Douglas Fairbanks talks about the benefits of the Swedish Swoboda exercise method

The way to keep fit while traveling, according to Douglas Fairbanks in 1930, is to exercise: Even if you have no equipment, you can imagine pulling the weights to train yourself. This is to achieve results according to the old Chinese proverb, "Eat sparingly, bathe often, so your body rests light on your soul."
Video clip taken from 1930's AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 MINUTES, a travelogue documentary made by Douglas with cinematic help from Victor Fleming, covering their travels in Japan, China, Hong Kong, Cambodia and then-Siam (Thailand). Interesting 1930s view upon the world from a Hollywood perspective. Surprised to find the movie not listed on Douglas' IMDB site; it is available at amazon www.amazon.com...

[@jubalcalif9100]

Fascinating clip ! Thank you for sharing ! Sounds like the late great Mr Fairbanks is talking about later would be called isometric exercises, which can be done anywhere, at any time, with no equipment. The body uses itself for resistance. He looks wonderfully fit here. Surprised he be felled by a fatal heart attack only about 10 yrs later (in 1939). One of Hollywood's true icons.

[@jackmorrison7379]

Having read a biography about the first King of Hollywood (his second wife Mary Pickford was the Queen) Douglas was always an exercise type of guy. Always fit as his ability to do stunts and leaps without a double will attest. I learned he had a trench below sidewalk grade built at his studio deep enough to jog in without clothes on. He believed the skin must breathe and practiced naked exercise (discretely of course). The trouble was though he did not drink much, he was a smoker. Later on in his fifties the actor suffered a sudden coronary event and died after his career had basically slowed to a crawl with the coming of sound pictures. He reconciled (mostly) with his actor son Fairbanks Jr. before his death, and his son was kind in his praise in the interviews I have seen.

[@davidtownsend1792]

Certainly looks very fit,

[@letitiafairbanks1919]

Douglas worked out every single day of his life, until the day he died.

[@Ontonaut]

Very cool. But Swoboda was Austrian, not Swedish

[@joewortell]

What was this from? And is there a way to see the full version? What is it called?

[@letitiafairbanks1919]

The documentary this is from is AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 MINUTES and is available at Amazon www.amazon.com/Around-World-Minutes-Douglas-Fairbanks/dp/B003F1Y29Q