American Studies Senior Work

Introduction & Sentence Outline

When Prussian-born strongman, Eugen Sandow, arrived in the United States for the first time in 1893 Americans were fascinated by his “perfect” muscular body and his feats of strength. In recent years, Sandow has attracted the attention of scholars of American culture, who have speculated about the reasons for his success. They argue that Sandow was the embodiment of muscular manhood at a time when American men were particularly anxious and insecure, and needed to rediscover their masculinity. Yet Sandow’s celebrity was grounded in Vaudeville, whose promoters catered in particular to the respectable female consumer: his engagement with his female audience has been overshadowed and misinterpreted. Sandow was an international celebrity who was exceptionally skilled in the art of self-promotion and publicity. His appeal to women was based, not on eroticism, but on the various ways in which he projected his public persona: He cultivated the image of a gentleman, and simultaneously assumed the guise of a work of art in the Classical style, an object worthy of scientific study, and a medical expert who gave lectures about human anatomy and advice on healthy living and physical culture. Contemporary views about women’s intrinsic nature ensured that the display of his almost naked body was perceived to be acceptable for respectable female consumption.

 

PART 1: SANDOW’S APPEAL TO MEN: a review of the existing literature.

 

1. CLAIM: Eugen Sandow appealed to men in late nineteenth century America as the embodiment of muscular manhood at a time when masculinity was “in crisis”.

 

1. Reason: Men were worried because of changes in the understanding of masculinity.

i.     Evidence: In this period, manhood came to be judged by success in the sphere of work, success that was measured by wealth and social mobility. Manhood had to be repeatedly demonstrated, leading to fear of failure.

 

1. Reason: Men were anxious because of conflicts about their sexuality. A man achieved “manliness” only by the suppression of his aggressive instincts and sexual urges. Marriage to a pure woman helped him to control his animal nature. Yet control must not go too far, otherwise it would undermine his manhood. A man must therefore be neither too strong nor too weak, a balance that was hard to achieve.

i.     Evidence: There was a mania for self-control, centered on sexual desire and how to avoid the temptation of masturbation – this was demonstrated by the many advertisements for “cures” for masturbation, and for those men whose self-control had become too dominant, treatments for impotence.

 

1. Reason: Men were insecure because they faced increasing competition for jobs.

i.     Evidence: Increasing numbers of European immigrants were arriving in the US and black people were migrating from the southern states to northern cities in search of work. Also women were beginning to move outside the home and compete for jobs in offices and the professions.

 

1. Reason: Men felt unsettled because of job insecurity.

i.     Evidence: A recurring round of economic depressions between 1873 and 1896 led to thousands of bankruptcies. This was also an era of labor unrest.

 

1. Reason: Men were concerned about the feminization of American society.

i.     Evidence: Young boys had little contact with their fathers (men and women operated in “separate spheres”). Boys were taught by their mothers and by female teachers. Many men also thought the Church had become feminized – this led to the rise of “Muscular Christianity”.

 

1. Reason: Men felt insecure because of changes in women’s role.

i.     Evidence: Women were not only moving into education and the workplace; they were also agitating for the vote.

 

1. Reason: Men felt anxious because of the strain of urban life.

i.     Evidence: A significant number of middle class men developed the symptoms of neurasthenia (“American nervousness”) that was said to be due to the pressures of urban living, new technology, and excessive brainwork.

 

1. Reason: Men felt worried because of the change in the nature of their work.

i.     Evidence: Instead of being independent small farmers or tradesmen, many men worked in factories or offices where modern management methods led to alienation and loss of control.

 

1. Reason: Men felt restless because there were fewer opportunities to start afresh and escape from the confining pressures of marriage or urban living.

i.     Evidence: In 1893, Frederick Jackson Turner announced the closure of the Frontier.

 

1. Reason: Men felt uneasy because of the emergence of a visible gay male subculture in many large American cities in the late nineteenth century.

i.     Evidence: Men became fanatical in their avoidance of feminine traits or appearance. New words such as “pussyfoot” and “sissy” came into common use.

 

 

2. CLAIM: Men needed to rediscover their lost manhood, and one way to do this was through exercise, sport, and in particular, body building. Middle class men’s new fascination with muscularity allowed Sandow to make a fortune.

 

1. Reason: in the late nineteenth century physical strength came to be seen as the foundation of male character.

i.     Evidence: Sportsand physical culture (especially bodybuilding) became a “mania” (Rotundo, Pleck & Pleck).

ii.     Evidence:  When Luther Gulick became head of the gymnasium department of the YMCA Springfield Training School in the 1880’s, he wanted to create a “manly boy”, a combination of physical hardiness with Christian morality and duty. Physical culture became a major part of the YMCA program.

 

1. Reason: Men became increasingly concerned about muscular body image.

i.     Evidence: In the 1860’s, the middle class had seen the ideal male body as tall and lean. By the 1890’s, however, an ideal male body required physical bulk and well-defined muscles.A study of magazine articles revealed that by the end of the century, heroes were most often described in physical terms, with an emphasis on their physical size and strength.

 

PART II: SANDOW’S APPEAL TO WOMEN: original research with reference to existing scholarship.

