Physical culture for women in 1927, especially shoes

This photo of a billboard on the Duke University site ROAD (Resource of Outdoor Advertising Descriptions) caught my eye, because I really hadn't heard the term "Physical Culture" before. And now I'm thinking about physical fitness, especially as it pertains to women.

If you're already snickering, or giggling, I'm sorry, I've lost you. If you aren't, and understand that both men and women can be interested in physical fitness (or physical culture, as it says on the billboard), you'll see what I'm talking about.


Speaking for myself, I've always been an active and athletic man, and to me having intelligence isn't mutually exclusive with that. I've been fortunate enough to know a lot of wonderful women in my life who have enjoyed having a fit body, intelligence, and of course having stylish shoes. I'm no expert on women's shoes, but from what I've seen the more stylish a woman's shoe is, the less it works with physical fitness. And even for me, a man, when I started my corporate career, and wore dress shoes every day to work, I did everything I could to make them comfortable, like wearing flexible inserts inside of them. I also always made sure that the soles weren't slippery, that there was a firm arch, and that the heels didn't get run down.

Anyway, let's take a look around at the folks on the boardwalk today in 1927. They're getting good exercise - walking!



My eye immediately goes to the kid on the left, who's wearing what I always wanted to wear on the golf course, knickerbockers. His dad isn't actually holding his hand, he's holding his wrist, and it makes me think that the kid would be about to spring into action, maybe running over to look at the photographer, and dad is controlling him. I sure like their hats!

Note that he isn't looking at the little girls over on the right - at his age, he would have hated girls! I remember that age, where the boys teased each other about it. Seems to me there was a poem about "sittin' in a tree, K - I - S - S - I - N - G". That was in the '60s for me, I wonder if they said that back in the twenties?

It's July, so this is what people wore in the summer at the shore in New Jersey. It had to be comfortable enough to walk in, but respectable enough to be seen in.

I just love to walk, and when I lived in California there were a lot of places to stroll, like along the beach. Here in suburban Phoenix, where I live now, you hardly ever see anyone walking, maybe a few kids, but not much. The presumption is that when you see someone walking, their car has broken down, or they've had a DUI and can't drive for a while.

So, go get yourself some good shoes that are comfortable and stylish, and do some walking. If you don't have a boardwalk, or a strand, find a path in a park, or if the weather isn't very nice, you can walk around a mall. If anyone asks you what you're doing, you can say "Physical Culture!"

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