Tunney, Gene – Arms for Living

Description

Tunney, Gene ‘Arms for Living’ 1941 1st ed. Wilfred Funk, Inc., New York. 279 pages. Good condition in a brand-new facsimile mylar protected dust jacket. INSCRIBED “To Phil Rubel, Gene Tunney.” The handwritten name and book stamp of longtime South African boxing collector/historian, J. Karel de Vries is also on the frontispiece. NOTE: An on-line query concerning Phil Rubel, produced the following response: “Phil Rubel was a prominent public figure in New York City’s amateur sports scene during the 1930s and 1940s. He was famously known as “The Brooklyn Postman”—working a grueling six-hour daily mail route before hitting the courts to play high-level competitive tennis. Who Was Phil Rubel?
• The Tennis Champion: Rubel was a star athlete in the public parks tennis circuits. His biggest claim to fame was winning the 1943 New York City Public Parks Tennis Championship. In 1945, he made headlines again by battling through a massive 1,100-player elimination tournament to defend his title in the finals at Central Park.
• The Elite Competitor: Because New York public courts drew some of the finest unranked and amateur talent in the country, Rubel frequently played in major regional tournaments. He routinely faced off against national tennis icons of the era, such as Grand Slam champion Jack Kramer and top-seeded Hall of Famer J. Gilbert Hall.

The Connection to Gene Tunney:
While Tunney was a heavyweight boxer, he was famously obsessed with overall athleticism, physical fitness, and high society sports. After retiring from the ring undefeated, Tunney lived in New York, rubbing shoulders with the city’s top athletic figures.
Because Arms for Living heavily emphasizes how hard work, discipline, and daily physical service shape a man’s character, “The Brooklyn Postman” who delivered mail for six hours a day and still out-trained elite tennis players was the absolute living embodiment of Tunney’s philosophy. Tunney likely gifted or inscribed the book to Rubel as a mutual sign of respect between two celebrated New York sports figures of the era.

Arms for Living is the 1941 autobiographical and instructional book written by Gene Tunney, the legendary undefeated world heavyweight boxing champion.
Unlike his first book, A Man Must Fight (1932)—which was a dry, round-by-round chronicle of his boxing matches—Arms for Living was written following advice from Tunney’s close friend, the playwright George Bernard Shaw, who urged him to “humanize” his writing and inject more emotion and life advice.

Core Theme & Content:
Published during the early days of World War II, the book functions as a hybrid of a personal memoir, physical fitness guide, and motivational text.
• The Concept: The title plays on the dual meaning of “arms”—referring both to military service/weapons and a man’s physical limbs.
• The Message: Subtitled How Army and Navy Service Can Give A Man Courage, Sportsmanship and Discipline, the book argues that military structure and physical training build character. Tunney details how his own service in the U.S. Marine Corps during World War I transformed him from a typewriter clerk into “The Fighting Marine” and ultimately a world champion.
• Fitness Component: The book includes a physical conditioning regimen. It features an illustrated 5-page section demonstrating the specific calisthenics and exercises that Tunney personally originated and designed for the U.S. Armed Forces to keep troops in peak physical condition and build wartime morale.

Physical Bibliographic Description (1941 First Edition):
• Publisher: Wilfred Funk, Inc., New York (1941)
• Length: 279 pages of text, supplemented by 5 pages of black-and-white fitness illustrations
• Binding: Hardcover bound in bright red cloth boards
• Dimensions: Approximately 8″ x 5.5″ x 1.25″
• Dust Jacket: The original dust jacket typically features a striking image of Tunney, with the title and author’s name prominently displayed on the front cover