Summary
In an era where the silhouette began to dictate social standing, Mrs. Gobler embarks on a crusade against her own corpulence. This early cinematic curiosity dissects the burgeoning obsession with the physical form as our protagonist seeks the counsel of a dietary disciplinarian. The physician's mandate is a draconian proscription of the four horsemen of the Edwardian pantry: pork, candy, white bread, and potatoes. What follows is a rhythmic, almost ritualistic descent into the 'tummy twist' and the stinging embrace of the alcohol rub. While her husband serves as a derisive chorus, mocking her undulating efforts from the sidelines, the narrative pivots on the cold veracity of the weighing scale. After five months of ascetic devotion, Mrs. Gobler emerges thirty pounds lighter, only to be met with a philosophical gut-punch. When she inquires about the permanence of her newfound litheness, the doctor equates beauty not to a fixed monument, but to the transient hygiene of a bath—a fleeting state requiring perpetual vigilance.
Synopsis
Mrs. Gobler determines to reduce her waist line and accordingly goes to an expert and gets the following advice: "The enemies of beauty are pork, candy, white bread and potatoes." Besides this she is instructed in the alcohol rub and "the tummy twist." Her skeptical husband watches her do these exercises and laughs, but at the end of five months the scales show a reduction of thirty pounds. Then she asks the doctor if it is permanent but he replies: "No lady, neither is a bath."
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