The origin of vintage beefcake has its multifarious roots in Mae West's popular burlesque show in the 1950's and 60's all the way back to the strongmen of the late 1800's. These massive men were considered freaks of nature, were typically semi-nude circus and sideshow performers, and dazzled audiences with their physical prowess across the United States, Australia and Europe.
Charles Atlas was born in 1892 as Angelo Siciliano and, during the first half of the twentieth century, was certainly a direct heir to the allure of the strongmen performers.
He was a massive, powerful man best remembered for his print ad campaigns that featured his fitness training regiments, the most memorable one promising to turn a ninety-seven-pound weakling into a hulk of a man no beach bully would dare kick sand into the face of.
I've included two versions of the same image of him and Anthony Sansone taken in the 1930's by Grace Selon of Art, titled "The Slave."
I could only imagine what people back then would have thought of today's steroidally poisoned behemoths!!
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