Ringling Brothers Circus Archives - www.oldtimestrongman.com

Bobby Pandour

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

One of the all-time great physiques belonged to Bobby Pandour of Poland. He was an excellent at muscle control as well as hand balancing so much so that he performed an act with his brother Ludovic in the Ringling Brothers Circus in the early 1900’s. The Pandour Brothers also headlined as “The Herculean Marvels” coast-to-coast on the Vaudeville circuit.

Hjalmar Lundin

Posted on Friday, March 11th, 2016 by John Wood

A look at the great Hjalmar Lundin, who was a tremendous strongman as well as wrestler. Lundin was the heavyweight champion in his native land of Sweden and eventually made his way to American shores by performing as a strongman in the Ringling Brother’s Circus. Lundin’s signature feat was The Tomb of Hercules” with 20 men see-sawing on his chest.

On the wrestling mat, Lundin tussled with the best of them: George Bothner, George Hackenschmidt, Frank Gotch, Tom Jenkins, “Yankee” Joe Rogers, Stanislaus Zbyzko and Youssof “The Terrible Turk” Ismael. It was Lundin who gave George Hackenschmidt his first wrestling lessons and actually defeated Frank Gotch (albeit in a Graeco-Roman-style bout.)

The Human Chain!

Posted on Sunday, January 15th, 2012 by John Wood

The Great Levasseur performs 'The Human Link' feat with four horses

One of the well-known traditional feats of Oldtime Strength is the Human Chain. There’s no telling who came up with it first but what we do know is that Strongmen have been performing this feat for well over a century — and because it is very dangerous, always goes over great with the crowd.

Shown here is George “The Great” Levasseur who famously performed this feat for the Ringling Brothers circus in the early 20th century where he was billed as “The Strongest Man that Walks the Earth.” Levasseur was also famous for his backlifting ability. We’ll highlight other great performances of “The Human Chain” in subsequent posts.