Recent from talks
Monte Saldo
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Monte Saldo
Monte Saldo (1879 – 23 February 1949; born as Alfred Montague Woollaston) was an early bodybuilder who later, with his brothers Frank Saldo and Edwin Woollaston, formed the stage act The Montague Brothers, in which they displayed acts of strength including supporting a heavy motor car complete with passengers. With Maxick, he developed the Maxalding system of muscle control.
Born in Highgate in London, the son of George Frederick Woollaston (1828–1896), a shoe manufacturer who was medically documented for having 19 inch forearms, Methodist preacher and faith healer, and Adelaide Mary (née Green) (1849–1923), a woman who stood well over 6 feet tall. Saldo was interested in strength athletics as a youth, and in his teens joined the London Weightlifting Club in Regent Street in London. From May 1895 he worked as a booking clerk for the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway at their office in Brighton's Grand Hotel.
An uncle with connections in the theatrical profession arranged for the 18-year-old Saldo to be apprenticed to Eugen Sandow in 1897. His first public appearance was at the Coliseum in Leeds as a demonstrator of the Sandow Exerciser. A fellow-apprentice at Sandow's gym was Italian bodybuilder Ronco, and having gained stage experience while helping Sandow in his act Saldo and Ronco decided to go it alone, creating their own strongman stage act. Billed as "Ronco & Monte", the duo first appeared in 1900 at the Cafe Chantant at The Crystal Palace. This was followed soon after by a tour of Europe; on their return to Britain they appeared for six months at the Royal Aquarium in London.
In common with many strongman acts of the period, part of their routine was to offer money to any member of the public who could copy their feats of strength; no one was ever successful in duplicating them. Saldo and Ronco's appearance at the Royal Aquarium was so successful that their contract was extended, but when this came to an end they separated. Saldo then teamed up with his younger brother Frank Harold Woollaston, and the new strongman act opened at the Hippodrome in London, followed by a European tour during which Saldo posed for the Dutch artist Jozef Israëls, who, impressed by his physique, painted him in a classical pose. During the tour the brothers appeared in Amsterdam, Dresden, Hamburg, Saxony, Prague and Paris, at the latter city regularly working out in the gymnasium of Edmond Desbonnet. On their return they appeared for a season at the London Pavilion.
In 1903 Saldo added a new routine to the act which was designed to draw in large audiences, during which he supported a heavy motor car in the "Tomb of Hercules" position. Having prepared and rehearsed carefully, on stage a Darracq full of passengers was driven up a ramp and onto a bridge, where the ramp and supports were removed leaving Saldo supporting the entire weight of the vehicle and its contents on a section of the bridge. Later, the act was refined, with Saldo supporting the car on top of a ten-foot high revolving platform. This act was taken on another international tour, for which Saldo received the largest salary ever paid to a one-man strongman act.
Monte Saldo weighed 144 pounds, stood 5′5″, had a 17″ neck, 45.5″ chest, 16″ arms, 13″ forearms, 30″ waist, 23″ thighs and 15,5″ calves. He could bent press 230 pounds and was the first man in England to do a one arm swing with more than body weight, doing 150 pounds. He is credited with showing for the first time that the swing was best done with a dumbbell loaded unevenly, with more weight on the back end of the bell.
In 1906 Saldo refined the act even further, teaming up with his brothers Frank (now known as Frank Saldo) and Edwin, the three of them billing themselves as "The Montague Brothers", and performing a new routine called "The Sculptor's Dream".
The act was described by Alexander Zass thus:
Hub AI
Monte Saldo AI simulator
(@Monte Saldo_simulator)
Monte Saldo
Monte Saldo (1879 – 23 February 1949; born as Alfred Montague Woollaston) was an early bodybuilder who later, with his brothers Frank Saldo and Edwin Woollaston, formed the stage act The Montague Brothers, in which they displayed acts of strength including supporting a heavy motor car complete with passengers. With Maxick, he developed the Maxalding system of muscle control.
Born in Highgate in London, the son of George Frederick Woollaston (1828–1896), a shoe manufacturer who was medically documented for having 19 inch forearms, Methodist preacher and faith healer, and Adelaide Mary (née Green) (1849–1923), a woman who stood well over 6 feet tall. Saldo was interested in strength athletics as a youth, and in his teens joined the London Weightlifting Club in Regent Street in London. From May 1895 he worked as a booking clerk for the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway at their office in Brighton's Grand Hotel.
An uncle with connections in the theatrical profession arranged for the 18-year-old Saldo to be apprenticed to Eugen Sandow in 1897. His first public appearance was at the Coliseum in Leeds as a demonstrator of the Sandow Exerciser. A fellow-apprentice at Sandow's gym was Italian bodybuilder Ronco, and having gained stage experience while helping Sandow in his act Saldo and Ronco decided to go it alone, creating their own strongman stage act. Billed as "Ronco & Monte", the duo first appeared in 1900 at the Cafe Chantant at The Crystal Palace. This was followed soon after by a tour of Europe; on their return to Britain they appeared for six months at the Royal Aquarium in London.
In common with many strongman acts of the period, part of their routine was to offer money to any member of the public who could copy their feats of strength; no one was ever successful in duplicating them. Saldo and Ronco's appearance at the Royal Aquarium was so successful that their contract was extended, but when this came to an end they separated. Saldo then teamed up with his younger brother Frank Harold Woollaston, and the new strongman act opened at the Hippodrome in London, followed by a European tour during which Saldo posed for the Dutch artist Jozef Israëls, who, impressed by his physique, painted him in a classical pose. During the tour the brothers appeared in Amsterdam, Dresden, Hamburg, Saxony, Prague and Paris, at the latter city regularly working out in the gymnasium of Edmond Desbonnet. On their return they appeared for a season at the London Pavilion.
In 1903 Saldo added a new routine to the act which was designed to draw in large audiences, during which he supported a heavy motor car in the "Tomb of Hercules" position. Having prepared and rehearsed carefully, on stage a Darracq full of passengers was driven up a ramp and onto a bridge, where the ramp and supports were removed leaving Saldo supporting the entire weight of the vehicle and its contents on a section of the bridge. Later, the act was refined, with Saldo supporting the car on top of a ten-foot high revolving platform. This act was taken on another international tour, for which Saldo received the largest salary ever paid to a one-man strongman act.
Monte Saldo weighed 144 pounds, stood 5′5″, had a 17″ neck, 45.5″ chest, 16″ arms, 13″ forearms, 30″ waist, 23″ thighs and 15,5″ calves. He could bent press 230 pounds and was the first man in England to do a one arm swing with more than body weight, doing 150 pounds. He is credited with showing for the first time that the swing was best done with a dumbbell loaded unevenly, with more weight on the back end of the bell.
In 1906 Saldo refined the act even further, teaming up with his brothers Frank (now known as Frank Saldo) and Edwin, the three of them billing themselves as "The Montague Brothers", and performing a new routine called "The Sculptor's Dream".
The act was described by Alexander Zass thus:
