Radio Digest (Nov 1930-Nov 1931)

63 Harry Glick mixes Chuckles and Exercise at WMCA % Miriel Allen r ~Y "T"HEN you're the world's \ J\ I welterweight wrestling cham^ y pion, you have to answer a lot of questions. The two j ost important ones are "How?" and rVhy?" — "How did you get so strong?' | id ''Why did you take up wrestling?'' I One lad has the answer to both quers. He's Harry Glick, the exuberant J r personality who conducts the "Seat |: Health" gym class over WMCA every • orning at 10.00 o'clock. "You, see, it's this way", says Harry i:or some reason nobody ever thinks I: calling him "Mr. Glick; he's such an II round good fellow) — "When I was a )ungster — well, we won't go into the nmily album that far back — but all i dding aside, at thirteen years of age i threw a scare into myself — and the irst of the family — by having a serious i tack of heart trouble. The doctor's rrrdict was. "Don't have another or you'll be sorry.' That nearly took the ick out of me, and for the next seven :ars, while I was learning all about Jaesar's Gallic War and the shortest dis! nee between two points, I wasn't even 'lowed to run a foot race. When I reached the age of twenty I ■ lebrated the event by contracting Li.eumatism, and if you think that's any tin, even after you pass the eightieth ilestone, you're very much mistaken, i addition to being wrecked in pain, I as as mad as the proverbial March hare. 4 \ r 1 r 7 Harry Glick Right there and then I made up my mind that I would become physically strong if it was the only thing I accomplished in life. So when the neighborhood gang went out to have a good time, I went down into the basement and started rigging up a gym. I made parallel bars out of my mother's old broom handles and a trapeze out of a discarded curtain pole. A friend of mine, an old 'salt', had taught me how to splice ropes. I made flying rings out of an old set of quoits and strung them from the ceiling. "Being an omnivorous — I guess that's Do you want to reduce? Do you want to build yourself up physically ? Are there any other health questions on your mind? Harry Glick will be glad to help you. Simply write to Harry Glick, care of Radio Digest, 420 Lexington Ave., New York, N. Y., and he will give personal consideration to your particular problem. a good word, eh? — reader, I studied everything I could lay my hands on that had anything to do with physical culture — and what is more, I consistently put it into practice. Gradually my health began to improve and the gnawing rheumatic pains abated. "A little later I joined the gym of the local Y. M. C. A. and while standing along the ropes one night watching a wrestling match, someone pushed me forward on the mat with the words, 'Go on, kid, let's see what you can do.' I wouldn't welch, so I went through with it — and floored my man. I had known nothing about the technique of wrestling, but the sport fascinated me from that time on. My muscles were now as strong as iron and my whole physique had improved. "And then — the big scrap — on the other side, I mean. I was in the 27th A. E. F. (the fact that I passed that physical examination is proof of my general condition). Somehow fighting got to be a habit with us 'Over There' and along with the rest of the battles we went through, I had the good fortune to win welter and middleweight wrestling championships in my division. "And when we came back — well, I literally threw my hat into the ring — and that's that." "You mean, that's all?" "Well, nearly all. I had a taste of the stage as a Russian dancer with Natacha Nattova; a turn before the kliegs with Adolphe Menjou, and every once in a (Continued on page 05) Harry Glick's "Seat of Health" Class at Brighton Beach. Left foreground, Gus Van; center, Harry Glick and, right, Billy Snyder