1940s broads had body issues too, but at least they had their Kelpidine pep pills

It should come as no surprise to us that, as 1940s boys were trying to bulk themselves up, ladies were trying to slim themselves down. The surprise here comes when you realize what dames were ingesting to keep their trim figures. When I read what the brand name was for this diet product — Kelpidine — my first thought was “It sounds like it was made out of seaweed.”

It was.

“Fucus” is seaweed. And these pep pills — they were also marketed as chewing gum, and God only knows what they were laced with — had one heck of an exercise-free guarantee. I’m sure it was recommended to wash them down with snake oil.