 

It is clear that the emphasis of the sources quoted in Part I is on Sandow as “an icon of the hyper-masculine” for American males, a self-made man who resonated with the cultural forces of the day. What was the basis for Sandow’s appeal to women?

 

3. CLAIM: While both Kasson, and Sandow’s biographer, Chapman, suggest that women found Sandow’s performances erotic, the evidence indicates that his stage appearances were devoid of sexual innuendo.

 

1. Reason. It is true that deliberately scandalous illustrations of Sandow’s private receptions published in 1894 in the National Police Gazette and Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Weekly create an impression of sexually charged encounters, but primary written sources suggest otherwise.

i.     Evidence: The written reports accompanying the illustrations describe the women as timid rather than excited.

 

1. Reason: Women who attended his private performances perceived no sexual element to his performances.

i.     Evidence: When Sandow posed for a private meeting of a Sketch Club in San Francisco in 1894, the female-only audience described the experience (quoted in the Morning Call):

• “Why, Sandow, at that distance from the footlights had exactly the effect of a statue. He never left his pedestal, and never even inflated his lungs”.
• “The whole lecture and the brief posing were conducted with the utmost modesty”.
• “He presented an infinitely more modest spectacle than an ordinary man in a bathing suit”.

 

4. CLAIM:  Sandow’s popularity with women was based on the many and varied ways in which he projected his public persona.

 

1. Reason: Sandow was a national celebrity who was exceptionally skilled at self-promotion and publicity.

i.     Evidence: Souvenir photographs were a thriving industry in the second half of the nineteenth century and, like many other celebrities of his era, Sandow posed for several well-known theatrical photographers including Benjamin J Falk and Napoleon Sarony. (Library of Congress photographs of Sandow). These photographs were sold (often mounted as “cabinet cards”) by mail order, and at the theaters where Sandow performed (San Francisco Chronicle). They were also used in magazine and newspaper articles.

ii.     Evidence: In 1894, he featured in one of Thomas Edison’s early kinetoscope filmstrips, which show him posing, contracting his muscles and performing a back-flip from a standing position (Library of Congress, and Wonders of the Kinetoscope)

iii.     Evidence:  Sandow toured around America as part of Florenz Ziegfield Jr’s Trocadero company and publicized his regular Vaudeville performances by arranging private receptions to which prominent citizens including local physicians were invited (for example, “The Strong Man Appears”, New York Times June 12, 1893).

iv.     Evidence: To increase interest in his performances, Sandow arranged various staged events such as the occasion in San Francisco when he fought with a lion (Newspaper report).

 

1. Reason: Sandow assumed the guise of a well-bred, respectable gentleman.

i.     Evidence: Sandow writes in his autobiography that his father was a “prosperous jeweler” whereas there is some evidence that he was in fact a market trader who sold fruit and vegetables.

ii.     Evidence: In articles and advertisements in newspapers, books and magazines, Sandow took care to include photographs in which he is wearing the clothes of a gentleman, – topcoat, starched collar, waistcoat, fob watch, or evening dress with a flower in his button hole (Frontispiece of Sandow on Physical Training, Cosmopolitan: “How to Preserve Health and Attain Strength”, San Francisco Call: “Making a Woman Athlete”, Strength and How to Obtain It, 32).

 

1. Reason: Sandow projected himself not as a sex object, but as a work of art in the classical style, to be admired in an objective way as a thing of beauty.

i.     Evidence: In his books, Strength and How to Obtain It and Sandow on Physical Training, Sandow describes how he gained the inspiration to transform his body during a trip to Italy with his father.

ii.     Evidence: WhenSandow posed for Benjamin J Falk and Napoleon Sarony, he adopted the role of famous sculptures, such as “The Dying Gaul” or “The Farnese Hercules”.  A number of these photographs are available in the Library of Congress collection.

iii.     Evidence: Newspaper articles about his private exhibitions include quotes from female members of his audience:

• He “imitated the statuary of the ancient Greeks”.
• He resembled a “living statue”.
• “The ladies never for a moment thought about Sandow being a man; he was used merely as an illustration, and gave everyone the effect that a marble statue would have done”.
• “The statuesque figure of the model standing out against the black background and seen from a considerable distance, at once suggested to my mind some of Michael Angelo’s statuary”.

 

1. Reason: Sandow was also perceived as a physical specimen worthy of scientific study.

i.     Evidence: He often invited physicians to his receptions; they examined his anatomy in detail. (Los Angeles Herald: “Sandow the Strong: The Perfect Man Gives a Press Reception”).

ii.     Evidence: When Sandow gave an exhibition for a ladies’ Sketch Club in San Francisco, a local artist used Sandow’s body, “as a basis for a lecture on artistic anatomy”. Members of the Sketch Club in San Francisco remarked:

• “He is very interesting because the invisible muscles are visible in him”.
• “It is an education in physical development to see the play of his muscles” – he “conjured them up at the lecturer’s command”.
• One female attended because she “considered him a very interesting anatomical study”.

iii.     Evidence: Dr D.A. Sargent, the well-known Director of Athletics at Harvard, made a professional examination of Sandow at the request of the New York World. Dr Sargent’s report was published in Sandow on Physical Training and there was also a long article in the New York World: “The Strongest Man Measured”. Sargent reported: “Sandow is the most wonderful specimen of man I have ever seen”.

