The unofficial queen of Muscle Beach, Santa Monica's Abbye "Pudgy" Eville Stockton inspired thousands of women to join gyms and take up weight training in the 1940s and early 1950s in much the same way that John Grimek ushered in the modern era of men's bodybuilding. Before Stockton, there were a few professional strongwomen who trained with weights, but they were generally massively proportioned women who unintentionally helped perpetuate the myth that weight training would make women large, unattractive, and perhaps a trifle coarse. Stockton, with her glowing skin, shining hair, miraculous curves, and amazing strength, changed all that. At the end of the Depression, Stockton became emblematic of the new type of woman needed to win the war. Competent, feminine, strong, yet still traditionally sexy, Stockton became the media darling of Muscle Beach and famous around the world.

Abbye...