Before Charles Atlas became the vector through which bodybuilding was popularized in the 1930s Edwin Townsend’s photography of him in the 1920s caused a sensation.
Though not particularly muscular by the standards of later eras, Atlas’ media savvy whipped the yellow journalists of the time into causing a news sensation about bodybuilding, heralding him as the ultimate physique.
Atlas savvily marketed his muscles and used his celebrity to sell bodybuilding books and equipment by mail order.
When the books arrive, they were often little more than artistic nudes with poetry.
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