Iron History

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10/23/2003 Entry: "Oct 24, 2003"

Letter from Charles A. Smith to Joe Roark, March 5, 1986:

I don't mind in the least you giving my name to David Chapman, so send it along to him and tell him I'll help in any way I can. Perhaps I can explain the workings of the [Todd-McLean] Collection and delve into what we have and give him some info and let him have what he wants. I see no objection from the Todds in doing this since I am employed by the UNIVERSITY and NOT by them and in any case I don't think they'd raise any objections at all. I am sure he doesn't know everything there is to be known about the "Great" Eugene, who by some accounts I have heard was a real right bastard with the typical upper class German arrogance. Maybe I might open his eyes. So give him my address, assure him I'll promptly answer any and every letter he wants to write me.

As to Ken Hutchins, he is in trouble with those mags of his unless he is told how to store them and how they should be handled. Now I do know a LITTLE about handling old documents- I've had plenty pass through my hands these last two years- it's been that long since I started up at the collection and I CAN help him. It might also be good for the Nautilus people to have their balloon pricked a bit since they DIDN'T entirely invent all those weird and wonderful machine they think they did. More on NOTHING BEING NEW later.

That out of the way, now to business. Sig Klein is very very ill and back in hospital again. Taking into account the type of operation he has had and what for, Vera says it doesn't look good at all. If prayer would do any good I'd be on my knees twenty four hours a day. But since I'm a non believer, all I can do I guess is to HOPE for a miracle and if that doesn't come along, a quiet and easy death with no bother to Sig or his loved ones. I do know his wife Grace is not well at all and hasn't been for some time. Where his daughter is I don't know but think she is somewhere in the NYC area.

I have been trying for some time to find out how Bobby Pandour got his name- it isn't his right one but his stage name. I have his birth name but it is Polish and hardly pronounceable. I called all over the place, finally hitting the wonderful reference section of our library. I said the name sounded like Croatian but even then they couldn't run it down. Finally I had a positively and absolutely brilliant idea. Why not look in your Oxford dictionary. I did, and there it was. Pandour, and it means either a MOUNTED POLICEMAN or a skilled and fierce foot soldier.

I was also going through some old newspaper cuttings the other day and came across something wonderful about Katie Sandwina. Something I didn't know and haven't even heard of as rumor. It was her obituary. There was no date on it- usually Ottley shoves dates on all his stuff- and I worked out a rough date of the middle fifties, possibly around 1957. It gave the names of her parents as PHILLIP AND JOHANNAH NOCK. Katie died at the age- so it said in the paper- of 68. It then gave the parents names as above, said they ran a circus named Circus SANDWINA and Katie had begun performing as an acrobat and trapeze artist at the AGE OF TWO. That she achieved prominence at the age of 14 when she appeared in a show run by Sigmund Breitbart and became famous then. She and her husband Max Heyman had given up the beer joint they ran in Brooklyn and had retired to the borough of Queens but Katie died in the MONTEFIORE HOSPITAL. Now, this hospital is in the borough of the Bronx and not far from where Harriet and I lived.

It is a hospital run by Jewish Charities and is pretty well known for its cancer care clinic and treatment center for that disease. Since the borough of Queens is some VERY considerable distance from the Bronx I can only conclude that she went therefore cancer treatment. But what puzzles me is where did the name BRIMBACH- which most people regard as her maiden name- come from. It is possible that she legally adopted the name of Sandwina as so many performing artistes did- like Sandow. But BRUMBACH. Where did that come from if her parents names were NOCK. Or was her real name Brumbach, and she was adopted by the NOCKS? A mystery which I will unravel. You know my methods Watson.

I'd have a little fun with Bob XXX if I were in your place. I'd tell him I did dig down in the basement and came up with two mammoth teeth and a box of condoms dated 1857. Since these articles didn't come into use until around the late 1600s early 1700's and in Italy in theform of fish bladders, this should give him something to ponder over and probably have him start a feud against the Roarks when he found out finally you had been ying yanging him around.