 

1. Reason: Sandow projected the image of a medical expert, who gave advice to women on physical culture, healthy living, nutrition and childcare.

i.     Evidence: In Sandow on Physical Training, Sandow describes how he attended medical school at the University of Gottingen (23) and devoted himself to learning anatomy. (He did not complete his medical studies).

ii.     Evidence: Dr Sargent reports: “He has a considerable knowledge of anatomy, and can call the muscles by their proper names. I shall be glad to have him come and lecture before the students of Harvard”.

iii.     Evidence: Strength and How To Obtain It has chapters on “how to exercise”, “the secret of the cold bath” and “the nutritive qualities of foods”. Similarly, his Sandow on Physical Training advises readers on “the effect of exercise in beautifying women” and the “hygienic effects of exercise”. It also includes anatomical sketches of the muscles of the human body.

iv.     Evidence: In newspaper and magazine articles, Sandow gives advice to female readers:

• San Francisco Call, “Making of a Woman Athlete: Sandow Shows How it Should Be Done” – “The most famous strong man the world has ever known writes a paper full of common sense and practical hints for fair readers”. This shows several photographs of Sandow in a topcoat and starched collar (the “gentleman”) instructing a female model how to perform various exercises. Again, he uses classical references by quoting Plato and also remarks on the “wonderful beauty of the Roman and Greek ideals of feminine beauty” (sculptures) that can be seen in museums around the world.

 

• Cosmopolitan, “How to Preserve Health and Attain Strength”, June 1894. Sandow’s eight-page article covers advice on nutrition, sleep, bathing, the dangers of the modern lifestyle and the benefits of sports and regular exercise. His article is clearly aimed at women – and is accompanied by eleven photographs taken by Falk and Sarony. The first page includes a portrait of Sandow in evening dress (the “gentleman”) and a picture of him posing in a figleaf as the “Dying Gaul” (classical reference). The others show him in various poses, including one taken by Sarony of a back view of Sandow’s body, naked apart from roman sandals. This article is an example of how Sandow’s almost naked body can be displayed in a family magazine because of his projection of respectability and medical expertise.

 

5. CLAIM: Contemporary views about women’s intrinsic nature ensured that the display of his almost naked body was perceived to be acceptable for respectable female consumption.
6. Reason: In the nineteenth century, woman’s nature and qualities were though to be biologically different from those of men.

i.     Evidence: Quotes from Darwin’s Descent of Man (1871).

 

1. Reason: Shared cultural values perceived “true womanhood” to consist of the cardinal virtues of “piety, purity, submissiveness and domesticity” (Welter).

i.     Evidence: these ideas were expressed in women’s magazines, literary annuals, and religious literature.

ii.     Evidence: Quotes from William Alcott’s “The Young Man’s Guide”.

 

1. Reason: In the nineteenth century, men’s sexual desire was thought to be almost “bestial” whereas respectable women were said to have less interest in sex; their role was to help men’s efforts at self control, and to set limits on men’s sexual desires. (D’Emilio & Freedman)

i.     Evidence: One sex education manual for women stated that, “sexual union is a necessity for man, while it is not to women”.

ii.     Evidence: More quotes from Young Man’s Guide.

 

1. Reason: the popularity and respectability of Vaudeville theater depended largely on its appeal to female audiences. The theater managers viewed women, in particular, as “chaste spectators” (Kibler).

i.     Evidence: Kibler quotes one such manager in Boston who wrote, “the performers are getting on to the fact that our theaters will not stand for anything vulgar, profane or suggestive”.

ii.     Evidence: Sandow’s appearance before the ladies of the Sketch Club took place in a Vaudeville theater. When challenged by a reporter (for the Morning Call) about the event, one of the ladies remarked, “Do you think I would have taken my two daughters to hear it if there had been anything unusual or degrading? Anyone might have seen such an exhibition without having their modesty shocked”.

 

1. Reason: Despite the changes in the status of women in society at the end of the nineteenth century, old attitudes about the nature of women persisted.

i.     Evidence: The January 1896 issue ofGodeys’s Lady’s book focuses on the changing role of women in American life. It features an article “The New Woman in Office” which describes the advance of women into the world of politics (59-67). However, the same issue contains a poem called “Woman” which poses the question, “What should a woman be?” The answers are: “all purity”, “sincerity”, “maternity” and “fidelity”.

 

1. Reason: It was the prevailing stereotypes about the nature of sexuality in men and women that allowed Sandow a surprising degree of freedom to pose almost naked in front of them.

i.     Evidence: Two articles from The Morning Call (San Francisco) cover the controversy caused by Sandow’s appearance before the all female sketch club audience. (May 24, and May 25, 1894). Quotes from Secretary Kane of the Society for the Suppression of Vice, women who attended the event, and male members of the San Francisco Bohemian Club highlight these sexual stereotypes.

~ by Alex Johnston on October 20, 2014 .