Bobby Pandour was born Wladyslaw Kurcharczyk in Poland and trained as a gymnast. A name change and transition to theatrical strong man met with quite a bit of success, although he seems to have remained in the shadow of his contemporary Eugen Sandow. This was despite the generally acknowledged fact that his physical development matched that of his rival.
Well, he must genuinely have been strong to manhandle presumably a stump of wood like that... polystyrene had yet to be invented. I suppose it could have been papier-mâché, but let's not needlessly impugn his reputation as a cheat.
ReplyDeleteWell, he claimed to have done all that using by only using 10 pound weights and carrying his younger brother up and down the stairs.
DeleteA splendid physique. I'd probably go with papier-mâché, just for photographic work.
ReplyDeleteI agree.
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