Bernarr Macfadden

As I Knew Him

by Earle Liederman

THE sudden death of the "Real Father of Physical Culture" in his 87th year, rather causes me to feel like one of the few who are still left at the corner of the short remaining crossroads of life.

I knew Macfadden since the year 1905 which, to me, does not seem as long ago as reality reveals, for Time rushes by all too swiftly. It would fill a book to impart all of the events of his active life, yet if I mention a few casual episodes wherein I was linked to him in both business and social matters, it may prove of interest to those who looked upon his name as a legendary figure.

I recall in the years 1905 and 1906 when I was about to leap out of my teens, that I was engaged by Bernarr Macfadden to pose for many exercise pictures to illustrate a new muscle-resistance idea that he had conceived at the time. I also recall that I was very much run down physically during this particular period as I had been suffering from serious sickness all too often; also that my bodyweight had dropped to around 145 pounds or so. But that mattered little to Macfadden. He needed a model and somehow or other, he had heard of me, hence I was engaged at the stupendous sum of three dollars a sitting, or posing session. Three dollars in those days came in handy for me and, frankly, I was glad to get it, regardless of previous youthful pride of musculature that had lessened until I was but a shell of my former self. This posing was off and on for a few years and some of the pictures found their way into his encyclopedia which, today, is probably a collector's item.

We saw but little of each other during the following dozen years as I went into vaudeville while Macfadden stuck to his health foods, many restaurants, and, later, numerous publications. We caught up with each other again when I entered the physical culture profession myself during World War I, and used most of his mediums for my advertising. I remember it was around 1920 when he promoted a one-week physical culture show within the old Madison Square Garden, in New York City, and which has since been replaced by a new one now bearing the same name. It was then that Macfadden ran a $1,000. cash prize contest for men and also a similar one for women, in the endeavor to find physical perfection. I chanced to be appointed by him as a judge in two of his "side show" divisions, the "best teeth,"' and the "strongest teeth" contests. Prior to the opening of the big events, he had me scouting around for entrants for he wanted to stage as stupendous a show as possible. I was rather a failure at this part, for the only one I managed to get was a young lad known as Kenneth Terrell, who was seventeen at the time and a polar opposite from the magnificent physical specimen he turned out to be years later. Anyway, it was during the "strongest teeth" affair that Joseph Vitole, a young fellow of Greek extraction, performed a dead lift by teeth alone of 550 pounds! I doubt if this world's record has ever been broken. Joe told me that he could have lifted even more but he complained that he was afraid of injuring his neck as even the 550 lbs. hurt the back of his neck. He got $10. as first prize for the lift. And then there was the "best teeth" affair which I awarded to a 45 year old policeman despite the fact that Vitole had the more even teeth and which could be called "perfect." But I considered the age difference as I entertained the idea that Joe, who was less than half the winner's age, might lose a tooth before he became forty-five.

In the male physique contest, two shows were given daily--afternoon and night. There were seventeen entrants with but two or three outstanding fellows. The winner was to be declared "The world's most perfect man !" (How that ungrammatical superlative became inserted and to live on, is beyond me, yet such was the billing). As a whole, the contestants represented a mediocre lot if compared with our present day physique affairs. A crack lifter, Antone Matysek, from Baltimore, seemed to consider the events as a joke and cared little how he looked or posed. However, a young fellow, Angelo Siciliano, who called himself Charles Atlas, became the winner. He owned an imposing physique at the time and had enormous lats and wide thick pectorals, yet badly lacked proper lower body development. The contest, with its $1,0OO in awards, became a sharing proposition. The winner received $300. and the second place man got $200 while the third spot received $100. The remainder of the money was divided in lesser amounts and gradually dwindled to ten dollar cash prizes which I, myself, gave to the winners of the two teeth divisions, as previously mentioned.

