Back then 270-280 pounds was sideshow freak big. It wasn’t long after the Great Depression, after all. Now, we are so used to seeing obese people everywhere in the US, it doesn’t seem as shockingly huge. But when people come to the US from other countries, they are surprised by the number of fat, fat people out and about. Chairs were smaller and flimsier then, seats on buses and movie theaters, everything, were narrower and smaller overall. Certainly Wolfe, who was wealthy, would have a strong and comfortable custom chair built for him.
I’ve got the complete Wolfe collection languishing in storage while I care for my elderly parent in Florida. I’m planning to do a binge read of all of them on a snowbound week once I am able to move back north again.