KEYWORDS: HEALTH, KEEP FIT, MEDICINE.

Attitudes towards health in the Pathe era were simpler then they are today; basically, if you drank enough milk, you would probably be OK; hence we have lots of stories about milk for children and adults alike.

Exercise was also regarded as very cinematic, particularly if it involved large numbers of showgirls; the ever-popular mass exercise routine was filmed across the globe in many and various large open spaces, not least stadia, beaches and parks.

After the war the establishment of the NHS obviously featured quite heavily, as did the constant checking of the vital statistics of the nations cuddly kids.

There is also extensive coverage of several menaces that no longer threaten the western world but were of great alarm after the war; polio, diphtheria, small pox, tuberculosis, even the London Smog…

More dramatic, perhaps, were activities that are perceived today as decidedly unhealthy but were not even commented upon in the Pathe era; smoking competitions, chain smoking monkeys, hat cigarette holders, smoking babies, smoking in armour, even smoking magpies!

SOME HIGHLIGHTS

CP 284: "BEAUTY FARM" (Britain's first…)
CP 048: "ELECTRIC TEDDY BEAR" (a teddy bear with fake breathing helps children sleep).
CP 179: "PUB CLINIC" (a health visitor tutors mothers about children's health in the pub).
EP 195: "THE WHEEL OF LIFE"; (a very popular human size wheel is used for exercise).
PSP 936: "THE HOUSE WE LIVE IN" (a quirky item from 1936 about the human body).
EP 218: "THE MASSAGE ROBOT"
CP 605: "KEEP FIT CRAZE"
CP164: "DONKEY VISITS SICK FRIEND"
57/53: "COFFIN NAILS" (The 1957 Ministry of Health announcement about smoking and cancer).
NSP 291: "CIGARETTES" (In item that highlights how much tobacco is wasted in a fag end!)
NSP 534: "CIGARS" (Women seen smoking the new "Romance" cigar designed especially for them).
EP 109: "LADY NICOTINE'S LATEST" (1920s cigarette accessories)
44/45: "EAT MORE VEGETABLES!"
48/19: "COUGHS AND SNEEZES SPREAD DISEASES"
70/01: "FLU EPIDEMIC HITS LONDON
53/84: "THE SMOG MENACE"
58/61: "WANT TO SLIM, THEN EAT FAT"
50/40: "MISS BRITAIN KEEPS FIT - TO MUSIC" (Women's League of Health and Beauty perform)
53/40: "ATOMIC MEDICINE" (early radioactive cancer treatment)
57/78: "HEALING - MONOPOLY OR OPEN SHOP (1957 debate on alternative medicine)
69/87: "BABY CLINIC" (a clinic in Prague that encourages special exercises for babies…)

KEYWORDS: HEALTH, KEEP FIT, MEDICINE.