Radio mirror (Nov 1935-Apr 1936)

RADIO MI RROR cleaning up and cooking does a housewife. And you can't cheat on rest, if you want to keep your voice clear. "A singer must have at least nine hours' sleep every night. Why, when 1 have a program on Sunday, I never go out on Saturday night. Even during the summer, 1 daren't take a chance cruising over night on our boat, the Melody; my sleep might be disturbed." Jimmy had a couple of months before his movie test. Having conquered the radio and concert fields, movies and opera are the two goals he's now shooting for. He's studying hard for the latter. It remained to prepare his body for the former. At that time, the banana and skimmed milk diet was all the rage. So Jimmy, of course, went on that. For a week, yes, a full week, with no cheating. AndMarjorie ate bananas and drank milk till she hated the sight of them. Not that she needed a diet, but just to keep Jimmy company, and show him she appreciated what a tough job it was. That didn't prove satisfactory. Jimmy lost only a couple of pounds. And he felt sick — really sick. Of course, his voice sounded thin and strained. So bananas and skimmed milk were out. Then, still experimenting, they hit upon another diet. Tomato juice and hardboiled eggs — for breakfast, lunch and dinner. One of Marjorie's friends had tried it and claimed it worked wonders. All it did for Jimmy was to make him feel weak, and as ravenously hungry as a wolf. Nothing daunted, they tried another stunt. For a few weeks, the Melton cupboard was bare of all butter, cream, sweets and starches. Then, for a week, Jimmy relaxed and ate the food of the pre-diet days. Then back on the rigorous diet. "After awhile," he said, "I got used to it and felt pretty good, but I wasn't losing enough. During the week I ate normally. I'd gain back most of the weight I'd lost the previous week." When the time came to take the motion picture test, Jimmy just hadn't lost enough weight. And he and Marjorie were heartbroken. "There was no use making a fool of myself," Jimmy told me soberly. "So I just didn't take the test. It was pretty tough, of course, when Marj and I had hoped and dreamed and planned so long for it, but," with a shrug of his shoulders, "that was that." A Melton never acknowledges defeat. And when two Meltons, Big Jimmy and Little Marjorie, make up their minds to lick something, it will be licked. Just give them a little time. Jimmy decided he had been all wrong. After all, he was a singer, not a doctor. His job is to sing an aria or a tender love song so we'll all enjoy it, not to dope out, by trial and error, a brand new Melton method of reduction. So to his doctor he went. First the doctor examined him. Heart, lungs, blood pressure, throat — everything was Okay. Then the fun began. "What he did to make me lose weight, you and anyone in good health can do. 'What's your height?' was his first question. " 'Six feet two/ 1 answered." With Jimmy's build, the doctor told him his normal weight should be about 185 pounds. " TDo you do any strenuous exercise?' he asked. 60 No More "Corporations" (Continued from page 31) " 'No, I exercise lightly. A bit of dancing, a bit of tennis and swimming, but not much.' ' 'Then you need seventeen calories of food a day for every pound of normal weight,' he explained. That would make it about 3145 calories a day if you want to maintain your present weight.' " But Jimmy didn't want to maintain that weight; he wanted to lose. So, as might be expected, the doctor told him to eat much less than this 3145 calories. By cutting down on his intake, he'd cut down his weight. Gradually, he reduced Jimmy to about 1899 calories a day. "He gave me a list of foods with their caloric content," Jimmy told me, "and he warned me against cutting out any type of food entirely. That was what I had been doing on my self-imposed diets, with the result that they weakened me and affected my voice. You have to have a balanced diet." Very little seasoning was used in preparing food. Salt was used in small doses, for it maintains fat by checking the flow of perspiration from the pores. Onions, too, were taboo. The doctor said it was a good idea for Jimmy to begin dinner with a fresh salad, an acid drink or cold Madrilene soup, to take the edge off his appetite. Then broiled chicken or lean meat or boiled fish — never fried — two green vegetables, and stewed fruit for dessert. Jimmy was to have plenty of water, whenever he wanted. Only it isn't healthy to wash food down with water instead of chewing it. Don't think it was easy for Jimmy to stick to the diet. There was the time, for example, when Jimmy and Marjorie were invited to a friend's for dinner. Now Jimmy couldn't afford to go off his diet, so he explained that if he came, all he'd have was some tomato juice. Jimmy thinks it's a help to have only fruit juices for a few days when you start your diet. He says you can drink all you want. It seems to shrink the tummy and loosen up the fat cells like nothing else does, and isn't at all uncomfortable. The friends said it was all right. But when Jimmy came, they spread before the hungry-eyed Meltons a regular feast. They had no tomato juice in the house. None at all. And they were amazed, yes, really insulted, when Jimmy stuck to his guns. Finally, they realized he meant what he said, and sent out for a bottle of tomato juice. Every week Jimmy has it all over again. The stars of the Pahriolive Beauty Box have formed a little lunch club, each taking turn standing treat. It's Jimmy's party every Tuesday. And he has to sit back and suck a lemon while they dive into rich, creamy pies and cakes. But he's back-slid only once. "Though the best way to get thin," he told me, "is not only to diet. You've got to have systematic exercise to help the good work along. If you can take time out for swimming and hiking and gym, that's swell. A half hour of swimming consumes 250 calories; an hour's brisk walk of four miles, 350 calories, and a half hour of tennis burns up 300 calories. But since I can't find time for these regularly, I do the next best thing and go to gym. "How 1 loathe gym," he said frankly. "This afternoon I stood on the corner of Madison Avenue for fifteen minutes thinking up reasons for playing hookey. But f knew Marj would see through them — so I went. I go at least three times a week." Not everyone can go to gym, so I thought I'd better ask Jimmy what exercise he does there. "I take the whole works," he grinned, "stationary bicycling to reduce my thighs and hips; punching the bag, a swell sport for making muscles in your chest and arms; medicine ball, sparring, mat exercises. About the best thing for reducing that bay-window is to lie on the floor and imitate a bicycle pumping away with your legs. Don't stop till you're good and stiff, and watch your tummy deflate. "Here's another you can do at home, if someone will help. Lie on your back and throw a medicine ball every which way. This is a devil of a job at first— it makes all those lazy muscles of your stomach get into action. And do you feel it the first few days!" Within six months, Jimmy was down to 184 pounds. And he passed the Warner Brothers test with flying colors. In fact, today he's in Hollywood making his first picture. So take a tip from him. Try his reducing method. And maybe the girl friend or your wife won't watch Clark Gable with such a rapt expression. You may again become a hero in her eyes. WEDNESDAYTOTAL CALORIES— 1550 Breakfast Calories Grapefruit juice 100 2 Strips bacon (small) 50 Toast 100 Coffee 50 300 Lunch Calories Vegetable soup (1 cup) 100 Toasted Cheese sandwich 250 Iced Tea 50 400 Dinner Calories Fruit cocktail 100 Meat loaf 200 Beets 50 Baked potato 100 Lettuce & tomato salad (mineral oil dr.) 50 Baked apple with honey 200 Glass milk 150 850 THURSDAY— TOTAL CALORIES— 1525 Breakfast Calories Half cantaloupe 75 4 Graham crackers and 200 Skimmed milk 50 325 Lunch Caloiies Bouillon 25 Omelette (2 eggs) 200 3 Crackers 75 Stewed rhubarb 150 450 Dinner Calories Tomato juice cocktail 50 2 Lamb chops (broiled) 200 Cole slaw 50 Squash 50 Spinach 50 Baked potato 100 Lemon ice 200 Coffee 50 750