Another ad from a 1930s newspaper, this time encouraging the malnourished ladies to take Kelp-a-Malt tablets to put on 5 pounds of firm flesh. This would be the pre-Twiggy days when people liked a little meat on their women. But not too much. That didn’t work either.

Bizarre. I always thought anything pre-1950 was so much more straight-laced, bathing suits that looked like wet suits and the like (at least mainstream stuff you’d find in a newspaper). Apparently not. (Though I suppose these sorts of ads might be just like today’s ads for L.A. Weight Loss and the what not that look just as creepy.)