By the way my check will be sent to you for renewal of my sub soon. I don't exactly cotton to hand outs. So for the informed I have sent you- Geschaft ist Geschaft- you owe me ten thousand and two dollars and 23 cents, plus a gallon of tuitti fruiti ice cream and a new shirt. You won't be free loading off me. I INVITED YOU. That lets you off the hook. If you feel in any way obligated, an occasional can of that nasty stuff which some barbarians refer to as beer will suffice, plus an occasional Chinese if you will. Woman that is. Best pieces in the world.

Joe [Weider] would call me Charlie and every time he did I gave birth to a tin of jam. I hated it. Don't know why. Always have been called Chas or Charles of Smithy. My secretary always called my Charles. Since she was a good looking lump of crackling I didn't object.

I didn't know Louis Abele was dead. Is he? We have little on hand about him apart from what's in the mags. I visited him during the war when our cruiser was on the Brooklyn Navy Yard for repairs after the Battle of Crete. Nice guy. But someone told me recently that he was still alive. If so, he can't be more than seventy TOPS. So far as I know he was born in Wurtemberg, Germany, and when I was in Philly, he took me to his home and I met his dad who was a pretty well to do contractor and spoke a very broken English. Abele was a straight guy- honest that is and not given to the type of bullshit that's heaved around in all directions these days. His name was pronounced with the accent on the last E: Abel-ee. That was how he pronounced it. And those lifts that Abele performed in 1947 I was probably a judge at or a referee or some such. I was an official at several meets he took part in. Powerful kid. Hope his death isn't. I'd very much like to contact him after more than thirty years.

I had a very nice letter from Bob Kennedy of MMI and he wants me to write more for him. He said the bit I did on Weider was the best article he had read. I got so piss proud over this that I was insufferable for the next 48 hours. He proposed several items- one on Grimek, one on Hoffman and others which I said I'd gladly do. So I think I'll start off with one on the Glow. He deserved it.

I don't think Klein thought too much of Jowett although he did recognize that he was a very powerful man. He saw - so he told me- Jowett do a one hand military with a 100 and comfortably. But Jowett spoinled what good he did - just like the XXX- by claiming things that were born of the brains of others. And titles he had never won and pupils who never were his. Does he sound like he has a modern counterpart, Need I ask?

Now who in the HELL is T. Derek Sobel. I have never heard of him and can't recall reading any of his articles- and obviously if I had read such then I would have heard of him. And WHO in the hell is nominating him for the Hall of Fame? So far as being one of the greatest BB writers- and note I said ONE of them- I think I am as much entitled to that as anyone. My mistake however was to STOP writing and thus creating such a gap between then and now.

No one ever called [Alan] Mead ANYTHING but MR. NEVER NEVER ALAN. Now you can't possibly understand why since you are from a different culture and not British. Understand that Mead was 'UPPER CLASS' and such was the class distinction in even the late twenties and earlythirties that no working class person would EVER think of calling a person of the upper classes by any address than MR. In addition to this Mead was a Barrister, a professional man- substitute the word Attorney at Law for Barrister since the legal system- apart from the fact that the American Law is based on British Common law- is different in the U.S. than the UK.

Who the hell is nominating T. Derek Sobel as the greatest bodybuilding writer of thiscentury, Crazy.

About all for the nonce. Best of everything to you and yours. Chas

This note from MMI Feb 1986 p 9 "Ted Derek Sobel was recently given a plaque recognizing him as the 'Most talented and popular author the weight world has ever known." Unless Mr. Sobel wrote under some other names, I can account for only 60 or so articles by him in the muscle mags, and must concur with Charles' feeling about the merit of the award. Webster, Willoughby, Chapman, Gaudreau, Smith, Wayne, Tyler, and many many many many many more names should be honored thus before Mr. Sobel, in my opinion.

I'll bet Charles is kickin! See you Oct 31!