/css">  </style></head> <body bgcolor=#ffffff> <center> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr><td valign=top><table width=550 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td bgcolor=white><table width="100%" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" background="/nndb.gif"> <tr> <td rowspan="2" align="left" valign="top"><a href="http://www.nndb.com/"><img src="/title.gif" width="260" height="50" border=0 alt="NNDB"></a></td> <td><table width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="6"> <tr align="center"> <td width="25%" nowrap><b><font size="-1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">This is a beta version of NNDB</font></b></td> </tr> </table></td> </tr> <tr> <td align="right" valign="middle"><b><font size="-1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> <form action="http://search.nndb.com/search/nndb.cgi" method="get"> <input type="hidden" name="nndb" value="1"></input> <nobr>Search: <select name="omenu"> <option value="unspecified" selected>All Names</option> <option value="living">Living people</option> <option value="dead">Dead people</option> <option value="bands">Band Names</option> <option value="books">Book Titles</option> <option value="movies">Movie Titles</option> <option value="fulltext">Full Text</option> </select> for <input name="query" value="" size=24 maxlength=96> <input type=submit value="Search"> </font></b></nobr></form></td> </tr> </table>        </td></tr><tr><td bgcolor=red height=2></td></tr><map name=fool><area coords="102,0,240,14" href="/people/025/000162536/bibliography/" alt="bibliography"></map><tr bgcolor=F0F0F0><td bgcolor=F0F0F0 style="padding: 0px 15px 15px 15px;"><img src="/red-profile-2.gif" align="right" height=15 width=240 border=0 usemap=#fool><br clear="all"><table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 width=100%><tr><td bgcolor=F0F0F0><font size=+3 face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>Charles Atlas</b></font><p><img src="charles-atlas-1.jpg" height=282 width=220 align=right hspace=10 vspace=10 alt="Charles Atlas"><b>AKA</b> Angelo Siciliano<p><b>Born:</b> <a href="/lists/821/000106503/" class=proflink>30-Oct</a>-<a href="/lists/891/000105576/" class=proflink>1892</a><br><b>Birthplace:</b> Acri, Calabria, Italy<br><b>Died:</b> <a href="/lists/244/000106923/" class=proflink>23-Dec</a>-<a href="/lists/482/000106164/" class=proflink>1972</a><br><b>Location of death:</b> <a href="/geo/548/000081305/" class=proflink>Long Beach, NY</a><br><b>Cause of death:</b> Heart Failure<br><b>Remains:</b> Buried, <a href="/cemetery/772/000208148/" class="proflink">St. John Cemetery, Queens, NY</a><br><p><b>Gender:</b> Male<br><b>Religion:</b> <a href="/lists/758/000094476/" class=proflink>Roman Catholic</a><br><b>Race or Ethnicity:</b> White<br><b>Sexual orientation:</b> Straight<br><b>Occupation:</b> <a href="/lists/900/000102594/" class=proflink>Fitness Guru</a><p><b>Nationality:</b> United States<br><b>Executive summary:</b> Former 97-pound weakling<p>For generations, advertisements in the back pages of comic books and men's magazines have shown pictures of brawny bullies on the beach embarrassing a scrawny young man, who sends away for the Charles Atlas bodybuilding program and soon becomes a muscle-bound tough guy. That story is not far removed from the true story of Charles Atlas, who, according to legend, literally had sand kicked in his face by a bully at the beach on New York's Coney Island.<p> Born in Italy as Angelo Siciliano, he came to America with his family when he was eleven years old. A skinny boy who barely spoke English, he was mercilessly teased and occasionally beaten by schoolmates, kids in his Brooklyn neighborhood, and his own uncle. He wanted to build up his strength, but could not afford barbells or gym equipment, so he researched the human body at the library, then devised his own low-cost do-it-yourself exercise program. Siciliano performed hundreds of hours of ritualized little tug-of-war competitions between his own fingers, hands, arms, legs and thighs, the beginnings of an isometric system he later called "Dynamic-Tension". Soon the bullies left him alone, and other kids began comparing him to a local hotel's wooden statue of Atlas, the Greek god.<p> He worked as an artist's model and a circus strongman, then competed in a 1922 bodybuilders' contest at Madison Square Garden, where he won the title of "The World's Most Perfectly Developed Man". After legally changing his name to Charles Atlas, he worked with naturopath Frederick Tilney to refine his "Dynamic-Tension" principles, and began selling bodybuilding instruction pamphlets by mail-order. The business floundered until 1929, when Atlas formed Charles Atlas, Ltd, in partnership with advertising expert Charles Roman, and began the famous ad campaign that made Atlas a millionaire and cultural icon. "I turned myself from a 97-pound weakling into the World's Most Perfectly Developed Man", the ad explains. "And I can change your body, too."<p> In 1939, the <a href="/gov/491/000055326/">US Federal Trade Commission</a> ordered Atlas to stop claiming in advertisements that his courses help relieve skin diseases and constipation. Atlas retired from his company in 1970, and died in 1972. The ubiquitous ads have never stopped running, and the company's customers have included such noted ex-weaklings as <a href="/people/466/000023397/">Joe DiMaggio</a>, <a href="/people/358/000023289/">Rocky Marciano</a>, and <a href="/people/293/000113951/">Robert L. Ripley</a>.<p><b>Father:</b> Santo Siciliano (farmer)<br><b>Mother:</b> Teresa Siciliano (seamstress)<br><b>Wife:</b> Margaret Cassano Atlas (m. 1918, two children)<br><p>    <a href="/event/582/000051429/">Naturalized US Citizen</a> <br>    <a href="/lists/347/000043218/">Italian Ancestry</a> <br> <p> <b>Official Website:</b><br><a href="http://www.charlesatlas.com/" target=_blank>http://www.charlesatlas.com/</a><p> <br><br><p> <font size=-1>Do you know something we don't?</font><br> <font size=-1><a href="http://commentary.nndb.com/submit/feedback/?id=162536" rel="nofollow">Submit a correction or make a comment about this profile</a></font><br> <p> <br><br><p><font size=-1>Copyright ©2019 Soylent Communications</font><p> </td></tr></table> </td></tr> </table> </td> <td width=180 align="center" valign="top" style="padding: 0px 0px 8px 25px;"></td></tr> </table> </center> </body> </html>

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Charles Atlas