Iron History

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10/16/2008 Entry: "10/17/2008 - December 17, 1987 letter from Charles A. Smith to Joe"

Letter from Charles A. Smith to Joe Roark, December 13, 1987:

Dear Joe,
Thanks for yours of December 13th, which arrived here yesterday. Good as always to hear from you.

Not too much news from this end. Balik hasn�t written me nor has he phoned. It matters not that I write letters. He never answers them and thus discloses himself as an ill mannered schmuck. But both you and I have met�em.

[Roark note: Charles is seeing this situation only from his own viewpoint, and has no direct knowledge of how busy Balik was at this time. Keep in mind that at the beginning of 1987, John had bought Ironman magazine and was trying to enlarge its size and spread its circulation. I happen to be privy to a couple of problems John was having during that first year, and I fully understand that he had more pressing issues than replying to Charles� letters, so in no way should you interpret that because I present Charles� words that I agree with them. Later, as you will see, when I became very busy in my life and was working three and at one point four, jobs, Charles� ire was aimed at me for not replying as he thought I should. He had loads of extra time available so he had plenty of time to write. And, apparently thought others should respond promptly.]

Ah, the mistakes we make. And we all do. But mistake making is not without its benefits. At least, if we have an ounce of noodle matter we don�t make them again and are thus the wiser for the errors we are guilty of.

Now Willoughby NEVER but NEVER made mistakes. And if you disagreed with him over any matter, you were on his shit list for ever and aye.

Take for instance his bit you mentioned about Saxon appearing in the �OLD SOUTH LONDON ROAD.� He was in error here and repeating what he had read elsewhere. It should have been �THE OLD SOUTH LONDON MUSIC HALL� in the London Roard, a street leading out of the large nexus, or known as the Elephant and Castle. The music hall was also known as the CANTURBURY MUSIC HALL and Hack also appeared there. Typical working class place.

So much of what we read these days about the Old Timers is so much hog wash. It is stuff picked by comtemporories (sic) from blurbs or hype written years before.

Take for instance, Dave Chapman�s piece about Cyr in a recent MUSCLE AND FITNESS. In one section it tells of Cyr doing a SLOW PRESS two hands with 340 odd pounds. It also says he did a slow press with the right arm with 273? Pounds and the same poundage with the left. But nowhere does it explain what sort of slow presses Cyr did. He could have been bent back at right angles, pressing �slow� and the same with his right and left hand. So one is left with the impression that these one and two hand presses were MILITARY and I have seen it so written up. I would suspect that the one arm presses were side presses or devisse presses and the slow press with two hands was the old clean and push, once a BAWLA competition lift. Thus do legends get given birth- lousy construction there- and thus arguments arise and Willoughbys arise to cause more arguments.

So who�s perfect. Every dog has at least one flea.

Take the idiotic stuff written about the Wanking Wunder of Woodland Hills. How he invented this and that and how his first mag was mimeod, And people are believing it. Ugh.

I have never seem that copy of BODY BEAUTIFUL. That was one of Joe�s fag mags methinks. If I had ever known there was a likelihood of me showing up in that muck, I�d have raised holy hell. Are you sure it was Body Beautiful. If possible, and if no trouble, could you send me a stat of it- which I will return- so I can, for your info, let you know who is who?

I thought you had already been done and gone to see daughters and rejoice at the graduation of one from nursing school. I think I told you, my oldest grand daughter had graduated from U of T Business School and had already got her job with a department store TARGET as a management trainee staring at 18 thou 7 hundred a year.

By the by. Vera has landed herself a lush job with a nation wide health care service. She will be their trouble shooter in the Austin area and surrounding states. Her title is Field Supervisor and she will also instruct in cancer chemo therapy. The only thing that bothers her is the tons of paper work, which, like me, she hates, being a doer rather than a red tape artist. She starts January first and is quite excited about it and is happy that at least she is out of the Hospital close to me which she was hating.

[The conclusion of this letter will be next week.]