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so i have been trying to get back on the exercise bandwagon. it’s tough, really tough if you’ve been off it for long enough. but the soreness you experience the day after an intense session is pretty great and encouraging! by intense session i mean, 15 minutes of circuits and then lying on the floor feeling sorry for myself. don’t worry, i’ll get there.

the one thing i’ve never really been into is going to classes or exercising in any kind of group situation – i think introverts aren’t really into being around other people in the best of time, let alone getting sweaty around them. so when i saw this editorial from a 1938 issue of LIFE magazine about Rose Dor Farms, essentially an exercise & weight loss getaway, i realised this is a complete nightmare scenario for me. ???✨

funnily enough, these women seem like they are having a great time. i mean, exercise that involves hop scotch and rolling down a grassy knoll like a child? i guess that’s pretty awesome…

Now women whom the pace of modern life requires to look their best are turning increasingly to “milk farms” where strict diet and regular scientific exercise takes pounds off oversize figures. Typical of these in Rose Dor Farm up the Hudson River from New York where the setup is that of a swank country club and where regulation ten-day course includes three days of nothing but fruit and vegetable juices, a week of cultured milk and vegetables. Run by a young man called Bob Taplinger and his sisters, Rosalie and Doris, for whom the farm is named, Rose Dor Farms attracts not only stylish stouts but many a young girl who wants work off a few pounds to get that modelling job.

actually i think i’ll stick to my YouTube exercise videos, thanks.

Great vintage photos from a 1930s weight loss and exercise farm. Great vintage photos from a 1930s weight loss and exercise farm. Great vintage photos from a 1930s weight loss and exercise farm.

“Gym class is conducted by Swedish Physical director Steve Finan whose ministrations have modified the embonpoint of many a famed operatic star. Customers pay $5.50 a day for this sort of thing.”

Great vintage photos from a 1930s weight loss and exercise farm. Great vintage photos from a 1930s weight loss and exercise farm. Great vintage photos from a 1930s weight loss and exercise farm.

“Passive exercise for indolent clients permits them to lie quietly while Steven Finan deftly manipulates their limbs.”

Great vintage photos from a 1930s weight loss and exercise farm.
Great vintage photos from a 1930s weight loss and exercise farm. Great vintage photos from a 1930s weight loss and exercise farm.

Great vintage photos from a 1930s weight loss and exercise farm. Great vintage photos from a 1930s weight loss and exercise farm.

“Mat exercises calculated to recede hips and remove “widow’s humps” which form at the back of neck.”

Great vintage photos from a 1930s weight loss and exercise farm. Great vintage photos from a 1930s weight loss and exercise farm. Great vintage photos from a 1930s weight loss and exercise farm. Great vintage photos from a 1930s weight loss and exercise farm.

Great vintage photos from a 1930s weight loss and exercise farm. Great vintage photos from a 1930s weight loss and exercise farm. Great vintage photos from a 1930s weight loss and exercise farm.

Miss Moss

Hey! I'm Miss Moss. But you can call me Diana. This blog is a means of curating and sharing my love for visual treasures. Learn more about me here.

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