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Life was a beach. . - The Show Big Report - Remembering Muscle Beach and Muscle Beach - book review
Flex, May, 2002 by Greg Merritt
Two books published in recent years chronicle the history of the Southern California bodybuilding beach scene. Remembering Muscle Beach, by Harold Zinkin with Bonnie Hearn (Angel City Press, 1999), breezily focuses on the glory years of the 1930s through the 1950s. Subtitled Where Hard Bodies Began: Photographs and Memories, this easy read is stocked with anecdotes from Zinkin, himself a Muscle Beach bodybuilder and the developer of the Universal gym machine. Muscle Beach, by Marla Matzer Rose (St. Martin's Press, 2001), traces the complete history of the beach, sans rose-colored sunglasses, from its Santa Monica beginning to the present weight-pit Venice incarnation of more recent decades. Both volumes feature a wealth of photos, although Remembering Muscle Beach is the true visual treasure trove.
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Both books highlight the relationship Muscle Beach had with the nearby Hollywood community. In addition to famous bodybuilders from Steve Reeves to Arnold Schwarzenegger, such legendary actors as Clark Gable, Tyrone Power and Kirk Douglas partook of the festivities in the sand. The beach is where Jayne Mansfield and Jane Russell met their buff husbands, Mae West found the beefcake for her stage show, and Roy Rogers learned acrobatic tricks that he duplicated in his movies. Hollywood and Muscle Beach combined to showcase the healthy California lifestyle for audiences around the globe. It's no wonder the old-timers so lament the passing of "the good old days."
COPYRIGHT 2002 Weider Publications
COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group
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