On July 17th I caught a screening of Blake Edwards‘ Experiment in Terror (1962) at the Aero theatre. It was part of an ongoing Blake Edwards retrospective.

One of the stand-outs was a scene at a public swimming pool. It’s mostly about the then-19-year-old Stephanie Powers, portraying the younger sister of stalker-victim Lee Remick, and some athletic, crew-cut dude chatting poolside. Almost all the people seen swimming and walking around in bathing suits are high-school age or slightly older or younger.

Something about this scene seemed “different” but I couldn’t figure what it was. Then it hit me — all the kids in this scene, which was shot some 47 years ago, were thin, muscular, in good shape. No Jabbas or beefy bods or guys with bigger boobs than some of the girls, which is absolutely what you’ll see today if you go to a public pool or beach. American attitudes about diet and keeping in shape were healthier back then. Kids walked and played more, sat around a lot less, and ate less in the way of chili dogs, ice cream and heaping bowls of Velveeta cheese nachos.