Around Town
Local Show Inspired to Promote Fitness by Popeye Campaign During the JFK Years
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In between the cartoons on my award winning television series, “Drawing With Fred,” you can watch actors Brandon Stumpf, Cuyle Carvin, Kazy Tauginas, Staff Sergeant Tom Lennon and model Eric Wessel flex their muscles after eating spinach or drinking milk. I was inspired to add brief fitness related segments to my show based upon a program conducted by Popeye announced on May 11, 1963 in The Daily Capital News from Jefferson City Missouri. The article stated; “Popeye the Sailor is putting all his muscles to work for the President’s physical fitness program. Station KRCC-TV announced the start of a campaign, the object of which is to get the theme, “fitness through exercise” over to the youngest children in the community. Curley Howser, host of “Showtime,” read a letter from Popeye on the air in which the famous cartoon hero said he’s gone into a month of vigorous training during which he’ll eat no spinach, just to show how strong exercise alone can make him. Popeye’s fitness test, consisting of pull-ups, sit ups and squat thrusts, is the one prescribed by the President’s Council on Physical Fitness under the John Kennedy’s Administration, which has given its approval to the Popeye campaign.