Postcard Archives - www.oldtimestrongman.com

Michelos-Ki The Strongman

Posted on Tuesday, June 8th, 2021 by John Wood

Only a few postcards exist for Michelos-Ki, the Strongman. About the only thing we know about him is that he didn’t possess one shred of originality — Mr. Michelos-Ki seems to have copied every single one of his feats from other strongmen. Interestingly, many of the exact same postcards exists with Barletti listed instead of Michelos-Ki — not sure who was copying whom or what the deal was.

Tom Burrows

Posted on Wednesday, October 24th, 2018 by John Wood

Here’s a rare postcard of the great club-swinger Tom Burrows. Those medals on his chest weren’t just for show, Burrows accomplished many amazing club-swinging feats over his career.

To give you one striking example, Burrows swung a pair of three pound, six ounce clubs from Tuesday, April 15th through Friday, April 18th in 1913 — 100 consecutive hours total.

An Unusual Handbalancing Feat

Posted on Tuesday, June 11th, 2013 by John Wood

Here’s an unusual handbalancing feat from an old postcard. Unfortunately the names of these gentlemen is lost to the sands of time, but this is a truly excellent feat, one I have actually never seen before. The coordination and intense focus required by all participants to pull this one off is tremendous.

Barletti

Posted on Monday, August 22nd, 2011 by John Wood

We couldn’t find much in our files about Mr. Barletti but the one thing we do know is that he liked to lift horses as a part of his act. He most likely copied this feat from Sandow, and I’d be willing to bet it wasn’t exactly done on stage like it is pictured here.