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1950-60's - "Let the Good Times Roll"
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Let the Good-Times Roll
The American life in the 1950’s was good for most people. WW-II was over, the economy had started to recover, jobs became plentiful and the middle class was flourishing. Bigger houses, bigger cars, and bigger waist lines became status symbols of the day. For men a hefty waistline meant that you were a good provider and could afford the spoils of life.
This of course was not true for the American women as they were subject to a strict double-standard that was in place during this Era. Many movies, television shows and print advertising featured beauties with “Hour-Glass” bodies and with unuttered expectation; women were to posses a lovely, curvaceous figure.
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| It seemed that working-out in high-heals was the rage of the 60's. |
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| Figure Beauty
Many health and beauty experts of the day got their chance to show women how to develop that beautiful “Hour-Glass” shape. It was actually the first time that women, on a mass scale, learned about body shaping and fitness.
Family Circle magazine released a record and booklet, “Figure Beauty: In Just 6- Minutes Per Day” that showed women how to develop the perfect figure. Several other women’s magazines at that time also provided instruction on getting and keeping their gorgeous contours. Betty Weider (then Betty Brosmer) pictured below took body shaping to a new level introducing weightlifting and body sculpting with dumbbells for the “average housewife.”
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