Just To Show That He Could Vintage Strongmen In Action

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1 of 15A man drives an automobile with three other passengers over two planks which are laid across the back of a strongman. Circa 1925. George Rinhart/Corbis via Getty Images 2 of 15A strongman in the French Army lifts a cannon overhead along with three of his comrades astride it. France. Circa mid-to-late 1910s. Underwood Archives/Getty Images 3 of 15Strongman and vaudeville performer Orville Stamm, 17, with his assistant. In addition to bearing the weight, Stamm would also sing. 1914.The Deseret News/Wikimedia Commons 4 of 15Greek strongman Gus Lessis holds an 800 lb. rock on his chest as a man prepares to smash it to bits. New York City. April 9, 1926. Underwood Archives/Getty Images 5 of 15The 14-year-old “Boy Samson” of Coventry, England supports a 200-pound motorcycle and its rider. May 28, 1932.Fox Photos/Getty Images 6 of 15A circus strongman trains with two airplanes. Berlin. June 1930.German Federal Archives/Wikimedia Commons 7 of 15George Challard of Woolwich, England allows a companion to bend a piece of iron around his neck. March 18, 1935.Fox Photos/Getty Images 8 of 15"Ivan the Great," said to be the world’s strongest man, makes his American debut by letting five couples dance on a plank held up by his chest. New York City. December 17, 1924.George Rinhart/Corbis via Getty Images 9 of 15Seven young women compete in a tug of war competition with one man who is holding on with his teeth. Circa 1925.George Rinhart/Corbis via Getty Images 10 of 15A circus strongman supports ten people on a plank. Brisbane, Australia. 1903.The Queenslander/Getty Images 11 of 15Circus performer Alexander Marshal, lifts two women as they cling to a steel bar which rests across his mouth. Date unspecified.Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images 12 of 15Polish “giant” Sigmund Breithart lies beneath a “motordrome” in which two men ride motorcycles at top speed. Date unspecified.Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images 13 of 15Circus strongman “Stefan” demonstrates his strength by towing a motorcar with his teeth in Berlin. Circa 1925.FPG/Hulton Archive/Getty Images 14 of 15Featherweight 115-pound strongman Andre Reverdy performs the “Old Ironsides” stunt, in which he supports several woman on his torso. New York City. Date unspecified.George Rinhart/Corbis via Getty Images 15 of 15Like this gallery?Share it:

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“Just to Show That He Could”: Vintage Strongmen In Action View Gallery

The line between genuine bodybuilding as we know it today and circus “strongman” charlatanism was hopelessly blurry at the turn of the 20th century. But before men like Charles Atlas brought serious strength training out from underneath the big top, dangerous exhibits mixing strength and deception were how the public came to know the sport.

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1 of 15A man drives an automobile with three other passengers over two planks which are laid across the back of a strongman. Circa 1925. George Rinhart/Corbis via Getty Images

2 of 15A strongman in the French Army lifts a cannon overhead along with three of his comrades astride it. France. Circa mid-to-late 1910s. Underwood Archives/Getty Images

3 of 15Strongman and vaudeville performer Orville Stamm, 17, with his assistant. In addition to bearing the weight, Stamm would also sing. 1914.The Deseret News/Wikimedia Commons

4 of 15Greek strongman Gus Lessis holds an 800 lb. rock on his chest as a man prepares to smash it to bits. New York City. April 9, 1926. Underwood Archives/Getty Images

5 of 15The 14-year-old “Boy Samson” of Coventry, England supports a 200-pound motorcycle and its rider. May 28, 1932.Fox Photos/Getty Images

6 of 15A circus strongman trains with two airplanes. Berlin. June 1930.German Federal Archives/Wikimedia Commons

7 of 15George Challard of Woolwich, England allows a companion to bend a piece of iron around his neck. March 18, 1935.Fox Photos/Getty Images

8 of 15"Ivan the Great," said to be the world’s strongest man, makes his American debut by letting five couples dance on a plank held up by his chest. New York City. December 17, 1924.George Rinhart/Corbis via Getty Images

9 of 15Seven young women compete in a tug of war competition with one man who is holding on with his teeth. Circa 1925.George Rinhart/Corbis via Getty Images

10 of 15A circus strongman supports ten people on a plank. Brisbane, Australia. 1903.The Queenslander/Getty Images

11 of 15Circus performer Alexander Marshal, lifts two women as they cling to a steel bar which rests across his mouth. Date unspecified.Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images

12 of 15Polish “giant” Sigmund Breithart lies beneath a “motordrome” in which two men ride motorcycles at top speed. Date unspecified.Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images

13 of 15Circus strongman “Stefan” demonstrates his strength by towing a motorcar with his teeth in Berlin. Circa 1925.FPG/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

14 of 15Featherweight 115-pound strongman Andre Reverdy performs the “Old Ironsides” stunt, in which he supports several woman on his torso. New York City. Date unspecified.George Rinhart/Corbis via Getty Images

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“Just to Show That He Could”: Vintage Strongmen In Action View Gallery

“Just to Show That He Could”: Vintage Strongmen In Action

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Today, despite the relatively brief grip that such strongmen had on the popular imagination, the images remain fascinating: the barbells with globular ends of an indeterminate weight; the cheetah-print outfit borrowed from Tarzan; the alleged feats of strength that resembled, in pomp and in practice, the large-scale magic acts also popular at the time.

But this kind of act wasn’t a fin de siècle innovation, as Burkhard Bilger observes in his 2012 The New Yorker article “The Strongest Man in the World,” which, in part, artfully explores the link between these vintage strongmen and the caber-tossing ESPN strongmen of more recent vintage (and far more imposing girth).

As Bilger notes:

But the beginnings of strongman theatricality displayed in the gallery above were, perhaps, pioneered by an Englishman named Thomas Topham in the 1730s. The photographs of the 20th-century performers above — some anonymous or forgotten, others legendary — are impressive, if likely staged or faked in some way. But, allegedly, they had nothing on Topham. According to one playbill from 1736:

But claims like this, or titles such as “World’s Strongest Man,” as Bilger notes, were “of cheap coinage in those days.” After all, “no circus ever made a shilling claiming to have the second strongest.”

Next, check out these vintage circus photos from the glory days of the big top. Then, explore some truly weird Olympic sports of decades past.