Stockton, Abbye (Pudgy) Eville, 1922-2006

Abbye “Pudgy" Eville Stockton (1917-2006) and Les Stockton (1916-2004)

Abbye “Pudgy" Stockton played a central role in popularizing physical culture and exercise for women. She was born Abbye Eville on August 11, 1917 and grew up in Santa Monica, CA. Upon her graduation from Santa Monica High School in 1935, Pudgy became a telephone operator for the local phone company, spending many hours each day sitting down. As a result, she began to gain a little more weight than she wanted. Her boyfriend and later her husband, Les Stockton, born October 29, 1916, performed as a gymnast on the UCLA Team and suggested that she start lifting weights, unheard of for women in the 1930s. After some initial reluctance, Abbye agreed and began using Les’ York Barbell Co. weights. Soon she transformed herself into an athletic dynamo and joined Les at the Original Muscle Beach in Santa Monica. There she participated in acrobatics, weightlifting and adagio (the throwing and catching of acrobats). Pudgy became one of the first women to ever lift weights to achieve fitness in the United States. She and Les married on July 14, 1941.

Pudgy quickly became a sensation and graced the covers of many magazines, including Bob Hoffman’s (United States weightlifting coach and founder of York Barbell Co.) Strength and Health . In 1944, Pudgy began writing a column entitled Barbelles in Strength and Health dedicated solely to weight training for women, an idea never before tried. In addition, Les became a sales representative for York Barbell Co. on the West Coast. Pudgy helped to organize the first ever weightlifting meet for women in the United States, held on February 28, 1947. Another fitness magazine of the time, Physical Culture , founded by Bernarr Macfadden, ran a Miss Physical Culture Venus contest which Pudgy won in 1948. Also in 1948, Pudgy and Les became proprietors of the Salon of Figure Development, a women’s gym inside Walt Marcyan’s Marcy House of Health. In 1950, the Stocktons opened side by side men’s and women’s gyms on Pico Blvd. in Los Angeles, expanding to another men’s gym with partner ( Mr. America and Mr. World 1950) John Farbotnik in Pasadena, CA, in 1952. Pudgy left the gym business from 1953 to 1960 to be with her and Les’ daughter, Laura Jeanne Stockton, born in May, 1953. From 1960 until 1983, Pudgy worked at Bruce Conner’s (fellow lifter and Muscle Beach acrobat) and later Al Hinds’ gym, retiring at the age of 66.

In the 1960s, Pudgy and Les began hiking in the hills surrounding Santa Monica and collecting butterflies, amassing one of the largest collections in the world. Pudgy received the Spirit of Muscle Beach Award on September 6, 1996 from Muscle Beach, Venice, CA. Les received a Muscle Beach Venice Award as well for sharing Pudgy with the world and being known as “Mr. Pudge." She and Les were also members of the (Original) Muscle Beach Alumni Association effort to get rings and other equipment reinstalled on the site in 1999. Les passed away on April 19, 2004, followed by Pudgy on June 26, 2006. Their Papers are a treasure trove of exciting people, places, times and events.

From the guide to the Abbye (Pudgy) Stockton Collection, 1922-2006, (H.J. Lutcher Stark Center for Physical Culture and Sports, The University of Texas at Austin)