Charles Atlas and Short Wave Radios:
The married couple who introduced my mother and father also lived in San Francisco during that period of time. We went to visit them only one time that I remember. They lived in a large apartment building, a new form of housing to me. The building was 3 or 4 stories tall, had many units and a smell and presence about it I will never forget. Everything was old feeling, extremely clean, heavily carpeted and a long hallway filled with doors on each side provided a strange feeling. The smell was indescribable, not unpleasant I just cannot assimilate it with another recognizable smell. Mention of these people would probably not be here had the man not had a direct tie to the war effort. Two things got my attention, the first one brought discovery to the second. We were being shown a set of springs with handles at one end and the other end attached to the wall. They were sold by an outfit that sported the name “Charles Atlas”. The man would exercise his arms and upper body by pulling on these springs. At some point in time I saw the advertisement for “Charles Atlas” body building gear in the form of a comic type situation of scrawny looking guy sitting on the beach and a bully type guy kicking sand in his face; the fellow than uses Charles Atlas equipment to build up his body. This was a long running advertisement readily available on the backs of comic books and some magazines.
The WWII part came while being shown the equipment which was located in the bedroom. We then got to see inside a double door closet. There sat a short wave radio setup and a keyboard. This man sat for a period of time doing something that had to do with picking up messages from the enemy. It was a “hush-hush” conversation, brief and without any details. The closet was quickly shut and the subject never came up again.
louisiana-lady1937 
Hmmm. Atlas did not sell strength equipment . . . only bodyweight exercises known as Dynamic Tension. I think the man you are talking about was Earle Liederman.