Jack LaLanne Show, The

1 9 5 6 – 1 9 7 0 (USA)
30 minute episodes

One of TV’s longest-running exercise shows, The Jack LaLanne Show, began as a local San Francisco show in 1951 before going national as a syndicated show when he moved to Los Angeles five years later.

Dressed in a tight-fitting dark grey gym suit, LaLanne (born Francois Henri LaLanne) often used a chair to exercise (he called it “Trimnastics”) and regularly hawked his line of products and gym stores on the show.

Typically, LaLanne – who came to be known as the ‘godfather of fitness’ – barked out his instructions, including saying to children who were watching, “OK, kiddies, go get mama.” Dave Bacal played the organ music offstage, which accompanied La Lanne’s instructions.

After the show ended, LaLanne prepped 195 new shows for syndication in 1982, then popped up occasionally on various TV shows, including an infomercial and a commercial for America Online in the 1990s.

Jack LaLanne died on 23 January 2011 after a brief illness. He was 96.

Host
Jack LaLanne

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