| Eugen Sandow | |
|---|---|
| Born | Friederich Wilhelm Müller April 2, 1867 Königsberg, Prussia |
| Died | October 14, 1925 (aged 58) London |
| Resting place | Putney Vale Cemetery |
| Known for | Bodybuilding |
Eugen Sandow (April 2, 1867 – October 14, 1925), born Friedrich Wilhelm Müller, was a Prussian pioneering bodybuilder known as the "father of modern bodybuilding".
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Sandow was born in Königsberg, Prussia on April 2, 1867. He left Prussia in 1885 to avoid military service and in 1889 he made his first appearance on the London stage.[1]
Florenz Ziegfeld knew that Maurice Grau had Sandow under a contract.[2] Ziegfeld wanted to display Sandow at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago.[3] Grau wanted $1,000 a week. Ziegfeld could not guarantee $1,000 a week but agreed to paying 10 per cent of the gross receipts.[2]
Ziegfeld found that the audience was more fascinated by Sandow's bulging muscles than by the amount of weight he was lifting, so Ziegfeld had Sandow perform poses which he dubbed "muscle display performances"... and the legendary strongman added these displays in addition to performing his feats of strength with barbells. He added chain-around-the-chest breaking and other colorful displays to Sandow's routine. Sandow quickly became Ziegfeld's first star.
In 1894, Sandow featured in a short film by the Edison Studios.[4] The film was of only part of the show and features him flexing his muscles rather than performing any feats of physical strength. While the content of the film reflects the audience attention being primarily focused on his appearance it made use of the unique capacities of the new medium. Film theorists have attributed the appeal being the striking image of a detailed image moving in synchrony, much like the example of the Lumière brothers' Repas de bébé where audiences were reportedly more impressed by the movement of trees swaying in the background than the events taking place in the foreground. In 1894, he appeared in a short Kinetoscope film that was part of the first commercial motion picture exhibition in history.
He created the Institute of Physical Culture, an early gymnasium for body builders in 1897.[1] [3]
In 1898 Sandow founded a monthly periodical, originally named Physical Culture and subsequently named Sandow's Magazine of Physical Culture.[5]
He held the first major bodybuilding contest at the Royal Albert Hall on September 14, 1901.[1] It was called the "Great Competition". It was judged by Sandow, athlete and sculptor Sir Charles Lawes, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.[6]
Sandow died in London on October 14, 1925 of a stroke at age 58.[7][8]
He was buried in an unmarked grave in Putney Vale Cemetery at the request of his wife, Blanche. In 2002, a gravestone and black marble plaque was added by Sandow admirer and author Thomas Manly. The inscription (in gold letters) read "Eugen Sandow, 1867-1925 the Father of Bodybuilding." In 2008, the grave was purchased by Chris Davies, Sandow's great-great-grandson.
Manly's items were replaced on the anniversary of Eugen Sandow's birth in 2008 and a new monument, a one and a half ton natural pink sandstone monolith was put in its place. The stone, simply inscribed "SANDOW" (in vertical letters), is a reference to the ancient Greek funerary monuments called steles.
He was befriended by the likes of King George V of the United Kingdom, Thomas Edison and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. He was portrayed by the actor Nat Pendleton in the Academy Award winning film The Great Ziegfeld (1936). Sandow's male lover for many years was classical pianist Martinus Sieveking, featuring him in his book Sandow's System of Physical Training. Sieveking toured with Sandow and lived with him in New York City for a time.[9]
As recognition of his contribution to the sport of bodybuilding, a bronze statue of Sandow sculpted by Frederick Pomeroy has been presented to the winner of the Mr. Olympia contest, a major professional bodybuilding competition sponsored by the International Federation of Bodybuilders, since 1977. This statue is simply known as "The Sandow".
In 1994, David L. Chapman published a biography, entitled Sandow the Magnificent - Eugen Sandow and the Beginnings of Bodybuilding, in which he contends that Sandow was gay or bisexual. In 2002, Thomas Manly published For The Love Of Eugen, a ghost story featuring Sandow as the leading character.
Sandow's resemblance to the physiques found on classical Greek and Roman sculpture was no accident, as he measured the statues in museums and helped to develop "The Grecian Ideal" as a formula for the "perfect physique." Sandow built his physique to the exact proportions of his Grecian Ideal, and is considered the father of modern bodybuilding, as one of the first athletes to intentionally develop his musculature to pre-determined dimensions. In his books Strength and How to Obtain It and Sandow's System of Physical Training, Sandow laid out specific prescriptions of weights and repetitions in order to achieve his ideal proportions.