Charles Atlas



Charles Atlas (1892-1972; born Angelo Siciliano) was a pioneering physical culture advocate and bodybuilder, who took his professional name in 1922 after the Greek hero Atlas. Atlas was best known for his bodybuilding courses (specializing in "dynamic tension"), first advertised in the 1920s. Atlas' own physique graced the ads, typically clad in leopard-patterned trunks/loincloth, and his hand signature accompanied the claims.

The best known form of these advertisements appeared in comic books, from the 1940s well into the 1970s, particularly one ad called "The Insult that Made a Man out of Mac" (with ad copy by Atlas' business partner Charles Roman), in which a "97-pound" weakling takes the Atlas course after a beach bully kicks sand in his face. After venting his frustrations on an innocent wooden chair, Mac sends away for the course, becomes muscular and punches the bully, becoming the hero of the beach.