Hollywood Diet and Fitness: Vintage Secrets

by Laura Slater

Overview

In the days before Botox, power cleanses and spin classes, women’s fitness and beauty regimes pursued a very different ideal. The emphasis was on classic glamor and a fuller, womanly body shape, and between the 1920s and 1950s women everywhere looked to Hollywood’s most stylish and iconic beauties for inspiration.

Hollywood Diet and Fitness: Vintage Secrets reveals exactly what went into creating the looks made famous by the likes of Marlene Dietrich, Marilyn Monroe and Grace Kelly, detailing the eating habits, exercise routines, and style tips that helped usher in a golden age of silver-screen sophistication – and still inspire us today.

Packed with beautiful photographs and vintage imagery, this book is an entertaining and accessible look at our timeless pursuit of the body beautiful.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780859655026
Publisher:	Plexus Publishing, Limited
Publication date:	12/30/2014
Pages:	96
Product dimensions:	6.70(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Laura Slater is a writer based in London.

Table of Contents

Introduction 4

1920S: Birth of the Modern Diet 6

The Lamb Chop and Pineapple Diet 10

The Grapefruit Diet 12

The First Diet Bestseller 14

Clara Bow's Summer Diet 16

Clean Eating with Gloria Swanson 20

Madame Sylvia: Hollywood's First Fitness Guru 22

Early Cosmetic Surgery 26

Raw 28

Greta Garbo: Fitness Fanatic 30

Pushing the Boundaries of (Alternative) Medicine 32

1930S: Health, Vitality and Personality! 34

Forget Diet and Exercise (Try Pills and Cigarettes) 37

The Hay Diet 38

The Bananas and Skimmed Milk Diet 40

Jean Harlow's Four-Day Diet 42

The Dietrich Diet 44

Hollywood's Body Sculptors 46

Joan Crawford: Natural Athlete 50

Ginger Rogers: Dancing for Her Life 52

Lunchtime in Hollywood 54

Inside Bette Davis's Lunch Box 56

1940S: Pin-Up Proportions 58

Calisthenics for Everyone 61

Betty Grable: Taking Care of Million-Dollar Legs 64

Ann Sheridan's Tips for Girls Who Dare to Bare 66

Rita Haywanh: Goddess Guide 68

The Bagot Stack Stretch and Swing System 70

Measuring Desire: The (Statistically) Ideal Figure 72

Dorothy Lamour's Perfect Proportions 74

Gayelord Hauser Celebrity Chef 76

Diets for Skinny Girls with Ava Gardner and Co 80

1950s: Curves, Curves, Curves 82

Diet Pills: Take Two 86

Diet like If's 1955 87

The Low-Col Revolution 88

Elevenses with Grace Kelly 90

Jane Russell: Building 'The Body' 92

Indra Devi: First Lady of Yoga 94

Marilyn Monroe: Fitness Trailblazer 96

Jack LaLanne: The Godfather of Fitness 102

Audrey Hepburn's Menu 104

Afterword: The Resistance 408

Editorial Reviews

'A lovely little retro read!' —HOTHOT Magazine

'I found this book so fascinating that I couldn’t put it down and read it in two sittings.' —Catherine, vintage-frills.com

'It’s a real treat to look at – and not too heavy on your tummy!'—Glamourdaze

‘Hollywood Diet and Fitness is a fun and quick read, but there is an extensive bibliography and the book is well researched … I also loved that I had never seen many of the photos before. So many times we see the same old famous celebrity photographs over and over. Slater did a great job in locating pictures that are not so often seen.’ —Lizzie, The Vintage Traveler

'If you want a quick fun overview of the period and a beautifully produced book I would recommend this one.' —Charlotte, Ramblings of an Elfpire

From the Publisher