The Days Before Zumba Existed: Resurfaced Footage Shows 1950s Models Hilariously Trying To Stay In Shape By Balancing On Bongo Boards

By Rebecca Drew

WACKY video footage from the 1950s showing swimsuit-clad women working out on the beach on ingenious balance boards has resurfaced this week.

The black and white American newsreel footage shows a group of ten models mounting their wooden boards which are balanced on a cylindrical base with the aim of distributing their body weight whilst maintaining their balance to keep either end of the board off of the ground.

The gyrating women are seen struggling to stay on the ‘Bongo Boards’ as they wobble back and forth on the beach in Palo Alto, California, USA as Ed Herlihy narrates the scenes.

“Kind of a sawed off seesaw for one Margery Daw at a time. It’s easy enough to see how much it works but it’s quite a trick to make it work,” said Mr Herlihy.

“Models or just anybody interested in keeping in shape will find that by using bongo, bingo! Everything shapes up nicely.

“You don’t have to be good at figures to figure that out.”

The video concludes with the women falling to the ground with the narrator exclaiming: “the girls are falling for bongo.”

Bongo boards were created in 1952 by Stanley Washburn Jr. In the fifties, most women kept in shape by doing general household tasks but started using callisthenics to stay fit.

Approximately 10 percent of America’s population were obese during the 1950s compared to 35 percent of adults in 2012, according to the CDC.