Reducing and Body Building, Don Blackman, Physical Culture Studios
Item
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Title
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Reducing and Body Building, Don Blackman, Physical Culture Studios
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Description
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This leaflet serves as an advertisement for Don Blackman's exercise studio.
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It is one sided featuring a black and white portrait and contact information. It lists the facilities and programs available, including a gym, steam tables, massages, self-defense courses, and sun lamp treatments. Also included are Don Blackman's credentials as "Undefeated Light Heavyweight Champion of the World".
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From the Instagram account of the Mercer and Fonthill Museums:
Don Blackman was an actor and professional athlete born on May 12, 1912 in Birmingham, Alabama. He served as Sergeant in the Army during World War II, briefly modeled abroad, and played football and boxed in his native Alabama. He eventually became a popular wrestler, referred to in newspapers and interviews as the “Black Panther” and, in 1942, won the light heavyweight wrestling championship of the world.
His success in wrestling allowed him to segue into movie roles, with parts in On the Waterfront (1954) and The Old Man and the Sea (1958), among others. He also performed on Broadway in the “The Iceman Cometh”, “Emperor Jones”, “Golden Boy”, and in the title role of “Othello”.
Blackman operated an exercise studio on Ferry Street in New Hope, Bucks County. The studio’s facilities and programs included a gym, steam tables, massages, self-defense courses, and sun lamp treatments. A 1948 newspaper article wrote, “Blackman who operated a physical culture studio in New Hope, numbers among his clients some of the most famous people in the world. The theatrical and writers…frequent his studios.”
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Don Blackman, Instagram, Mercer/Fonthill Museums
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Creator
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Don Blackman
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Spatial Coverage
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New Hope, PA
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Contributor
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Mercer Museum/Bucks County Historical Society
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Identifier
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SC-22, 1723
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Date Created
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1947-1955
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Coverage
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Bucks County, PA
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Rights
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This material is subject to copyright law and is made available for private study, scholarship, and research purposes only.
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Subject
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Gymnasiums
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Physical fitness
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Exercise
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Business