There was also a women's contest to find the perfectly formed female. Another $1,000 in prizes was divided similarly to the men's contest, and this female affair was won by a lovely girl to whom $300. was given. The second place girl received $200. and the third got $100. while the rest of the money dwindled to the $10. awards for minor body-section divisions. The judging of the women's contest was most unique and rather rigid, for the entrants were required to enter a special room of rather large dimensions and parade in the absolute nude before the committee of selected judges, who were rather generous by extending special invitations to a number of friends as spectators. Well, so much for one of Bernarr Macfadden's promotions.

Macfadden was a congenial man, with very sharp and shrewd deep-set eyes that would disturb a guilty conscience, and above them he had a most unusual brain. It was always active, planning, scheming, dreaming and ever hopeful to revolutionize the world into rightful living. In that thought Macfadden possessed a wonderful purpose. He did much to improve the health of countless thousands and his vast army of followers was legion. Personally, I did not always agree with his principles, yet this is neither here nor there. Yet I did try his resistance training program for a while, only to learn that it made me nervous, as it consisted of pitting one set of muscles against the other and which, if intense concentrations were not prevalent, the amount of needed resistance waned and thereby it made the movements of little use.

Nor was I one of his followers in his advocations on vegetarianism as my own gastronomical inclinations seemed to always drift towards those proverbial flesh pots of Egypt.

I recall, on one occasion, around 1923, when he invited me to his home in New Jersey and which was about 25 miles from New York City. "Mac" used to often walk the distance with bare feet. However, on this particular occasion when I was to dine with his family and when my own appetite could consume a side of a cow, I was served a little oatmeal, salad and a glass of milk for the evening's repast. And it was during a raging blizzard, too! Anyway, I was deeply impressed at the sight of his small children in sleeping bags and outside on the porch who were in deep slumber while the snow fell upon their rosy cheeks. So, it proved another one of his methods for the obtainance of perfect health. And it somewhat proves that Macfadden's ideas had weight behind them.

He believed in a large family and he had one, I forget how many children he fathered, but it must have been eight or nine. I recall, one day, while visiting him at his New York office and when he proudly informed me of another addition to his family. He was 62 at the time. I jokingly kidded him as I asked him when he intended to quit having children. He replied that he would supply them as long as Mrs. Macfadden wanted them. Bernarr Macfadden was independent in his ways and absolutely disregarded all opinions of others. He dressed as he wished and it was not unusual, on a hot summer day, to enter his office and find him wearing nothing but a pair of shorts while working at his large desk. In such attire he received all visitors.

His physique was wiry yet slim and if compared with any of our unknown bodybuilders of today, he would not have had a chance to compete against them, either in lifting or in posing; and yet, he was impressive. His separation was intense -- all ligaments and sinews, and without an extra ounce of flesh covering any muscle. I once saw him pose before an audience within a special cabinet and under good lighting; he then looked considerably larger than he actually was. It was done prior to his delivery of a lecture, the subjects and advocations of which found no agreement with myself, but that is all another matter. All of us have the privilege to think whatever we wish and to exist exactly to our own choosing. Common logic within me made it impossible to agree with all of his impartations. But whether his principles were right or wrong, the fact still remains that he rested upon an 87th milestone which is more than I shall ever accomplish.

If I have written anything that may appear the least detrimental to this great pioneer of physical culture, I beg to be pardoned. I merely have endeavored to impart a few experiences and events that occurred between him and myself and which, I know, the world has never heard nor read.

Bernarr Macfadden did much good upon this earth and he left his notch high upon the Walls of Fame. He owned courage and followed his own convictions. He blazed a trail for countless thousands to follow and that alone is an achievement. His life was like strains of unforgettable music that flowed into the hearts and minds of the masses and it is a great loss that he has been beckoned to hear that great unknown symphony, the first note of which is sounded by Death!

PHOTO CAPTIONS

- Bodybuilding's Grand Old Man, Bernarr Macfadden seen shortly before he passed away, with professional mat man Marvin Mercer.